Waipu Cove

Day 314, Sunday 1 July 2018

I would have liked to join the North Harbour Ulysses ride today which was going to Waipu Cove and the Waipu Pancake Rocks, but I had other commitments. The other commitments disappeared during the morning, but the ride had already left. I rode up to Waipu Cove solo, and walked along the Waipu Coastal Trail to see the pancake rocks. The trail is one of the rougher ones I’ve seen, basically a line of shorter grass going across a hillside with no attempt made to level it or cut steps in the steeper places. At times it was extremely muddy, and very slippery. Eventually I gave up, but I did get nice views along the way. Fortunately, there’s a shallow creek between Waipu Cove and the start of the trail which must be forded, and that cleaned the mud off my boots.

I didn’t see any Ulyssians, but I knew there was a good chance our paths wouldn’t cross. I found out later that the Ulysses ride decided to go to Mangawhai Tavern instead, presumably due to the pending rain.