Cape to Nearly Cape – Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time

The Cape to Cape walk goes from Cape Naturaliste lighthouse  to Cape Leeuin Lighthouse and has Margaret River pretty much in the middle of the 134km length and as such takes in some of the best surf beaches in the world .

There are numerous ways to undertake it – in bite size chunks over months or years , guided with transport , gear shuttling and plush accommodation or there is the Scottish option. This involves carrying your tent ,free camping and the self inflicted Calvanist style purgatory  of doing it in a single end to end walk .

Guidance tells you that the walk normally takes 6-7 days for end to enders. My base plan took 5.5 days and in the end tried to complete in 4.5 days .

The prep was fun ! New 1/2 man tent !, self inflating mat , as it turned out self deflating pillow and 55 litre rucksack with camelback water system .

A brief read up of the walk with target spots to spend the night .

Day 1 Started at 1330 from Cape Naturaliste and only walked 10.5 k due to the proximity of the free campsite at Mount Duckworth .  On reflection i should have walked another couple of hours and therefore another 9k b.  Actually a cold night and my pillow kept deflating which was annoying .

Day 2 Started walking at 0530 after packing away tent etc and having oats and powdered milk. This was a tough day with a few beach stretches . The pack weighed 13.5kgs and this turned any beach into a real challenge.  Reached Moses campsite at 1300 after 25ks  tired but in good spirit. Set up camp and had a swim in the sea and cleaned socks etc.

Met a solo woman walker in her thirties at Moses  who had started from the cape that morning . She had been following my footsteps all day  ( this i think the closest i will ever get to being stalked ) , she was aiming to do the walk in 4 days (limited to her leave). So after a short break and chat she was off to add to her 35ks so far ! Monster walker …

Tea was freeze dried morroccan lamb which actually wasn’t too bad

Day 3 Up and away for 0530 and made very good progress by lunchtime – no beaches and not too hot . Set my target of getting to Prevelly by close of play . This is the settlement at the mouth of the Margaret River so approx half way.

I passed Gracetown and took a few moments at this very sad and poignant memorial for those killed in a landslide

On the way I picked up my red cross parcel ( i had buried a spare gas cannister and food at Ellensbrook beach the week before  )

I arrived at Prevelly at 1630 after 35ks completely buggered and dragging a cloud of flies that could have been seen from space. Treated myself to a pro walkers meal -couple of beers and a pizza !

Over tea i decided that i wanted to see if i could finish the walk in 4.5 days . Partly driven by the self deflating pillow /being cold at night and partly just as a challenge. This meant that the next day I would have to walk at least 35ks to leave the a similar amount for the last day.

Had a great hot shower at the campsite and tended to one of my big toes which appeared to have a blister underneath the nail itself (first for me)

Day 4 Pulled up pretty well and set off at 0530. Met a couple on a remote section of the beach who were as high as kites and having a whale of a time fishing and shouting off the rocks  . No booze in sight so i think chemicals may have been in play .  The views down onto Contos beach are my most favourite of all the views on the walk.

Here is me with my rucksack and poles  ala deadpool !

King Kanga

It was near here that i saw this beast of a kangaroo. it stood 7 feet tall and must have weighed 150kg. It was standing adjacent to the path and i tried to shoo it away but it reared up to its full height and stood its ground. There are stories of kangaroos big enough and driven enough to take humans on so i meekly reversed and found a different path !

At contos campsite I refilled my 3 litre camelback that had been emptied and drunk another 3 litres straight from the tap . After Contos there was a 20k stretch of walk on long straight boring 4wd tracks that stopped any breeze and became big long fly tunnels. The flies were getting to epidemic proportions , if you stopped walking the big march (horse) flies landed on you and they packed quite a bite ! So stops were kept to a minimum.

It was on one of these long tunnels that I startled an  emu about 20 times . First time was understandable as i came round a bend and it saw me and ran off about 300 metres. However  it seemed to forget about me until I was about 20metres away at which point it became startled and ran off . Hit the repeat button for 20 times and i began to think that Dory and emus must be close relatives

I reached my planned end point at 1530 which was Boranup Beach . I was seriously out on my feet. Despite the fluid intake I hadn’t peed all day so clearly it was all being sweated out. I took my boots off and found my feet to be in a bit of a mess. One big toenail was oozing so much fluid that my sock was sopping wet to the extent the sole of my foot was like a prune. The other big toenail had a big dark bruise lurking. I had one blister on the ball of my left foot too. I had a paddle in the sea which was fantastic and then using my rucksack as a pillow took 40 winks. I woke up looking like a frosted doughnut. The fine wind blown sand had entered every available orafice and was now sticking to any previously wet surface like a papparazi to a Kardashian. I could see Hamlin Bay 9k along Boranup beach and decided to strike out for it and the Hamlin Bay caravan park which would have showers etc .  Undoubtedly the most challenging part of the walk on this medium to soft sand beach. The walking poles really helped keep the momentum over the sand but I was cream crackered.

My before and afters

After arriving at Hamlin and a further inspection of my feet I decided to pull the pin and sent a text to Kate to pick me up the next morning. That sounds easy but the signal was so flaky it took an hour sending one text and receiving one.  Kate would have to set off at 0600 from Mandurah where the van was parked to pick me up at 0830.

Day 5

I woke at day break as usual 0430 and pulled up remarkably better than I had thought I would. Both my big toenails were weeping and one looked like it may fly off at any time.

I packed up and sat down at the lookout at Hamlin bay where the breeze was stronger and kept the flies off as well as having stunning views. It was here at 0600 that i met a man standing at this remote lookout staring into the distance with his binoculars.  I expected him to tell me he was looking for whales or dolphins etc. However he said “trying to catch the bastards who have been emptying my cray pots” . He had a few pots in the reef and over the last few weeks someone had been emptying them early in the morning. He had been there since 4am.  He had his eye on a dodgy boat from Yancup – i would not have liked to have been the person he catches as he was ragin !

So as my lady knight in shining taxi armour sped toward me from the north I reflected on my journey .

Highlights

Seeing a dolphin a day over the course of the walk

Contos beach

Watching the surfers take on Guillotine

King Kanga

Numerous big goannas hunting on the tracks

Paddle on Boranup beach.

Stops for second breakfasts !

Watching peoples faces after boranup beach when i looked like a dusted cinnamon doughnut in human form.

Stats

Total walk 109km

Biggest day 44km and 61000 steps

Lost 8 lbs in 4 days .

Now the proud owner of only 7 toenails

Shortfall of the end to enders badge – 25kilometres !