Bluff Hill Winter Solstice walk, Wed 17 June 2020
Banner Pix: Looking north-west to the Kaweka and Maungaharuru ranges
Views over Napier
And so it was up and over and down and around Napier Hill for three and a half hours on a warm, sunny winter’s morning to celebrate the winter solstice.
Morning tea at the lookout
We started in Battery Road opposite the end of Coronation Street, with a climb up the Chaucer Road steps. At this stage, the organiser and scribe was being berated for such an energetic start. By 10 o’clock, most had arrived at the Lookout on Bluff Hill for a well-earned break for morning tea. From there it was down through Sturm’s Gulley. At some stage, we went down to and then up the other side of Coote, Shakespeare, Milton and Burns Roads before ending up back at the start point.
We had 360-degree views over Napier
In total, we went up nine flights of steps, the longest being 120 steps, and down five flights.
Trampers were: Too many to list here, but 25 in total.
This was followed by lunch at Café Ahuriri, which had allocated a space for our large group. Too many lunchers to list here, but 30 in all.
Kelvin Shaw (tramp organiser and scribe)
Footnotes: If this is winter, then give me more.
If you’d like to do the same walk, you can get a PDF of the route here.
A map of Bluff Hill and all the steps is available from Napier’s i-SITE.
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