Stairway to.....

.... Long Gully station.

I've had my eye on this track for quite a while, and seeing that Bulldog Drummond Hobbs whipped me into shape in the Blue Mountains, and it wasn't too warm this morning, today was a good a time as any.

There's something mysterious about steps leading up through an archway of trees, into the gloom.

The first part - as you see here - was very easy; a doddle I thought.  But it soon got very steep and quite tricky.  The wooden steps are rotting and there's no handrail.  But it was interesting and not beyond my capabilities.

Anyway, the story behind these steps is that they lead up a very steep gully to the railway line.  And in Edwardian times there was a small station up there (Long Gully) for passengers who wanted to get into the middle part of the Park without walking for miles from the main entrance.  The little station was demolished long ago, but you can still see where it must have been.

It couldn't have been easy for Edwardian ladies with their long skirts, clambering up and down those steps.  It was bad enough for me and I only had a camera bag and a small black dog.