Fremantle to Freshwater Bay Claremont

Today started off with showers of rain. I wondered if the walk would be a wet one. Kathryn dropped me off at Stirling Bridge Fremantle at about 11.00am. She then drove onto Claremont to wait for me at a Coffee shop. I was expecting this walk to take a little longer due to distance and more difficult terrain.

North shore of Blackwall Reach, I ran out of footpath

 

The first leg walking over Stirling Bridge followed by a nice walk up the river was very easy. It was great to see how they have made a genuine effort to restore much of the original vegetation, and the foreshore looks much better for there efforts. After a while you get a bit above the shoreline as a cliff face develops. It was interesting walking through Rocky Bay where there are many new homes, as this was where the State Engineering Works was located until 1987 when it was closed. This was where I completed my apprenticeship as a Mechanical Fitter. It is now a very expensive housing area. The area had been made flat as much of the limestone top had been removed to make the groynes at Fremantle Harbour and other building projects around Perth. The path also has some interesting interpretation signs describing flora and local history. In Rocky Bay there use to be a Soap Factory, that building has now been converted into Apartments.

Hard to believe this part of the river is in the middle of suburbia

The next section was through Blackwall Reach. Most parts there was a track. Instead of diverting from the river at times I walked through the vegetation which joined up with the track further along the river. This did eventually cause me a problem as I eventually ended up being squeezed between the cliff face and the river, one section I took my shoes off and had to get my feet wet. Eventually I made it to a little park on the rivers edge, opposite Point Walter. It was now too difficult to follow the river so I followed the road up the hill and then followed a path down to Mosman Bay and
Peppermint Grove, some great views.

Nesting Sea Osprey Peppermint Grove, most expensive suburb in Perth

I continued to follow the shoreline after leaving the Peppermint Grove area. As I was walking through the vegetation I saw a women sitting further along the track, she was taking pictures of some nesting Osprey as part of th book she was writing. She believed the nest they used was over 20 year old. Past this point it become too difficult to walk along the cliff face to the Claremont jetty. Therefore I headed away from the river, walked past Methodist Ladies College and down Stirling Hyw to have a coffee with Kathryn in Claremont. She was a little annoyed as this section had taken about 3.5 hours and the coffee spot was a boring on in a shopping centre. Next week I will continue from Claremont and try to walk as far as Perth.