Scooted to Park then ran the flats.On foot, getting better/lasting longer. Tide in a bit too much -- I was three hours before low tide -- so I had to plunge into the waters more often than not. The tide moves around the clock faster than I'd like.So I'm combining running with my kickbiking. That's the neewiest news. Tide willing, it seems to work.
Hop on the bike. Scoot off tra la. Hop off. Jog up the 'beach'. Jog back. On the bike. Homeward bound.
By Googling my options...
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| 10 km along the Tidal Flats |
"Your mission Dave, should you decide to accept it is to run those 10 ks."
But this is a trail with no markers whatsoever except a generic 'run with the sea to one side and the land to the other' until you reach the river (southbound) or the seagrass beds (northbound). Between land and sea at low tide you have maybe a 400 metre wide highway.
Warning!Warning!
- Watch out for shell middens as they'll cut you up;
- Don't trip in an unseen stingray hole (samples left/above);
- Don't enter a seagrass bed as you'll damage it.
- Give sea birds a wide birth as you may disturb them.
Under foot the surface varies depending on how much water has been absorbed by the sand. The lower the tide, the dryer the sand and the firmer the surface -- depending on your route. Stingray holes come in clusters after each tide-in feed and you can place your footfall within a hole easily enough just so you know you are doing it.
So concentrate on where you put your tootsies...
Mapping ahead it is all a business of incorporating as much mounded sand as you can manage and avoiding as many pools as you can as some can be 15 cm deep where there is a lot of water draining from the shore.
This morning I ran north with two sea eagles at my shoulder and plunging through the shallows was like wading through claret as the wetlands, due to all the rain, are offering up rich burgundy tannin stains to their run off. Out to sea the rain clouds were clasping the sand hills of Moreton Island 30 kms away.
