Along the Gouthro Road

From the NAV CANADA radar station, I returned as I had gone back to the quarry and, just past the quarry, turned onto Gouthro Road, another road I had heretofore not explored. It descends abruptly into the Frenchvale Brook Valley and comes out across the valley on the Frenchvale Road which, at the junction, runs somewhat above the valley. The photos on this page were taken at three points on the Gouthro Road. Again, my apologies for the haze in the photos.

Photo #1 was taken shortly after turning down the Gouthro Road, looking directly across the valley below. As can be seen in this photo, the road is in generally very fine condition and very steep. Invisible from this vantage point, the Frenchvale Brook crosses the valley across the width of the photo. It empties into the Northwest Arm of Sydney Harbour at Balls Creek.

Photo #2 was taken 1 km (⅝ mi) further down the Gouthro Road and it’s still descending! The Coxheath Hills on the far side of the valley now loom distinctly higher than they did from the Upper Leitches Creek Road, which is at approximately the same height below the higher Boisdale Hills. Gouthro Lake is at the right at the bottom of the hill, but is hidden from view by the trees. Unlike nearly all of the Upper Leitches Creek Road beyond the quarry, Gouthro Road is inhabited, though not densely.

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Photo #3 was taken just below the junction of the Gouthro and Frenchvale Roads, about 150 m (0.1 mi) past the bridge over the Frenchvale Brook. There must be fish in the brook as, when I crossed the bridge, two lads were just descending down to the brook with fishing gear. The view is across the valley to the Boisdale Hills along which the Upper Leitches Creek Road runs; the junction of the Gouthro Road and the Upper Leitches Creek Road is in the “notch” at the centre left to the right of the rounded hill.

Photo #4 looks to the right of photo #3 across the Frenchvale Brook valley to the Boisdale Hills along the Upper Leitches Creek Road. The Frenchvale Brook is invisible here, but its course can be made out by following the line of trees below the near ridge. The yellow-coloured field is on the far side of the Brook; it was a riot of buttercups and daisies sufficient to cancel out the greens of the grasses in which they were growing. All told, I was delighted to find this beautiful area; while I had previously driven the Frenchvale Road, I hadn’t before ventured across the valley; its beauty is certainly worth exploring.