I organized the first walking adventure in Port Hills with Emma Rogers in 2020. We went from Godley to Gebbies, which was 37 km. This was upgraded to 42 km in 2021, an event called Lyttelton to Lyttelton. The idea was that I’d change the route every year but, to be honest, Lyttelton to Lyttelton is perhaps the best possible option for a few reasons:
- It’s a loop. No car shuffle = very easy to organize.
- It’s exactly 42 km (plus minus a few hundred meters) which is too good to ignore. Same distance as a marathon!
- Both the starting point and the endpoint are accessible by public transport. Again, too good to be true!
- There is a pub at the end and also in the middle for lucky ones (only those who are fast enough will reach Sign of Kiwi before their closing time at 4 PM!).
- It’s just such a beautiful line on a map – the most logical line you can come up with. Perhaps only Godley to Adderley Head would beat it but access issues provide a problem.
This year, there was an option to walk from the bottom of Rapaki Track to Lyttelton which added an additional 10 km to 42 km. Only Chris and I started there, and Emma Rogers caught us up along the ridge as she jogged from her home. After jumping on the ferry, I kind of lost count of how many people are on the track and where they are, but to my knowledge, we had 17 participants and about 13 finishers. An incredible number of 20 people pulled out before the trip. The weather did look dodgy until the last minute and the huge amount of rain in the previous days and weeks suggested a very muddy experience so I can understand why some people decided to pull out.
The headlights of this year:
- Sleet on top of Mt Herbert.
- The youngest finisher, James, was only 10 years old.
- It was truly pretty muddy.
- Some thoughtful participants like James and Jim changed their footwear at Gebbies Pass from muddy boots to clean sneakers.
Participants: Michal Klajban (leader, GPX, photos), Chris McHarg, Emma Rogers, Zack Williams, Byron Harvey, Sam Garmonsway, Jim Schofield, James Schofield, Mark Nicholls, Jonathan Carr, Vicky Havill, Alan Ross. Rae-Anne Kurucz, Evie Anderson, Hayley Dauben
Tramped on 7th July, 2022.
Rough stats: 42 km (52 km for Chris and I, maybe 60 km for Emma), 2300m, 10 hours for 42 km
Photos
Map
Max elevation: 917 m
Min elevation: -10 m
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