On Sunday we went to lunch at a friends' house on Te Atatu peninsula. We ate lots and enjoyed the great company, and then it got late...so we gave up on our good intentions to go to the Waitakeres for this week's run. We eventually ended up taking their very big, very energetic dog and very genki (lively) 11 year-old for a walk around the Peninsula, which turned out to have an excellent, mostly off-road track on the eastern side looking back over the Waitemata Harbour to Auckland city.
Te Atatu Peninsula eastern side out and backWe diligently returned on Tuesday evening to actually run this track (no slacking off here!). Te Atatu Road ends at the northernmost tip of the peninsula. Here you'll find a carpark and entrance to Chapman Strand, which is where we began our run. According to the Waitakere City Council website (incidentally, I'm guessing I'll have to update all these links when the councils merge into the super city) there will eventually be a run that goes all of the way around the peninsula. For now we kept to the eastern coast - in this direction there is a decent buffer between the houses and the sea, and you can run pretty much all the way to the North Western Motorway!
This is a great run and well worth the trip if you've never been here before. Starting out, there are views across the mangroves to West Harbour Marina. Living out east as we do, you get a new perspective of the city and harbour. In the squally Auckland spring weather, the harbour bridge appeared cloaked in a rainbow for much of the time, which was truly stunning (and utterly impossible to photograph on our crappy phone cameras). Further around, there are ponds with goldfish and very kiwiana panoramas of native cabbage trees and flax. Heading south from the easternmost suburb of Harbour View, the track is mostly paved and carries on all the way to the motorway. (By the way, I think a little bit of paved track is ok in this blog - let's say anything goes that is not roadside suburban running.) I turned around when the paved track ended, but there were some people ahead so I think you can keep walking alongside the motorway for a while at least (but would you want to?). In any case, it was starting to get rainy and dark, so it was time to head back.
Maps
Here's a map of this run using Mapometer.com. This run is very straightforward - all you have to do is keep following the coast and you'll be fine!
Evaluation
- Distance: nearly 10k.
- Terrain: easy! Hills practically non-existent
- Track type and condition: a mixture of gravel, beachfront, grass, and concrete. You can run on the grass beside the concrete if you prefer - it's not too muddy
- Mud: not really muddy at all, especially for this time of year.
- Views: spectacular views across the Waitemata Harbour towards the city
- Novelty: for us, incredible novel, and I think even our peninsula-dwelling friends were also keen to make more use of this track from now on
- Remoteness: not really remote at all - houses and roads pretty much always visible on the non-coast side (although I find the beachfront houses interesting to look at also!)
- Toilets: at Chapman Strand and the carpark at the end of Harbour View Road.
- Crowd factor: not crowded at all, even at peak time after work on a weekday
- Watch out for: ...I can't think of anything! It's just a really easy, nice run.
- Extra for experts: continuing the run at either end....watch this space and I'll see if I can try this out
An excellent surprise discovery, with the added bonus of being close to (our friends') home!
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