Starting to get away from the Wellington CBD,
This morning it was raining when I got up just after 6am. I knew it was going to be a looong day, so I made the most of the grey weather by taking my car to the end point of today’s walk and using the slow Sunday public transport to get back to the start. I only started logging my first footsteps on the trail after 9am, but was in good spirits as the sky turned blue.
After the first small “hump” I joined (what felt like) a back country lane. Just fancy “lifestyle plots” filled with big houses, horses and oversized gardens. I am not trying to take anything away from this style of living, it was beautiful there and I certainly cannot afford to live like that. I am just trying to set the scenery… while this song kept popping up in my head. No specific reason other than in the lyrics “Driving at 90 down those country lanes”. The song I was thinking about was by Ed Sheeren – Castle on the Hill and you can listen to it on YouTube here.
After crunching a couple of those kilometers and checking out some of the (open to public <-believe it… click here) gardens… I entered Spicer Forest and things started to point upwards. One thing about how I do my Te Araroa trail is the fact that I do not read to much into “the daily commute” or belong to any social “groups”. I don’t study the trail notes, remember every turn or place I am going to see. The reason behind this is so I leave things open to chance, open to new experiences, surprises and possible adventure.
Spicer Forest turned out to be one of these surprises… what a beautiful piece of track that I unexpectedly enjoyed. Nice track conditions, bridges across water, shade, birdsong and beauty all wrapped up into one. But enough of that, the track continued to climb and soon I was on top of Colonial Knob (1 of 3). Breathtaking views while I sat down to catch my own breath.
Views all round of Wellington and across the water to the South island, Mana island and Kapiti island. Wow. I sat there for a while to try and compute where I found myself to be at that point.
Then it was down, all the way down >600 steps, down the hill to into Porirua. A small and busy village filled with malls and traffic that I tried to get out of asap. With my feet hurting at this point, it was unfortunately not over yet… Next was past Aotea and their “Adrenaline Forest”… see if you can spot the kids in the trees.
After a rest stop here, I pushed on with the final leg to the Paremata train station. My feet were hurting like crazy and I got the sense that I might have pushed them too far with the 24 official trail kilometres today. There will be a couple extra km’s during the public transport too, so they have reason to moan. Tonight I picked up a burger and am in bed early… feet up high, hoping they feel better in the morning.
__________
41.1606 – 174.8665
24 November 2024
FP-318
2 responses to “Back Roads, Porirua and Paremata – Day 52.”
What a day! 🙃
I could live somewhere down those country lanes..
The Ed Sheeran lyrics perfect..
A few Xavier Rudd tunes also came to mind reading post and seeing all these incredible views..
Wow!
The “adventurous” way is the way to go..
Spotted the kids 🙃
Ouch for your feet.. take it easy Phil 😉
I think we can all “see” ourselves living down one of those country lanes, but I can assure you that it is not for everyone. It looks like a lot of work… and even more money to be honest.