Palmy walk- with Camino training memories

Today and tomorrow in Tasmania there is a pilgrimage walk that has become a 'virtual' Camino, since so many cannot presently walk the Camino in Spain, or even walk far in their own country. Throughout the day people have been posting photos from many places around the world of their 'virtual' Caminos. 

I decided against walking 15km+ today, but I did walk about 6km this morning, on a route that I often walked when I was 'training' for each of my Caminos in 2008 and 2012.  The route is very familiar to me, and I enjoyed re-tracing an old path. We are lucky in Palmerston North that we have a succession of city walkways/ green corridors that you can link up, and walk as far or briefly as you wish.  Today I parked my car at Springdale Grove, headed in the direction of the hills, then across behind IPU, before turning back down the Summerhill 'valley' path and rejoining my car. Here are a selection of photos from my walk.

Here is the sign where I started walking- it's looking a bit 'worn' but still serves it's purpose.

 

To the top right of this photo you can see some 'blue' colouring that is the city athletics track. 

It didn't seem to take long before I was heading downhill again, with the view of the hills ahead of me. There has been lots of infrastructure built by PNCC in terms of steps and bridges etc that make this walk possible, and I am grateful for all of it.

As always on a walk, it is some of the 'little' details that make the heart glad.

 

Old fencepost I always love seeing

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path lead downhill, then uphill by a pond, then down again to Old West Road. Sometimes I turn back to my car at this point, but today I decided to do a loop.

Near Old West Rd there were quite a few 'Te Araroa' symbols appearing. The path I had walked was part of the Te Araroa Walkway, but not far from here, I diverged to return back around to the city, while those walking the Te Araroa route continue on down Turitea Rd and into the hills behind the city.

Just before I joined Turitea Rd, I met some sheep that looked back at me. I seem to have often walked here in springtime, when mothers and lambs tend to run away, but these sheep just calmly regarded me.

The next bit of the path is a link path up to Pacific Drive, and I remember on previous occasions,looking at reflections in puddles and this creek as I climbed- because there is in fact a steep bit of climb here that I like to distract myself from. But the view at the top is well worth it.

A new sign has appeared since I last walked here. As you re-emerge into the land of nearby houses, there is the Adderstone Walkway, and clearly people have been planting here over time. There are many flax bushes near a pond, and earlier in the season, you get to see many tui swooping into the flax flowers to feed. For now, the seed pods are swelling and not so appetising for tui at present.

By now, my day's route was coming to a close. I headed downhill into the valley by Summerhill Drive, where there is some shade as the day warms up.

And as I finally rejoined the road before getting back to my car at Springdale Grove, I took time to enjoy the summer wildflowers by the fence. 

 Addendum: I didn't see any tui today by IPU, but the flax flowers in my backyard are a little later, so I did indeed see a tui at home.

Buen Camino to all the Virtual Camino walkers today. I found it a peaceful interlude to be walking today. With all that is going on in the world at present, I hope you did too.

Ten Week Countdown

Today most people I know are back into the teaching year -whether for a Teacher Only Day or the New Class- while I still have lots of time to 'please myself'. Regardless, the start of the school year has really galvanised my thinking, as it makes my departure date very concrete! It's just over 10 weeks before I leave for Paris and my walk from Cluny, and the school term of 10 weeks seems to provide the perfect 'number' for a countdown.

I've already walked many of the nearby hills, so I keep trying to find ways to put variety into my training. Today I decided I'd walk the Turitea Walkway uphill from Massey, but as a variant I would start near the bridge and cross the river first. Then, instead of my usual combo of city walkways from Old West Rd, I decided I'd turn right along the road until I reached the Massey entrance, and come back downhill that way.

There was a spot of 'variety' right where I parked my car, as work is being done on the stopbanks near the bridge.

 I love the flat beginning of the track on the edge of the Massey campus, as there are bridges that cross the Turitea Stream several times. Today with the sunshine, there were some lovely reflections on the water.

Once I was out onto the more rural part of the track, I passed some of these berries. They looked quite yummy, but I had no idea what they might be, and whether or not they might be poisonous- so I had to leave them alone. They were another reminder that the season is progressing, even though we are all moaning about the mostly lousy summer so far.

When I reached Old West Rd, I had my last view of the stream as it passed under the bridge, before I headed up the road for my return journey via the Massey campus.

It was quite warm by then, so I was glad to find some sheltered seating under trees near the Massey library, and gulped down plenty of my water. It was an easy descent, and return to my car. Week 10, Walk 1, done.

361: wind turbines

Whenever I do the Manawatu Gorge walk, I always feel like I am walking in forest that is quite wide, and I feel a long way away from the everyday world. But such is not quite the case. There's an extra lookout since I was last at the Woodville end of the Manawatu Gorge walk- that gives you a view over these wind turbines. And there is a very short walk off the track to reach the viewpoint. Things are not always what they seem!

360: swimming time!

Another lovely summer's day. I've already been to the Lido for some lane swimming. Now my togs are drying off outside in the sunshine, and maybe there will be another swim later...

Out and About

In just over three months time I am heading off to France for some more walking, some of which will be quite 'hilly', so I have been 'out and about' walking, trying to get fitter. Here are just a few views from along some of the ways I have walked...

 This old fencepost on the Turitea Walkway sits amidst some of the lush grass growth 

we have had after the rains we had in November.

 On Himatangi Beach I saw many lined up along the short stretch of river, 

hoping to catch a few whitebait.

 Climbing up Turitea-Green's Rd gives me lots of up-and-down hills practice.

 Signs of summer- there were lots of spider nests on the long grass.

 Blechnum capense was the name I learned back in high school for this fern 

whose orange-edged fronds I love. It has a new botanical name now, but I can never remember it!

 From a high point on Green's Rd, I can see where I am about to descend down the road- 

only to climb up again just around the next bend. Truly, good practice for the Cluny route!

 This is the highest point along Green's Rd before I descend again to Kahuterawa Rd. 

The sign is showing that this is part of the Te Araroa Walkway down the length of New Zealand. 

 Back down on Kahuterawa Rd, a sign that summer is advancing:
the hay has been cut and baled from this paddock.

 Finally I got back onto the Gorge Walkway, which gives me more practice up hills and down...

The Gorge road is closed at present by this huge, unstable slip, which is taking months to clear.
But you can still walk the walking track- it's just not quite so easy to leave a car at each end
if a group want to walk the whole track in one direction.

359: Summer Christmas

 

For all my northern hemisphere friends, here is a little taste of a summertime Christmas :-)

345: roadside rest

In just four months time I will be starting some long walks in France, so the summer needs to be full of walks to improve my fitness. Today I took one of my 'circuits' around some quiet country roads. I started earlyish, just after 7am, and after three and a half hours, I decided it was time to stop for a morning tea break. And ahhhh how I love taking my shoes off!

337: Christmas in the Square

It's Christmas in the Square here in Palmy today. The Red Cross Fair was on this morning, and later on will be the Santa Parade and Carols. Then they will light up the tree for the season.

At the Esplanade

Today was a glorious summer's day here in Palmy- 28C- and everything looked beautiful in the Esplanade.

If you click on this photo to enlarge this red dahlia,

you can see yellow pollen scattered on the petals. 

Monarch butterflies were very obvious around the dahlia gardens. 

But these little white butterflies

-that my father used to very much dislike as their green caterpillars ate up the cabbages!- 

were around in profusion as well, just not so blatantly.

I'm not entirely sure why I went into the Conservatory on such a hot afternoon- 

but there are always interesting tropical plants flowering in there.

And this afternoon I 'discovered' the aquarium setting on the camera,

that helped 'see' under the water more clearly and brightly. 

 I tried to take photos of some of the monarch butterflies, but they were much happier on the tall dahlias at the back, rather than on the handy ones at the front of the garden!

Finally it was time to cycle home. I chose to go via the Bridle Track as there was a bit more shade from the sun in part of the route. The summer cumulus cloud was reflected nicely in today's calm waters of the Manawatu River.

Summer at the Esplanade

We just had two drought-breaking days of rain, but the weather today is beautiful again. I worked in the garden for the morning (amazing I know!) then headed off to the Lido for an afternoon swim, and followed it with a short walk in the Esplanade. Here are a few of the treasures I saw there.

 The sunlight looked so delicate on this dahlia.

 And here you can see a monarch perched on a dahlia. Last week I saw a monarch on a different dahlia and put the photo on my 365/365 blog. But I didn't want to put another monarch-on-dahlia shot on that blog, so you are getting to see this here instead of there!

 It was nearing 3pm when I was in the Esplanade, and the light was too harsh for many shots. So I took a quick look in the Conservatory, always a place that holds interesting surprises in the flower line. Here are just two of the precious flowers in there today.

 I loved the way the 'starburst' of this flower caught the light.

And just to show you that people really do exist in my world - though I mostly keep them out of my blog- here is the Esplanade train passing by. I love it when I have children staying/visiting and have an excuse to go on this wonderful little train- one of Palmy's best kept secrets!

(For those of you following my blog, the dates might be getting confusing. I might 'manipulate' the dates of my 'away' holiday postings soon so they follow in the order the holiday happened in!)

33 degrees Celsius

Palmerston North can have some warm-ish days in summer, and sometimes the humidity can be uncomfortable. But yesterday was the highest temperature I have felt here ever. It was 33C and humidity was oppressive as well. It was like being in Singapore....

From TV3 news- screen shot

Okains: two misty days, then glorious sunset

Last time I was at Okains Bay - three years ago in 2008- I was keen to climb hills as part of my Camino training. No such compulsion existed this time, so when the next two mornings dawned with thick mist covering the tops of the hills, I was happy enough to shorten my morning walks!

 When I was walking along the Old Wharf track, I had seen a tern diving repeatedly for food, then disappearing. Chances are it was nesting on the lower of these two islands, where many seabirds could be seen, safe at a distance from interfering humans.

 By later in the afternoon of the second day, blue skies had returned, and soon people were taking advantage of the surf and the estuary, swimming or paddling, or with kayaks and boards of varying kinds.

After dinner at the campsite, we were all slipping into relaxed laziness, when someone came to say there was a cruise ship passing the bay. This we had to see!

It was just as well we had been roused from a lazy state, as there was another glorious sunset to be seen this evening.

This little boy seemed to be enjoying the colours in the sky as he ran out several times to the surf.

And the colours over the hills were quite spectacular.

But the most glorious colours were seen where the sun set in the west, inland from the camp.