Unsung hero
Fresh from some serious hill climbing on Saturday, there was nothing to do but go looking for more on Sunday. A quick way to get some of that action around here is to line up the old Springbrook/Numinbah/Tomewin circuit. It was, of course, always going to be an interesting exercise coming a day after the Beechmont explorer, but things went surprisingly well, and my legs had surprisingly few complaints after the first 30km. 
What was different about this, however, was the light rain falling on most of the passes, that made the views difficult to see and virtually impossible to photograph. Of course, rain is nothing new to me, and so it didn't present any difficulty. Instead, it presented an opportunity to appreciate some of the sights in the valleys that I might normally overlook. Things like the fresh streams flowing down from the mist shrouded mountains, and the seemingly eternal greenery surrounding them. Maybe I should try to find a day like this for such a ride in the springtime, when there might be a few flowers around, but for today I was happy to just appreciate what I had.
posted by Chris L @ 9:05 pm
1 comments
It had been a while since I took a ride up to Beechmont just for the sake of it. Usually I'm passing through the area en route to or from somewhere else. Of course, today I also made a point of extending the ride to Binna Burra, largely for the opportunity to slaughter the final stretch of that climb known as Mt Roberts, but today, it was the lush greenery of Beechmont, along with the surrounding mountain views that stole my heart. 
I have said before that each mountain has a unique character of it's own, this can be influenced by a number of different factors, such as the type of vegetation, the climate, the history and the land use. Beechmont also has it's own unique character. It may not have the waterfalls of Springbrook, the remoteness of O'Reillys or the sheer altitude of any number of passes I climbed in Japan, but it definitely does have a "feel" of it's own, and one that becomes apparent whichever way it is approached. It will probably never be a place where I'll spent a lot of time, but it offers a unique welcome of it's own each time I return. 
