This was a nice half-day walk in the Woodford/Linden area, taking in interesting man-made and natural features. After meeting in Glen St Woodford in windy and cool conditions, we took the footpath alongside the Great Western Highway until we reached Bulls Camp. Nowadays this is a roadside Rest Area for motorists, but it has history from the 1820s as a stock reserve and later as a convict camp. A reminder of its convict past is a "flogging stone" (ouch!) and a nearby sandstone block embankment dating from 1832, built by convicts as part of the original roadway. Sadly, this historic wall has been defaced by our modern-day graffiti-artist criminals.
Some more 19th century relics were revealed as we made our way down into the bush. A small weir across Bulls Creek and a few remains of a steam-driven pumping plant are all that are left of a system used to pump water to Linden Station for steam trains. The first steam train in the area dates from 1867, and the pumping operation was in use until 1902.
From there, it was on to Paradise Pool (which is on Bulls Creek) then via rock shelves and open bushland on the northern side of a ridge with views to the hidden eastern arm of Woodford Lake. There were plentiful wildflowers on this part of the walk.
The last couple of kilometres were walked on fire trails. A few sections of our walk today were actually through areas that were subject to hazard control burns a few months ago. Amongst the blackened landscape were the bright shoots of regrowth.
Back at the outskirts of Woodford, we passed Weroona, originally a somewhat grand private residence from about 1920, also used as a home for children awaiting foster placement in the 1940s and 1950s. Nearby where we re-joined the highway is the Woodford Academy, a National Trust listed property originally built as an inn during the 1830s and later used as a private school.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this was our first outing since June. Bob Sims had all the compliance details planned carefully, with a QR code for us all to use to register our participation, and our vaccination status checked.
Many thanks to Andy and Marion Cairnes for once again leading us on an interesting expedition in their Blue Mountains backyard.
Here is a trace of our loop. The 2 hr 26 min noted is our “moving” time. We were actually out for well over 4 hr.
