by John New
This was a very enjoyable new walk around an area of Sydney we hadn't visited before. About 9 people and 9 beagles met at popular Cafe Shot, Georges Heights, on a mostly sunny day with some light winds. After a short meet and greet (by both humans and beagles) we set off.
The first part of the walk was downhill, along some suburban streets, access paths between houses, and a narrow bush track. Eventually we popped out of the bush at Balmoral Beach Oval. We walked for a few minutes along the beach itself, up Botanic Rd, and then headed over a small footbridge and back into the bush again. The track we followed this time was once part of the old Balmoral tram line, which opened in 1922 and closed in 1925. Sydney once had an extensive tram network, and you can see vestiges of the system here and there.
At the end of track we popped out into suburbia again to begin an uphill climb along a maze of streets to Bradley Bushland Reserve and Rawson Reserve. This is large grassy park, with an oval surrounded by a lovely white picket fence. It was tempting to let the beagles run around for a while in the oval but this was sadly off-limits to dogs.
Another winding set of streets, downhill again, brought us to Clifton Gardens Reserve, a very popular family picnic area. Here we took a short stroll along a sandy beach, past some historic buildings, to a shop where we stopped for a short break. The views were spectacular.
The final section of the walk was uphill, mostly along some bush tracks around Middle Head. Lots of interesting sniffing along this track because it's used by many people and dogs. Eventually we arrived back at our cars, with thoroughly tired and happy beagles, only too ready to have a final drink before the long snooze home in the car.