The Road Least Travelled 

(and definitely not recommended.)

There were two paths through the forest!

 

 Every picture tells a story.
 So, this looks like a perfectly delightful scene and oh so innocent on a sunny afternoon!
Two roads leading down the hill from the Belleknowes Golf course-one might think perhaps a high road and a low road(and here I am tempted to burst into a wee Scottish song about Loch Lomand.) 


However, looks can be deceiving, especially in the gloaming of a Dunedin twilight.

Leaving Belleknowes

You will recall from the previous entry, that I finished my round of golf just on dark:
























As I headed off down the road from the golf course I happened to see these roads and thought perhaps if I took the left hand one it may lead down to near the top of where the steep footpath commenced, thereby giving me easy access  to where I believed my poor luminous Pinnacle ball rested.


Good idea Ariel!

Driving carefully, as the road seems quite narrow and  darkness is rapidly descending, I edge my car down the left hand path.

Hmm I think" that is quite a drop to my left " but I continue to cautiously advance toward the happy moment of ball retrieval.

The road is becoming narrower and lo! there is a ditch to my right as well as the drop to the left. 

Oh well, once around the next corner I feel sure there will be a small car park in which to turn around after I dash down the hill to grab my ball. 

Around the corner...

 there is another corner and the road seems a little overgrown.

As I negotiate the next corner I gladly note a clearing to the right.

Ah the carpark!

Wrong!

OMG.

And there on my right are those tricky little steps.

I recognize this place and that steep road.

It is the footpath.

Och eye -well I'm here now.

Leaving the headlights on I run off down the path to see if the ball is awaiting my return.

It isn't.

Heading back up toward my car I see just how very narrow this footpath is and just how difficult it is going to be to 

 BACK UP

 negotiating those little corner ,avoiding the steep drop to the left and the ditch to the right.

 Well the challenges of the golf course pale into insignificance  stacked up against the situation I now find myself in.

Carefully,carefully I manage the first few metres and even get around the first corner quite well.

Of course I have to say backing is not the easiest driving challenge for me since all the surgery on my neck - scar tissue makes a full range of movement tricky.

I double bogey it.

I end up in the rough(read ditch)

But fortune smiles on the brave and foolish(sometimes)  

Miraculously, I manage to drive forward and get out of the ditch and  with miniscule surges of power I painstakingly ascend the  hill and am finally back at the real Road.

What a workout. I am pouring with sweat despite the evening chill.

I shall have to admit my foolishness to my friend with whom I am staying as it will make her feel so much better about the previous ditch I was in on this golfing odyssey.

A ditch that she, my caddy, put us in as we headed off on an early morning mission to play

Waitoa Park. 

Now that is Rough!