The Friends of the Heysen Trail were represented at the successful opening to the Walk the Yorke at Port Vincent on Sunday 13 December 2015.

Around 70 walkers checked out four kilometres of the trail from Port Vincent wharf north to the Golf Club. At the Golf Club a large range of stalls and activities were crowded with locals and visitors before the opening by Rowan Ramsay MP at 12pm. There were many ARPA and Friends of the Heysen Trail members attending the walk.

Maps of the trail, including detailed section maps, are on the Visit Yorke Peninsula website.

The planning and construction was driven by the Yorke Peninsula Council Operations Manager, Stephen (Goldy) Goldsworthy. It was Goldy’s concept, and his passion and dedication that has delivered the project. Major funding came from an Australian Government Regional Development grant ($1.3m), plus the Yorke Peninsula Council ($1.3m) and the Government of South Australia ($900,000).

Almost 500km of trail, linking tracks and roads has been marked, trailhead signs are at all towns, plus walker crossing signs on the main roads. Shared Use signs indicate when walkers, bikes and cars are on the same road/track. Signs indicate where bikes and walkers separate. Bench seats installed and shelters with tanks constructed at strategic locations for multi-day treks. The section out of Port Wakefield towards Port Clinton follows the old trail formation. The walking trails vary from many kilometres of well formed gravel paths, to more challenging natural trail and beach walking along the south sections. For bushwalkers there seems to be a lot of road walking for an end to end trek, although the ARPA walkers have completed the full length over the past 3 years. Plenty of sections along the coast for short and day walks, with views of the ocean, along beaches and through coastal bush.

Goldy sees the Walk the Yorke as a work-in-progress, with the Council committed to maintenance, and local interest groups helping to keep the trail maintained. The plan is for upgrades and rerouting to improve the experience, to be done over time.

Checking out Other Sections – Port Clinton to Port Vincent

On Saturday as we checked out sections of the Walk the Yorke from Pt Clinton to Port Vincent.

Checking out Other Sections – South from Port Vincent

Seats made from recycled plastic, example at Port Julia. There are 40 of these seats that Stephen designed, and are installed along the walk. A lot of the posts and infrastructure utilises recycled plastic. Steel flexible posts, in yellow, are used as standard marker posts. Brown recycled plastic posts are also used for marker posts.