Eagle View Walk (John Forrest National Park)

The stats

• Distance - 16km circuit
• Grade - classed as 'medium' to 'hard'
• Estimated time to complete - 5-6hrs
• Actual time taken - 4hr 45mins (with half hour stop for lunch)
• Resources - WA Top Trails website and Department of Environment and Conservation Eagle View Walk Trail guide
• Cost - $11 national park entry fee
• Tip - Doing the walk clockwise gets most of the ascents out of the way early on!

The verdict

One more week before we head to the UK and undertake the Coast to Coast walk for real.  The Fellowship was finally restored today for our final training walk as my Dad decided to test his rehabilitated foot on what would be our longest and most challenging walk yet.  Our thinking was, if we could best this we'd be able to handle C2C no problem...

On arrival at John Forrest National Park we marvelled at the explosion of colour.  The wildflowers were out in their full glory and the trail was dotted with splashes of yellow, pink, white and vivid purple. 

The riot of colour along the Eagle View Trail

With our collective knees strapped we headed to the ranger's office to register and then set off on the circuit.  The trail was well marked but the guide was helpful and is recommended.   

The path fringed by wildflowers

The gradient was in the most part manageable however there were steep sections and the track varied from easy to rocky and uneven.  The walk was varied and interesting in its passage through numerous habitats including riparian, woodland and granite outcrop.  Don't forget to stop and (see) the flowers!  Having said that we probably would have completed the walk faster had I not been stopping every 10m to look at flowers!

Rough track

Finding a suitable spot for lunch also took a bit longer than anticipated as the fallen log had to be 'just right' but we got there in the end!

The gentlemen at lunch

All up a fabulous walk which did test our fitness.  The good news is we did it in good time and dodgy knees/feet held.  It was the perfect season for visiting John Forrest National Park and the walk trail is a definite must-do-again next spring.  

Cumbria, here we come!