Another Gorgeous Coastal Walk – Day 1 – Manly to Palm Beach ‘Trail’, NSW

You may note that in the title of this post, I have put the word trail in inverted commas. That’s because the word trail is a very, very loose term for this meander from one gorgeous beach suburb to the next.

This trail introduces you to the full suite of Northern Sydney beaches and for me, it was a great introduction to places I had only heard the names of, or seen written on signs.

Don’t let the complete lack of signage turn you off this adventure. For me it was a wander of discovery as I ambled along, gazed at the views, back-tracked, found the missing turn-off, set off once more and generally gloried at the early morning skies.

If you are planning on visiting Sydney or are a local intent on discovering previously unknown parts of the Big Smoke, then definitely add this walk to your list of things to do…

Day: 1

From:  Manly                                   To: North Narrabeen

Approx. Distance: 14.4km (out of 32.3km)

Total Ascent: 601m                        Total Descent: 581m

Total Walking Time: 7h37m

Rating: Hard (by AllTrails)

Terrain: Very mixed. Lots of urban/suburban streets, board walks, a few bush trails and some rock scrabbling. Plenty of stiff climbs up and over coastal headlands, and surprisingly little actual beach walking.

Weather: Clear and warm.

Getting to the Start: catch a bus or a ferry to Manly.

Where to Stay: Big 4 Lakes Park, Narrabeen as a suggestion (at the roughly halfway point) or bus to your chosen accommodation.

General Comments:

• Due to some timing restrictions I had, I decided to walk this trail in one day. It’s not necessary to walk it this way, unless you have time restrictions too and I recommend that you do split it into two days to have time to enjoy the beaches, and explore the many side trails.
• You can walk it in either direction – North to South or South to North. It depends on where you want to finish – in busy Manly or chilled Palm Beach. Manly is certainly easier and quicker to get away from by either ferry or bus.
• The walk crosses the land of the Garigal and Guringai aboriginal people, and is also the ‘home’ of the charitable event – ‘A Bloody Long Walk’. This walk raises money for the support of people with mitochondrial disease and has a huge participation every year as people stroll from Palm Beach to Manly.

• I was cooling my heels in the hotel room waiting for it to get a bit lighter before I set out on my walk. I was in the Big Smoke after all and I am never quite sure how safe it is to be wandering around in the dark. Imagine my surprise as I stepped out the door at 620am to find that Manly was heaving with walkers, joggers, fur babies, cyclists, gym junkies, personal trainers, and volleyballers! Yep, I felt perfectly safe! 😊
• Up and over the first headland and I was onto the Freshwater Beach reserve. I figured that I just had to stick to the coastline with the water on my righthand side and I would be fine. This got a little tricky when the path completely disappeared under the crashing waves and, with some advice from a local, I did some freestyling up and over some sharp rocks (including sliding on my backside) to find the path once more.
• The wild seas of the last few days were still very much evident and most of the beaches remained closed. That didn’t stop all the surfers and swimmers, although most of the swimmers were in the ocean pools, enjoying the breaking waves even in the pool.

• As you can imagine and see from my photos, the views at every turn were absolutely stunning. The clouds really enhanced the early morning light and made for a picture-perfect start to the day.
• After the busyness of Manly, the crowds all-but disappeared and it was really only the locals I was sharing the path with. How lucky are they to live in such a beautiful part of Sydney? At a price, of course…
• I was loving every step of my morning, but I found it much slower going than I expected. It wasn’t all smooth paths and boardwalks, and the scrubbier sections (also known as ‘nature reserves’) included plenty of rocks to clamber over and/or slippery sandstone steps and stairs to navigate.

• I was also a bit frustrated with the fact that, with the complete lack of both knowledge of the area and any useful signage, I had to keep stopping to check the AllTrails app. The app, while better than nothing, would show that I had missed an important turn, show that I was zig zagging back on myself (which wasn’t true) or wouldn’t show my location at all. It seemed to take forever to get with the programme and give me any reliable information. Grrr!
• I was not enjoying the stop-check-start nature of this walk and I definitely am not one of those people who like to walk staring at their phone screen. I much prefer to be looking up and around, taking in my surroundings.

• The app also hinted at some lovely side trails that would be well worth exploring. Hence my suggestion to split this walk over two days. I suspect those side trails would take you direct to the beaches and away from the busy suburban streets that AllTrails insisted on directing me along at times.
• For example, at North Curl Curl the app takes you on a big loop to avoid an inlet and cross a bridge, which I dutifully did. I was only to discover when I got to the other side, that I could easily have walked across the inlet without getting my feet too wet. If I had done that, I would have saved a couple of kilometres and been able to stick to Nature not asphalt. You learn something every day.

• Dee Why beach is at about the 7km mark and could make a good first coffee stop or Long Reef Surf Club is at the 10km mark (approximately 😊).
• Even though it was still early in the morning and with a small breeze, it was starting to warm up once the sun broke through the clouds and I was rueing my stupidity. When packing to head to Sydney I had thrown in my water bladder etc, knowing how much I rely on sipping water as I walk. It was only when I got to Sydney that I realised I had packed the bladder, but not the connecting hose! D’oh – slap of forehead!!
• North Narrabeen would be a good place to pause and split this walk in two. You could easily catch a bus – either northwards or southwards – or stay overnight at the Holiday Park there. If you wanted to be a bit more purist about it, you could walk further to Turimetta Beach at the 15km mark.

Top Tips for this Trail:

• Signage: Please note there is NO official signage for this trail. There are some random Bicentennial Coastal Walkway signs on the northern sections, but not enough to make them useful.
• Trail Information: The Manly Visitor Information Centre has some printed maps of the wider area and bus routes. Those maps give you a bit of an idea of where you are heading, but for more detailed information (when it gets around to it or decides it can talk to you), download the trail map from AllTrails for use offline.

• Public Transport: If you have an Opal Card you can tap on/off the buses to pay your fare. Buses are accessible not far off the trail that will take you back to Manly or back into the Sydney CBD.
• Water & Food: unbeknown to me, almost every surf club along the length of the walk has a café and water bubblers. Where there isn’t a convenient surf club café, there is every chance there will be a coffee van. This is great to top up energy and hydration levels as you go.

I am going to call it quits here at the roughly halfway point – not that I did in real life. I could put it all in one post, but I have too many photos to share! 😊

This would be a wonderful way to walk with Jo on a Monday, or any other day for that matter.

What do you think? How does this trail look so far?

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