The Gumdiggers Trail starts at Rothesay Bay |
Alan from the Northcote Nordic Walkers joined us and was introduced to some of the North Shore Nordic Walkers before we started our walk across Browns Bay Beach and onto the steps up to Dan Jones Bluff. It was an extremely busy morning with heaps of people out walking with dogs on the beach and it can be a little disconcerting when a pooch comes over for an inquisitive sniff of your pole.
In fact last year my walking buddy and I encountered a rather nasty dog out on Long Bay beach and my poles are now sporting teeth marks which I have neatly hidden using a strip of red insulation tape. Actually it’s a great way to disguise chips and marks on your poles if they are starting to sport a few scars.
Cliff Walkway Rothesay Bay |
The steps up to Beechwood Road are very steep and I advise unstrapping to ascend if you are not too confident either climbing or descending and to hold onto the hand rail for support. Once at the top of the walkway and past Dan Jones Bluff we started our walk to Rothesay Bay along the clifftop walkway.
The only interesting reference that I can find to a Dan Jones is an article about the Forfarshire, a ship that left with emigrants for Auckland in 1875, the ship’s captain was Daniel Jones. He made his passage to New Zealand on 18th March 1875 from London in what appears to have been treacherous weather and the ship sustained some considerable damage. They left London with 203 passengers and were at sea for 108 days and during that time they sailed though a terrible cyclone, they also sadly lost four children and an adult during the long voyage. Once the North Cape was in sight the ship was anchored in the Tiritiri channel. Perhaps the ship's captain is connected to the name of this area and I daresay that someone will tell me if I have the connection wrong but it’s an interesting piece of local history anyway and incidentally, the ship only ever made six trips to New Zealand.
Rangitoto from the Cliff top Walkway Mairangi Bay |
The Footbridge Campbells Bay |
We made our way back to Browns Bay without any further distractions and funnily enough we did see one old gentleman using a couple of walking sticks but we passed by without comment!
We had coffee at Ben Gusto and reluctantly made our way back to our cars, the cafe was really busy and the renovations outside made the cafe look even more appealing from the roadside, we may have to start our walks much earlier in order to grab a coffee there on a Sunday morning once summer sets in.
More Information & Sources:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/Forfarshire1875.htmhttp://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/pictures/forfarshire.html
http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/images/forfarshire1.jpg
http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland049.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/805647/Up-in-arms-over-footbridge
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