Bushwalk 2 - Cowan to Brooklyn

Before I get into the walk, a short digression. After my first walk, I knew I was totally hooked on this getting outdoors & enjoying the bush thing. So I went out & bought a copy of Best Bush & Coastal Walks of the Central Coast. It's put together by the same folks behind the Wild Walks website (which, by the way, is probably the best freely available source you will find for anything outdoorsy in NSW). It's a great book & I would love to complete every walk in it, given the time.

The walk from Cowan to Brooklyn isn't in the book, because it's not technically on the Central Coast. It's officially called the Jerusalem Bay track & is part of the Great North Walk, a stunningly scenic 250km track between Sydney & Newcastle.

Look, this sign proves it:

The walk starts at Cowan train station & the first couple of kilometres to Jerusalem Bay is a fairly easy track, with only a few steep downhill sections. You'll soon come to the Bay itself, which is much prettier than my terrible photography can show you:

After Jerusalem Bay, it's all uphill (literally). I don't know if it's because it was my first experience of this sandstone cliff-style of walk, or if it's because I just wasn't psychologically prepared, but the steep climb up the hill from the Bay is the most difficult thing I have ever done. It feels like an almost vertical ascent and it also feels like it's never going to end. But, it does, and then you can look down & proudly survey how far you have come:

This track is a sneaky bugger though - because it doesn't end at the first climb. You'll come across a few of these:

Before you really can look back down on the scenic path below & breathe a sigh of relief:

This is a cool sandstone formation we passed - I really liked the patterns that water has created on the rock:

Views like this make all that climbing worthwhile - that faint grey line in the mid-ground is the train line with the F3 freeway in the background.

The other good thing about this walk is that it turns into this fire-trail & stays like this for most of the way back down the hill. Of course, fire-trails aren't nearly as scenic or challenging (dare I say as fun?) as the more authentic bush tracks, but when you've just spent an hour climbing that bloody big hill your quads will be glad of the break.

Some more beautiful views over the Hawkesbury River valley:

The Hawkesbury rail bridge:

Getting closer to Brooklyn:

After a fairly long but gentle downhill walk you will reach Brooklyn Dam, which isn't in use anymore. There's a small campsite here & it makes a nice spot to rest & maybe have lunch.

By this stage I was pretty tired & my legs were aching, so I was not pleased when the track started to steeply descend into Brooklyn itself.

The photos don't really do justice to how difficult this part was - it's particularly tough on the knees.

We finally came to the end & wandered through the lovely town of Brooklyn (I would describe it as a 'sleepy' fishing village, but the real estate prices say otherwise). Then all that was left was to get back to the car at Cowan - luckily there's a train station conveniently located to do just that.

I loved this walk. It was a great balance of challenging climbs & flat recovery. The scenery is awesome & if you start early enough, I would recommend stopping at the pub in Brooklyn for a refreshing ale & some lunch.

The Stats
Distance: 14km one way
Time: 4hrs
Difficulty: Hard - very steep ascents & descents.