Canberra Centenary Trail – Section 7 (31 km) – 09 AUG 25

And finally, the sixth hike in this series to complete the Canberra Centenary Trail (see Hike 1, Hike 2, Hike 3, Hike 4 & Hike 5 for a catch-up), and an unexpected over-30km hike. I was expecting a 26km day, hiking from Tuggeranong to the Australian Parliament House, but on Friday night, after hearing that there was a noon protest march scheduled from Canberra CBD to a park near Parliament House, I decided to reverse the order of the hike to avoid the masses. However, due to public transport limitations, I ended up starting my hike in the CBD, walking to Parliament House, and then onwards to Tuggeranong as planned.

The weather was overcast, with sunny patches, and fortunately I didn’t have to don my rain-jacket or cover my pack as the rain stayed away for the entire hike.

With Spring only weeks away, today’s highlights mostly involved Wabbits and Wattle. Yep, the rabbits were out more than the kangaroos, and Austraila’s National floral emblem, the golden (acacia) wattle, was blossoming across the trail.

Suffice to say, and I think with a mixture of just wanting to get this done and dusted and not feeling 100%, not many pictures were taken throughout the day. Section 7 itself did have it’s pretty “rural landscape” moments, but a good portion of it was skirting neighbourhood fencelines and/or walking asphalt bike paths.

N.B. There were a few opportunities for me to detour up to a summit and no doubt take in some better views of the immediate surrounds, but I really wasn’t feeling like adding more vertical km’s onto my hike today, so I just stuck to the pre-planned route instead.

Notes for Section 7 – Canberra CBD to Australian Parliament House to Tuggeranong:
Once again I had tissues on hand for the inevitable runny nose, and I had no flat battery issues (I must be getting the hang of this hiking thing), but I still haven’t adjusted my pack and psuedo-stitched the straps in place. So I guess, until I sort that out, I only have myself to blame for the sore shoulders I have at the moment.

Walking hard surfaces such as asphalt, in my experience, give my ankles and toes more grief than climbing a dirt trail, and so my aching legs, ankles and toes during the last 12km of Section 7, ended up being a real challenge. At times, I found myself glancing at the “remaining kilometres” almost every 250 metres.

As a closing remark for this entry, and indeed on the Canberra Centenary Trail itself, I started this challenge with the intent to wear in my new hiking boots by walking at least 150km on varying surface types. At a final count of 169km, over the past six (6) weeks, I’ve managed to achieve that goal. The bonus of course being that I’ve now ticked off the Canberra Centenary Trail and gained a better lay of the land around the Canberra region. The sometimes lacking and/or confusing signage along the complete trail, and no obvious indicators to convey which direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise) you were travelling at any given time, has only re-enforced my decision to always pre-plan and have the route loaded into my GPS-enabled watch before heading off. To avoid walking unnecessary kilometres, or worse, ending up completely lost walking one of the many side trails, I recommend you do the same if possible.

So what now? Well, aside from finalising the contents of my pack and making those few adjustments I’ve previously spoken about, I may just do a couple of short hikes for my remaining two weeks in Australia. At this stage, and to avoid risking injury, I think I’ll leave the 20 or 30 or 40km hikes until I get to Portugal and Spain. If I find the time too, I’ll try to pop the GoPro footage of these six hikes up on the “Walking With Strangers” YouTube channel as promised. Thanks for joining me on the journey thus far. Later.

CCT Section 7 – Canberra CBD to Australian Parliament House to Tuggeranong Pics

---

Distance walked today: 31km

Weight of Pack and Contents: 12.0kg

Surface: Mixed (asphalt, dirt, sand & rocks)

Weather: Overcast / No Rain.

Total Distance Walked for Camino-Portugues Training thus far: 169km

---

CCT Section 7 – Canberra CBD to Australian Parliament House to Tuggeranong Video

As always, I recorded this hike with my chest-mounted GoPro Hero 10, and will upload it to the Walking with Strangers Youtube channel as soon as I can.

GoPro Recording Settings: TimeWarp mode with a Wide FOV at 10x speed.

---

Blog: Subscribe for updates at https://walkingwithstrangers.net
FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/451549726809456
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/wws4mh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalkingwithStr1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walkingwithstrangerscamino/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVA0xQO2-qHXarlvFQ_JE0A
Fundraising for Mental Health Awareness: https://www.teamblackdog.org.au/fundraisers/walkingwithstrangers/

#walkingwithstrangers #camino #donate #blackdoginstitute #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth