From Katoomba Falls to the Leura Cascades
The day looked so promising, with only a little cloud hanging around from the overnight rain.
We decided to head out early to avoid the crowds. Being the Australia Day long weekend, this particular part of the Blue Mountains is now teeming with people escaping the city for three days, and the Three Sisters is a very popular tourist attraction. We were on the track before 8:00 am.
The Prince Henry Cliff Walk is almost seven kilometres in one direction and we didn’t want to walk that far, although we did accomplish a large section of it, and, including getting onto the track and walking down and around the Leura Cascades, we had walked more than 12 kilometres by the time we arrived back some five hours later.
The rain overnight had been quite heavy causing the pathway to be very wet with water flowing down the walls and off the cliff face in unmarked locations, but we didn’t mind. Perhaps this was the reason the path was empty of other walkers. Dean and I really enjoyed the solitude and serenity walking alone and being able to listen to the sounds of nature.
Surprise, surprise though! I mistakenly thought the Prince Henry Cliff Walk would be sedate. I thought it would be relatively flat with only minor steps and slight inclines to negotiate. It wasn’t.
But after walking as far as we did, and discovering that in order to reach the Leura Cascades, once again I simply had to follow a track that took a sharp downward course, and with each step down I thought “Here I go again!”
Getting down wasn’t too bad, it never is, and the view of the cascades was spectacular, but all the while my mind was yelling at me, in no uncertain terms, “You know you have to climb back up to get out of here don’t you!”
Dean just laughed at me, telling me to take deep breaths and to keep moving, one step at a time.
There was only 456 steps, I counted them. That’s steps, not footfalls along the inclined sections of the pathway and a little over half way up the Giant Stairway that I knew I couldn’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t even consider tackling.
The pain was worth it and I’m glad we did take the walk along the cliff to see another part of this beautiful area.
CLARE'S COSMOS 
OMG, you will be able to do the Boston Marathon when this adventure is finished!!
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Oh Sue,
You are so funny. Miss you heaps.
Clare
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