Date: 14/09/2008

Trip Leader: Rowan Coutts

Trip Report: James Williams


Sunday the 14th was the new date for the Eatwell forest trip, so about 15 vehicles turned up at the Dovedale hall ready for a day of bumping about the forest.

After a quick whip around with a registration form and collection of the fee we were off.

I’d always wondered what was up Gourmet Rd., I was about to find out. Things started fairly leisurely, going through the gate and along a forestry road, it soon changed as we headed up a skidder track, a ditch across the track soon had a few trucks getting a bit of a workout.

What followed was a bit of a mystery tour, up and down roads and tracks, some providing more of a workout than others, including a bit of road reconstruction which turned out not to be of a high enough standard for the rest of us to use, thanks Rowan for testing that out.

After a brief stop for lunch it was up and down a few more tracks before heading onto a sloppy little track through a gully, one or two breaks to make sure everyone was still going forward and we went through an old fence line into some mature pine trees. The track became more a case of find your own way, following some dazzle marks on trees.

We eventually found our way through the trees, through a couple of small bogs and out into a bit of a grassy area where it was decided we couldn’t go any further.

Quickish turn around including a wee play in the mud, and we were away, back the way we had come. Some of the keener ones found another little side track to a good puddle where some needed a little help to get through.

It was then back to a road/track that took us out onto the top of Sunday Creek Rd., where we all went our separate ways.

Thanks go to Rowan for organizing a great day, and to the weather people for a good effort on their part.

Photos here