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 Saturday morning was riding time and this time we planned to link up Narrow Neck via Tarros Ladder to the Megalong valley road and back up to Blackheath. With a possibility of meeting the rest of the family at Werriberri Trail Rides place near the Megalong Valley Tea Rooms. Whoever turns up first would win the race. Will and Roman had to negotiate hard to get a ‘late’ rise of 5:30AM. By 6:00AM we arrived at the gate at Narrow Neck – after briefly contemplating a warm-up lap of the Golden Staircase (1000 steps and about 10 minutes if you are fast) – and we were on our way along the chilly Narrow Neck escarpment. We arrived at the end of the trail amongst a sea of early fluorescent blue gum forest with perfect views of Warragamba Dam at about 7:00AM. This is were the adventure would begin. Skirting the around the last hill counter clockwise we saw the powerlines far below us which would eventually connect us back up with the Megalong Valley Road via lots of fire trails and Nellies Glen Road. But first we had to find Tarros Ladder somewhere deep below us.

Negotiating the bikes past step rock drops, narrow water-courses and heavy bush was something quite different from what we were used to but after discovering yet another ladder we arrived at a rocky platform that marked Tarros Ladder. Mat new from previous experience that it was easier to lower the bikes from a sheer cliff just to the right of the ladder because the narrow slot of Tarros ladder was hard to negotiate with bikes. The cliff is about 8 meters high so bring lots of rope to lower the bikes. The whole manoeuvre ate into our time but was quite fun and we enjoyed the experience. Now it was time to ride the virgin trail around the base of Narrow Neck. Even though the powerlines were visible only about 100 meters to our right, impenetrable push meant we had to follow the trail for several kilometres in the wrong direction to join back up with the firetail towards Megalong Valley. The fire trails were superb, we no evidence of riders having past there for a long time. We felt completely isolated and a long way from civilisation. The trail was relentless and a relentless number of fast downhills was followed by the inevitable long uphill battle against the rising sun. We finally arrived at a sign signalling private property and as we found out later, instead of briefly crossing this spot to arrive at the Megalong Valley road, we should have backtracked a little were a trail appearing to head in the wrong direction would have let us continue to Nellies Glen.

After a huge downhill section where Mat registered 50km plus we arrived at the junction were the 6foot track met Megalong Valley road. We knew that from here it was 7 km of grinding bitumen until the tearooms with the sun now heavy in the sky. It was 10:00AM and after a few kilometres Larisa come past Gabriel and Rafaela in the car. Before long we all hooked up at the trail rides and watched the children ride horses. Perfect timing: now we only had to decide whether would have scones and tea or ride out 6steep km to Blackheath? It was a tough choice !

Since we arrived back at the golf course house around about lunch time, we had plenty of time for adventure in the afternoon. Louise went for her swim, Mat and Larissa took the kids to Katoomba pool and Will and Roman headed with the boys to the Dam cliffs for some bouldering and rope swinging. It was time to see whether Liam, Roman and Chris could equal Max’s cliff jump. Needless to say the boys (old and young) had lots of fun and after Will nearly broke his foot on a rock ledge from a rope swing and Liam burnt his hands from a wild swing – all of which is captured on video – we managed to leave the place without ‘serious’ injury. Saturday drew to a close with the inevitable exquisite Lamb cutlets and lots of beer. Sunday morning it was girls time, and after trying to convince the girls to start their ride at 5:00AM so that they could be back in time to look after their kids, the guys were told to …… Well, you can guess the rest! So Louise and Larissa went out to conquer Narrow Neck without male support, while the boys headed for the chilly waters of Blackheath public pool, which would surely be packed on Sunday? In fact the pool was so empty that we thought it had not opened yet, go and figure? It was another perfect day and we all met at lunch time to celebrate the last hours of our weekend with a scrumptious birthday cake for Larisa.

Happy Birthday Larisa

Roman 15 December 2009