Time: 1.5 hours
Distance: 5.4 km
Start: Corner of Nayland Street and Richmond Hill Road
Finish: Same place (it's a loop)
Date: Friday 10th February 2023
We met in Sumner at the corner of Nayland Street and Richmond Hill Road. One of our crew (best not to mention any names here) was late and I was trying to be mature about it but my left eye was starting to twitch uncontrollably. There were some dark clouds on the horizon, and probably a bunch of negative ions in the air. In the meantime we were checking out that derelict house perched precariously on top of the rock in Nayland Street behind the Hollywood Cinema, and wondering who on earth would live there. It is actually a favourite house of my hoa rangatira, and I would be keen too if we hadn't lived through a multitude of ginormous earthquakes and a gazillion aftershocks.
Finally we were ready to go. Molly the dog was with us today. We walked along Richmond Hill Road until about number 44 where a narrow easy-to-miss path goes through the trees, between the houses and winds up up up to the road above. The retaining walls propping up the path are adorned with quirky mosaics (a cat, a pukeko, a lizard) and you feel like you are walking in someone else's back garden.
We popped out onto Richmond Hill Road again and continued up up up (always keeping left at road junctions) through the new subdivision (when will they stop destroying out beloved Port Hills???) to a farm gate and a turn-style. The road becomes a farm track here and continues on towards a rocky outcrop with a trig on top. Richmond Hill (a.k.a Windsor Castle). When we got as close as possible to the rocks we left the farm track and ambled in an off-piste fashion across the tussocks to the base. From here we could see that there is a path of sorts which enables one to scramble up the front face to the trig.
The wind was whistling about our ears as we continued up the hill and Nicole donned her pink snood. We crossed the cattle stop and went on for a bit before we realised that Molly was no longer with us. She doesn't bark but I think she was sending subliminal messages to Sharyn. We returned to the cattle stop for the rescue and there she was, standing forlornly on the wrong side. Quite cute.
At the clump of pines, multiple tracks go in multiple directions. We took the Greenwood Farm Track back down the ridge. The heavens opened and it pissed down in icy droplets. An unexpected wetting and a release of negative ions. We passed more houses being built (ffs) and the turn-off to frog pond which is an alternative option. Both tracks eventually meet up and head down into the valley were a small creek runs through the flax/harakeke.
I think the valley track is relatively newly cut. It follows the creek and at one point you have the option of skirting around or scrambling through a small gorge. We split into two and went both ways. The scrambling was slower and definitely more adventurous - a little slippery with the downpour. We heard frogs croaking in the creek somewhere.
At the bottom of the valley track we crossed the wobbly turn-style and we were back on Richmond Road just a hop skip and a jump to where we had parked the cars. We took another small easy-to-miss path between the houses and headed to Joe's Garage. The people who habituate Sumner cafe's are more kind of hip and trendy compared to other Christchurch suburbs (especially Brighton but with the exception perhaps of Lyttelton) and no-one batted an eyelid at three sodden chicks and one sodden dog resembling a drowned rat. We sat in the semi-outside doggy friendly area at the front and the heaters above deliciously warmed our backs while we drank coffees and ate cheese rolls and chatted about Dreaming in Colour.
