We start this trip from Morgans Coffee 3/84-90 Old Bathurst Road, Emu Plains (in the Eco Blue Business Park). To get here from Penrith you travel over the old Great Western Highway Bridge in Penrith to Emu Plains and turn right into Old Bathurst Road (the street after Station Street). Morgans is on the left after the roundabout at Russell Street. We’ll aim to be here by 10.15am and depart by 11am.
The Old Bathurst Road Zig Zag was built in 1826 making it the second road over the Blue Mountains after the first in 1814 and before the third in 1834. It has substantial dry-stone walling up to 8 courses high and low lying culverts. The Zig Zag is one of only two left in NSW built before the time of Sir Thomas Mitchell.
After the slow ascent up the Zig Zag, we come out at Blaxland. At the roundabout at Wilson Way, we turn left and then right at the next roundabout at Layton Avenue. From here we come to the traffic lights at the Great Western Highway where we turn right and travel to Blackheath (about an hour) where we will have lunch.
After lunch we head back along the Great Western Highway to Blaxland where we will turn left at traffic lights into Layton Avenue (McDonalds and 7-Eleven are on the left after the intersection), then straight ahead through a roundabout into Mitchells Pass Road. The road to the bridge is two way and after the bridge it is one way down the hill to Emu Plains. There is some parking at Lennox Bridge, hopefully enough for us to get out and inspect the bridge. Towards the end of the road we will stop to inspect the John Whitton Memorial Obelisk if we have time.
Lennox Bridge crossing Lapstone Creek was constructed between 1832-1833. It is the oldest single span stone arch bridge on mainland Australia. The bridge was designed and built by David Lennox with a gang of 20 convicts that he trained. The bridge served the main route over the Blue Mountains for 93 years until 1926 when the GWH was re-routed via the Knapsack Viaduct.
Inquiries and RSVP by 29 April to Paul Johnson 0402 628242