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| Mount Alma rises high above Inman Valley, South Australia ... |
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| ...and the views are superlative in any light. Samwise Gamjee would be right at home. |
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| Evening light over the slopes of Mount Alma -- winter, 2016. And it's cold! |
Mount Alma rises high over Inman Valley on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, and the views from the top are superlative. Scotland, Ireland ... New Zealand and Middle Earth come to mind when you're gazing out over this countryside, especially in winter (when these images were captured), when it's green ... and cold, and windy!
In fact, Mount Alma is a cyclist's nightmare, which probably explains why so many of them ride it. Dave has ridden in a couple of times, and we'll link you from here to his cycling blog when he has the post up. But for the rest of us, it's an awesome drive in the comfort of a car. Preferably a
big, powerful car! A roadside sign down at the bottom warns that this hill is not for buses, trucks and so forth. And they ain't kidding. The signage is plentiful, and it's emphatic. See below!
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| The road starts to rise away up Mount Alma ... |
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| Drivers beware, and as for cyclists? Abandon hope. Unless your name is Nairo Qintana ... or Dave. |
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| See what we mean about the signage? Pass this point on a bicycle, and it's all your own fault, right? |
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| However you get to the top of Mount Alma -- |
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| Your reward is reaped in this kind of heaven. It's a photographer's paradise -- |
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| --so long as you remember your coat, hat, scarf, gloves, boots, thermals-- |
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| Watch out for Hobbits. There's got to be Hobbits around here. Stands to reason. |
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| Evening light is starting to gather. Not long till sunset... |
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| Sheep head down to the lower slopes. Perhaps they have a barn down there. |
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| Sunset on Mount Alma... |
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| A zoom shot into the very heart of the sunset. In fact, the hills are not really so dark. Yet. |
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| Shadows are just starting to get long... |
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| Not too much winter sun is left now, and when it's gone -- |
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| Just minutes later the headlights are on and it's twilight already. |
Driving Mount Alma is actually very safe. The road is well marked and the local council keeps it in very good repair. We've done it in twilight, and it didn't seem to be dangerous at all.
There's also a rally event held here, one of those "time trial for sportscars" races, which explains the rubber left on the road in places. It's not local "petrol heads" at all.
Coming down from the top, the road just drops out from under you and the car really is in low gear to handle the gradient. The views on the way down are as awesome as those from the top, but you're thinking, "Hmm, better get down before it gets dark."
Having done Mount Alma at the end of the day, racing the setting sun to get photos before there just wasn't enough light, we decided to go back in the morning -- full daylight and blue skies. So here we are for "take two," a few weeks after the shots above.
It's winter -- July, 2016 -- and it might look bright and warm, but it's cold enough that after a while your bare ands don't want to move properly anymore. The pictures were worth it, though. Right now, I'm just going to shut up and let the gallery speak for itself! Here goes:
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As you reach the foot of Mount Alma and run back into Inman Valley you start to see
"eccentric" granite boulders like these everywhere. How in the world did they get
into the middle of paddocks like this? They're the same kind of granite rocks you see
at Victor Harbour, and (!) Granite Island. And then -- |
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Yes -- glaciation deposited these boulders here. And if you'd like to continue your drive through Inman Valley,
you'll see Glacier Rock itself... |
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| To the uneducated eye it's not exactly spectacular, but geologists could get excited. Read on: |
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| Glacial History and Inman Valley -- |
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| Selwyn's Rock ... Cambrian Kanmantoo Quartzite. Very cool. (Say that three times, fast after two double tequilas.) |
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| Dave, your smiling tour guide, points out the formation itself... |
It'd be easy to drive right past Glacier Rock, because the signage is rather circumspect, just a little thing pointing you off to the side of the road. Alas, there's no disabled access to the pool and rock at the bottom, and the stairs are steep enough to be a major challenge to anyone who's not in robust shape (see below). There's a little observation platform at the top, though, and the info boards are up there -- just beyond the
cafe. Did someone say,
cafe? As in, coffee? Or, perhaps, lunch?
(For picnickers, there's a picnic table just off the road at the village of Inman Valley, just a few kilometers away: look for the redbrick Memorial Hall ... good bathrooms, too, and curious local artwork.)
We did actually stop for coffee at the Rock View Cafe. And clean forgot to take pictures. The coffee was wonderful, and we'll return again another time and fill in the blanks. We've also done the picnic thing, availing ourselves of the little facility at the village of Inman Valley, and that was great too.
