the rock platform as a pavement; where the road ran over the shallow soils, it was often marked out by rows or low walls of rough, broken stone. The construction and completion of the road are recorded in Cox's Journal. Cox's journal indicates that three areas, in particular, required extensive cutting through rocky outcrops, at Linden to Woodford, Wentworth Falls and the descent at Mount York. Cox wrote describing the Linden - Woodford area as follows: The actual building of the road involved the definition of a trafficable route which was then cleared of vegetation (trees being cut-off below ground level but rarely "grubbed out"), boulders, and rocky outcrops. The formation of the road itself was as minimal as the terrain allowed, with low side-cuttings and embankments as necessary. In very rocky terrain cuttings were made into the mountain itself, the natural rock providing the road surface or pavement. It is possible that some of the stepped rock platforms may have initially been partly filled or levelled with earthen ramps, although Karskens (1988) suggests that Cox mostly left the road pavement in an unformed, natural state due to the haste with which the road was being constructed. By 1817, (and for two decades after) the Linden to Woodford section was according to botanist, Allan Cunningham, "the most rugged and oppressive stage of the whole journey on account of the sandstone rocks on which the road is formed". He also noticed that the NSW Government carters had already created "small circuitous routes in the bush". Even if it was initially partly filled or shaped, much of the original surface of the road weathered away quickly, as by 1819 it was reported that the stumps of the trees which had been left within the roadway were becoming exposed. Numerous accounts of subsequent journeys over the Cox's Road in the "Twenty Mile Hollow" area (between Linden and Woodford) describe the difficult passage over the slippery sandstone surface and the uncomfortable jolting over the stepped rock platforms. It also appears that some minor secondary routes and deviations from the main track were also developed from an early period in order to avoid some of the more difficult descents. In 1824 it was reported that: "Four miles beyond Springwood [the road] becomes rough, rocky and at times very difficult. It has been necessary to cut it through rocks, and sometimes to fill the hollows of