Churton Park Community Walkers
Newsletter May 12th 2024
Last week’s walks:
Last Wednesday’s walks around Crofton Downs attracted 64 members in total which included 8 Pleasure Pacers, 32 Steady Steppers and 24 Fast Footers. The Thursday group of 6 walked from Churton Park to Johnsonville and return (almost getting all the way back before the rain!). Karori/Makara was the location for 18 Friday walkers and this completed the week’s activities.
Brian Vincent.
Convenor.
A reminder about walking arrangements:
After everyone has arrived at the starting location, each group should confirm its leader and also nominate a ‘tail-end Charlie’. Please remember the medical kits – there is at least one for each group – and a reminder to take photographs. These allow us to record that day’s walkers in each group. Please forward these by email.
Finally, just a reminder to swap telephone numbers amongst those with whom you travel to the starting point each week. A handy back-up for any late changes to arrangements.
Reminder: Please ensure that you inform your group’s leader if you leave a walk partway through.
Walk Details for Wednesday May 15th 2024.
This Week's Walks: Every now and then we plan to do a walk starting at the Brooklyn Wind Turbine. We have been successful in the past but on at least two occasions we have postponed the walk because of wind and headed around Churton Park instead. This week we try again. If it is a particularly windy day we will let walkers know by email that we have transferred the walk to a local walk and we will meet at Churton Park instead. Let’s hope the weather plays its part. All walks have great views over Wellington.
Walkers should get to the nominated parking for a 9:30am starting time.
PPs: A 4.7km there and back walk up the road as far as the walkers can be bothered to go. Depending on how far up the road the walkers get they can view an interesting line of letter boxes at an intersection with a side road, a bit further up a castle which is (we think) an up-market doggy hotel and of course at the top the radar dome. The dome is being taken down and replaced with new technology so we don’t know how much of it is left. You can see the walk here
SSs: A 7.49km walk up the road, not quite to the dome, then a short distance down a side track and then onto another track back to the carpark via this downhill and slightly winding track. You can see the walk here
FFs: A 9.28km loop walk that can readily be cut back to about 8.3 if required. It is down the road from the carpark and then a Mountain Bike track right back up the hill to intersect with another track just short of the dome and then back down the road to our cars. You can see the walk on Mapometer here and on PlotaRoute here
Parking: There is a reasonably large carpark in the vicinity of the Wind Turbine. Access is via Hawkins Hill Road which is off Ashton Fitchett Drive which is off Karepa Street in Brooklyn.
Coffee: Nothing is booked so it is a free choice for walkers with Simmer and Thyme back at Churton Park and Penthouse and others on the way home.
Russell Paterson
Website
When you open the website to view your walk have a quick look at the “Home Page” This usually has new images each week showing views from one of our walks.
Cancellation
If the walks are cancelled an email will be sent out as early as possible but definitely before 8:00am.
Walk Schedules
You can look at the walk schedule for May 2024 here.
Photos
Walkers - please try and take a photo of each group on walking days and email them to this link. Preferably small size (around 450kb). It has been great to receive a larger number of photos from PPs and SSs - keep them coming, please!
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CPCW Photos
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Weather for our Wednesday walks around parts of Wilton Bush, Crofton Downs and Ngaio was stunning. But temperatures were certainly more a reminder of the imminent arrival of winter than reminiscent of summer and that is visible in the change of attire of many walkers!
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Thanks to Mike Drain for this photo of the PPs:
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And thanks to Paul Alpe for this photo of the SSs who did the complete walk. I understand others exited a little earlier to satisfy their caffeine cravings:
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Brian Alderson provided these two photos of the FFs - you may be able to work out which was taken before embarking on the walk. (Clue: everybody is smiling!)
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And on Thursday the hard core walkers ventured out in the cold in and around Churton Park and Johnsonville. Thanks to Hue Ng for this photo:
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Gary Dick plotted a Friday walk which took two groups on tracks up and around the Makara MTB Park including, as you will see from these photos, hills (of course!) and a swing bridge. (The top two photos are courtesy of Wendy Bentley and Gay Hoffman respectively; the lower two from Russell Paterson.)
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Thanks to Wendy Bentley for providing this week's reflection on the many and varied reasons why we walk:
The importance of Walking
Walking can add minutes to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 plus per month.
My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60. Now he's 97 years old and we don't know where he is!
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out what I'm doing...
I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. I haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.
Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say, 'Well, he looks good doesn't he.'
If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.
I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years, just getting over the hill.
We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more information in our heads. That's my story and I'm sticking to it
AND
Every time I start thinking too much about how I look, I just find a Happy Hour and by the time I leave, I look just fine.
 
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