OTGK Circuit

It's just under seven weeks now before I leave for Italy and my walk in Umbria, on some of the (hilly) trails of St Francis, and yesterday it was time for some 'distance' walking. So it was back to my circuit on Old West- Turitea- Greens - Kahuterawa Rds. (Last time I did it you can read about here.)

I started earlyish in case it got hotter than predicted, and had the reward of some beautiful patterns of sunlight on the clouds.

When I walked the Camino, there came times when I felt like I was taking too many photos of 'signs'- as they seemed so interesting. But back home, out of the walking context, I wished I had taken more 'signs' photos. Here is one on today's route- and I wonder what 'signs' I will bring back from Italy. I won't be shy about taking too many!

Here is another sky/early sunlight photo from along Old West Rd- a beautiful time of day to be out walking. It looks fairly 'dry', but we actually were rescued from even drier conditions by very heavy rain in the last two weeks.

I saw some 'striders' set out ahead of me along Turitea Rd. I never caught up to them and soon enough they were out of sight completely!

Trees against the sky always catch my eye...

Our little rural bridges are such a lifeline for people down these roads. 

It's getting hillier as I come near the end of Turitea Rd- and these sheep are definitely suspicious of me...

Another tree/cloud/light combo. The clouds and the light interplayed the whole day in unpredictable ways. One of the treasures of being in an island nation.

The dryness of the hills is evident- though much greener no doubt after recent rain.

The climb after the water treatment station on Turitea Rd was accompanied by Higgins' action today- they are adding new gravel to the road surface.

And all the familiar joys where there- fern fronds against the sky.

Summer was clearly a time for spider nests- saw many.

And the lichen still looked wonderful on these fence posts near the top of the Turitea Rd climb.

I did the 'Camino thing' and took my shoes and socks off for a breather when I had a rest/refreshment stop after 10km. The wind was whistling through at this point- always interesting which angles of the Green's Rd walk catch the wind. But I quite liked the feeling of the cold breeze on my bare feet.

Here is a view looking down Green's Rd.

Lots of thistles were in flower today- and bumble bees never seemed to be far away from them.

At the high point on Green's Rd I always love the view down to the plains below. The summer colours seemed especially vibrant today.

A feather caught on the roadside verge...

More tree/clouds action, this time on Kahuterawa Rd as I near the end of the day's walk. 

And a final sign. After some huge grass fires on rural properties recently, there is a total fire ban in place...

And for the nerds like me, I have recorded the altitudes of the walk using Strava. It fascinated me that the App was able to keep recording GPS coordinates even in the places where I lost internet connection. And Strava was very light on data usage. Feels like a lot of climbing on the last segment of Turitea Rd, and along Green's Rd- but actually I reach a higher altitude (400m) on the Gorge track- where most of the rest of my training is likely to be...