Mt Richardson and Blowhard

20 August

Defying a forecast for rain in the morning, five of us drove up a potholed Glentui Road and set off on the Richardson Track. After a wet winter the track was quite muddy and a serious slip forced us to divert on a short, makeshift track. Further up, the land is firmer and rocky but there were still some deeply incised clay patches to contend with. Near the top, the grey day became quite sunny.

The Blowhard Track is quite open and gives some impressive views, so was an ideal place to stop in the warmth of the sun for lunch. With another kilometre to cover before the Bypass Track turnoff we thought the weather was taking a turn for the worse as mist rolled in. It turned out to be localised to a gully. Going down, there were lots of slippery patches which didn’t trouble Eileen who was wearing chains on her boots. Wang managed without chains or walking poles. I was pleased to have two poles.

By the time we got back to the start and completed the circuit, there were lots of cars in the picnic area. We congratulated ourselves on not seeing a drop of rain the whole day through as we took our muddy boots and gaiters off and headed home via Rangiora, for a change of scenery.

We were: Eileen Mackay, Ian Beale, Shi Ping Wang, Wendy McCaughan and Kerry Moore. [KM]