This is perhaps the most picturesque walks in East Ballarat. It follows the valley of the Specimen Vale Creek down to Main Road and then back up the Warrenheip Gully, with a short diversion to York Street to see where that walking track led. The Warrenheip Gully track ends with a fence, probably the boundary of the Wildlife Park, so I finished off by walking up to Eureka Street, down to Stawell Street, and home. The walk goes between the three main east-west roads in the area; Victoria Street, Eureka Street and York Street which are on the ridges that define the two valleys.
On a normal walking day I would cut across using one of the intersecting streets, usually Queen, Ottway or King Streets, to shorten the walk to the free time I have, and it is rare that I would carry out the entire walk in one go. On this occasion, however, the early morning weather was very pleasant and I wanted to encompass the pleasure of these two valleys in one occasion. There is, as usual, a variety of vistas and architectural styles, reflecting the diverse history of this area since around, I would guess, the 1880s.
Leigh Edmonds little box of stuff 
Hi Leigh
Just as a matter of courtesy I wanted to let you know that we (Ballarat Toy Library) have promoted the walk that you have pictured here on your website.
It’s a ripper little map and the photographs – some of which we have used in the background of one of the group of maps we have created to tell people about how to get to and what you can do around the site of the Ballarat Toy Library in its new home here in what is now to be known as ‘Barkly Square’ alias the old ladies secondary college on Barkly Street, Ballarat East.
This will hopefully help to inspire people to walk and enjoy some or all of the Specimen Vale Creek Walk.
The maps have been sent out to the 400-500 people who are in the families that are our members and posted onto our Facebook page – you can see them here. We have popped the link to your site within the page that talks about the surrounding parklands.
Thank you for creating it in the first place – it’s such a pretty area – we hope more people choose to use it.
Sally Tuck
President,
Ballarat Toy Library
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