Crisscrossifposs

Here is the 134g solution to the most vexing problem of what to read en route. Unless I change my mind.  I can't be trusted with any novel I can read quickly because that's what I'd do. And find myself with four or five more days before resupply  - the thought of sitting out bad weather or lying awake in the tent without a book is much scarier than my next worst fear. An e-reader would need charging and my powerbank will be strictly rationed for keeping the phone alive (photos). Plus, it might get wet, most stuff does. So, hard copy. When I walked to Bluff I read Proust, having cut the bible-sized epic into smaller sections that I walked towards by including them in the food boxes I'd posted ahead. And shortly after I returned, Radio 4 broadcast a dramatised new translation over three intense days and nights. Never-to-be-forgotten literary experiences, first in my tent and then camping on the sitting room floor so as to listen all night. This time, nothing so enriching ...

 My Black Diamond walking poles are veterans, old pals, just the bee's knees. They have miles left in them and I couldn't march without them. But, on a tarsealed surface, it's like walking with death watch beetles. Click click, click click, until I lift them off to have some peace.  A good 60% of this trip is on roads. Hard surfaces. Out of curiosity I walked into a local outdoor gear shop and asked if there's such a thing as a silencer for a Boswellian chatterer of a walking pole. And there is! Not only can you buy rubber tips for walking poles, but I could buy rubber tips specifically for Black Diamonds poles. So, happy story of the day. $9.99 buys you a pair of silencers and no more clickety clicks.

 Thanks to the Kennett brothers, it hasn't been too difficult to plan a route westwards. They're cycle tourers with a strong following and every couple of summers they offer a brevet. Tour Aotearoa is their cycle event from Reinga to Bluff, and Koropiko was designed to go west to east...here it is. I'll take bush tracks whenever I can, otherwise the route uses country roads. The first hurdle has already come into view. Iwi have closed tracks in Te Urewera to reduce the risk of coronavirus reaching their communities. I had hoped to walk the track that runs south around Lake Waikaremoana, but might have to settle for the little road on the lake's north side.  It will be after Christmas before I get there and the situation might be different again. Track plus road closed? Track open, road closed? Both open? No cellphone coverage most of the way there so it'll be a surprise for me too!

 When I walked to Bluff, I set off with the gortex bivvy bag I used for hunting. By the time I reached Hamilton, I knew it was on the hit list. I had walked along the Waikato River mentally reviewing the weight of every item in my pack and realised that the 2.4kg bag had to go. Some serious work online led me to  intentsoutdoors.co.nz. I ordered their lightest single tent (the Ultrapack Single Wall, weighing about 700g) and it was delivered to Hamilton the next day! Wonderful company to do business with. That tent went all the rest of the way with me, and has also protected me on Cavalcade tramps down south. Only negative being, condensation. So this time I searched all over (the internet, ie the world) for a lightweight twin wall tent. Guess where I found it? Yes, Intents Outdoors came up trumps again and tonight I've been playing houses with it. You can see it in these two photos. There are 5 attachment points as well as the door (making it a sort of hexagon) and guys on eac...

The idea is, walk from one side of North Island to the other.  I'll start at East Cape, and walk to Cape Egmont. The distance is roughly 1000km.  By travelling westward and southward, I can avoid the worst of the summer heat and keep the sun's track more-or-less behind me. There's a La Nina developing, which means the 2021/22 summer will be hotter than average. I'm travelling to Gisborne on 9 December and to Te Araroa the next day. (By the way, Te Araroa is a place name, not to be confused with Te Araroa the trail, which I walked three years ago). From there I'll find my way to the lighthouse at East Cape and dip a toe in the Pacific Ocean. This plan assumes neither Manawatu (can't get out) nor Tairawhiti (can't get in) goes into lockdown to manage a Covid virus outbreak before 9 December. Indeed, the whole journey has a provisional flavour this time. I'll simply walk until I can't. No plan.