St Crispin's Well, June 2013

This walk started out as a challenging ascent of Cathedral Rock.  Kat, Philip, James, Bob, Robert, Lyn and I met at the carpark on the river on Betts Rd, Longley.  Unfortunately, James slipped and fell on the rocks at the river's edge just before the last car arrived, knocking his head badly ("face plant" was the description used).  So we arrived to find Bob on the phone, calling the ambulance, and Kat and Philip very shaken, tending to James.  How lucky we are to have friends who know how to respond quickly and sensibly when things go wrong!

Bob told us about the rural road house numbering system, which told us that the house across the road, numbered 111, meant that we were 1.11 km from the junction with the main road.  What a practical idea.  It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived, and James was being quizzed and checked out by the experts.  He was taken off to the Royal, with Philip in attendance in the ambulance and Kat bringing up the rear.

The remaining four of us decided that we needed a soothing, simple walk to calm us down!  Robert suggested St Crispin's Well, which was fairly close, so we headed back up Huon Rd and parked at the watertank near the Morphetts Rd turnoff.  We started walking at last at about 10.30am, leaving our boots and walking poles in the car.

The Pipeline Track is a level and well compacted dirt road, basically a firetrail.  It is very easy walking, and is very popular with bike riders and runners. It was a fine, overcast and cool day, and the riders and runners were thoroughly enjoying the track.

 

After about an hour and 15 minutes of walking, there was an extension of the potato fields reaching down to the Pipeline Track:

Not long after this, we found the clearly marked track to St Crispin's Well.

Just at this point on the Pipeline Track there is an emergency shelter, well stocked with firewood in case of being snowed in.

In five minutes we were at St Crispin's Well, which was added into the Hobart Waterworks pipeline scheme in 1875.  It took another 26 years before the pipeline extended as far as Wellington Falls.  The original stonework is still here, and a pipe still carries water away into the Hobart water system. 

There is a fairly new viewing platform here, with a nice bench to sit on and some thoughtful messages for modern visitors to ponder.

 

We enjoyed a quick lunch and then got back on the trail before we cooled down too much.  Meandering pleasantly back along the Pipeline Track, we couldn't help but notice Cathedral Rock across the valley, looking very grand (and high and craggy).  All of us (except Lyn, who is very fit) agreed we had in fact been very lucky to not do that walk.  We got back to our cars at 1.30pm.

Back in town we caught up with Kat over a cuppa at Pilgrim Coffee, to hear how the injured James was doing.  Thankfully all seemed to be well.