My Accidental 10km Walk

[SYNACK]

The other day, in an effort to combat my current lack of fitness I decided to wander around a local scenic track that I used to walk frequently. After completing my usual assent to the top of the hill I stumbled across a sign that I had not seen before. A small plaque tacked to a tree and an orange arrow pointing off into the bushes.

 

As this track was not listed on any of the other sineage and had just seemingly appeared out of nowhere they may as well have labled it "intregueing track". As such I had to know where it went, as googleing it from my phone would have been cheating I decided that I needed to explore it to find out.

 

 

After trecking through lite vegitation for about 10 minutes the tracke opened up into open grassland pastures and it became clear that the track followed the ridge line towards the coast. This possibility made the journy far more interesting as it now included a possible beach visit.

 

 

This continued for several peaks and vallys rising and falling around 50m in elevation each time with surround views of the south eastern edges of the Auckland reigon including a view of the Auckland Skytower far off in the distance. Along the way apart from the hoards of nettels and gorse bushes I came across several felled trees which proved to be quite a hazzard in 1.2m tall grass along with both a CB radio relay station and a trig point (mapping landmark for easy triangulation).

 

Continuing on through more farmland the track stumbled across a gravel road for a short distance then quickly climbed again into a litely forested area of realitivly new pine trees.

 

Continued in next post...

[penfold]

So the question is, are you suffering today???

 

Looks like a nice walk though...

[somabc]

Can I come to NZ!

[SYNACK]

At the higest point it turned left again following the ridge line but dashing hopes of a beach visit.

It then proceeded down hill at a hastey pace decending what felt like 100m first through thinning pine trees then through farm land.

The track finally landed in on a wholely unremarkable gravel road in the outskirts of Whitford (nowhere).

After trecking down the gravel road I found a quarry and a typically understated sign announcing the presence of the track.

Given the sign is about 5cm high and located about 6m from the main road side it could be quite a challange to spot.

 

At this point I knew where it went and had to reverse the procedure to get back to my car

 

I realise that this probably makes a better blog post than forum entry but really did not want to battle the EG blog engine to add this many images. My appologies for the image quality as my HTC Touch Pro 2 camera is not the best.

[PEO]

Now that would have been great fun on my mountain bike

[SYNACK]

So the question is, are you suffering today???

 

Looks like a nice walk though...

 

Yes kind of but not because of the walk, later that day I had three rounds of laserstrike with a group of friends and being a darkened room ploughed into a wall at full speed so I have been paying for that today. It was a suprisingly nice walk though even though it was 28-30C the whole time, the attempt at blue the camera made is rather poor compared to the real thing.

 

Can I come to NZ!

 

Certainly, there is plenty of room

 

 

Doing some research tonight I found out that the track in question is actually part of a walking track that attempts to span the length of New Zealand. The section I was on was this bit Te Araroa - The Long Pathway - Auckland but I added an extra couple of kms at least trecking around the trails on the Clevedon side and getting back to my car.

http://www.teararoa.org.nz/userfiles/image/nz.jpg

[SYNACK]

Now that would have been great fun on my mountain bike

 

I think I would have been killed several times over on a mountain bike as my skills are more than a little rusty

 

Anyhow I have uploaded the full photoset in much better quality to flickr if anyone is interested in a better look. Even added locations to a few of them

 

Kimptons Track 12-01-2010 - a set on Flickr

[kearton]

/me is homesick

[elsiegee40]

Glorious scenery, beautiful weather... very jealous. NZ is in the travel plans, but I can't see it being anytime soon

[korifugi]

"And Aaaaiiiii would-walk-ten-thousand-metres, and aaaaiiiii would-walk-ten-thousand-more":getmecoat:

[glennda]

im coming next year for my cousins wedding will see if i can find the track!!

[Mako]

"And Aaaaiiiii would-walk-ten-thousand-metres, and aaaaiiiii would-walk-ten-thousand-more":getmecoat:

 

+1 for making me smile.

[CHR1S]

wow, its just like the UK but with better weather! Looks beautiful!

[Batman]

Reminds me of what my old lodger did once. He needed to get to a place outside of Northampton called Nether Heyford. You may have heard of it, the Jesus Army are based there.

 

Anyway, he didn't want to ask his mates for a lift so he decided to walk it... but being relatively new to the area he underestimated the distance and lost his bearings completely. He walked all the way to Towcester (nearly 12 miles in the wrong direction) before he finally swallowed his pride and phoned for a lift.

 

To give you an idea of how mad it is, I include a map!

[mikeglover]

Reminds me of what my old lodger did once. He needed to get to a place outside of Northampton called Nether Heyford. You may have heard of it, the Jesus Army are based there.

 

Anyway, he didn't want to ask his mates for a lift so he decided to walk it... but being relatively new to the area he underestimated the distance and lost his bearings completely. He walked all the way to Towcester (nearly 12 miles in the wrong direction) before he finally swallowed his pride and phoned for a lift.

 

To give you an idea of how mad it is, I include a map!

 

Very funny. It must of taken him hours.

[mikeglover]

....

Continuing on through more farmland the track stumbled across a gravel road for a short distance then quickly climbed again into a litely forested area of realitivly new pine trees.

 

Continued in next post...

 

Just out of interest.. what camera was these pictures taken on? Looks very nice over there. Don't know if it's my monitor here at work but pictures look underexposed.

[SYNACK]

Just out of interest.. what camera was these pictures taken on? Looks very nice over there. Don't know if it's my monitor here at work but pictures look underexposed.

 

It was just my phone cammera, an HTC Touch Pro 2 and you are right about the exposure being off, it was much brighter and lighter than is shown in the photos. The ones on flickr are slightly better due to less compression but the phone is really not that good at landscapes because it is not an infinite focus lense along with the lense being only about 2mm and the CCD is probably the same.

 

The next time I go for a walk I will be taking something better, maybe even the dSLR which should result in much better photos.

[mikeglover]

It was just my phone cammera, an HTC Touch Pro 2 and you are right about the exposure being off, it was much brighter and lighter than is shown in the photos. The ones on flickr are slightly better due to less compression but the phone is really not that good at landscapes because it is not an infinite focus lense along with the lense being only about 2mm and the CCD is probably the same.

 

The next time I go for a walk I will be taking something better, maybe even the dSLR which should result in much better photos.

 

Ah in that case I understand. I got the HTC Hero with the 5 megapixs camera but the camera is so bad that I dont use it often.

Annoying because I'm into photography I find myself without a camera and the phone is no good.

What type of DSLR you got? I use a Pentax K20D, fantastic camera.

[SYNACK]

Ah in that case I understand. I got the HTC Hero with the 5 megapixs camera but the camera is so bad that I dont use it often.

Annoying because I'm into photography I find myself without a camera and the phone is no good.

What type of DSLR you got? I use a Pentax K20D, fantastic camera.

 

I use a Cannon 50D which I find quite good at what it does. It is very hard to get a truly good photo with a phone cammera, you get the general image but from a lense size prospective it is like using an early 1800s pin-hole cammera and it usually shows in the end results