MARCHing in and up the Sanctuary

 A great MARCH up to the top of the highest hill in Nelson. We chose the long course of 25 km which starts by heading up Nelson’s 1862 ‘railtrail’, which began as New Zealand’s first railway. It was horse drawn, transporting the chromite and copper spoils from the Dun Mountain Mineral Belt before closing in 1866 due to unfavourable returns. Here’s our plog (picture blog) of the race:

A reasonably chilly start from the bottom of the Brook. She warmed up a lot in the sun but in the shade it was a little cooler. This is the race briefing before the off.

Camo ready for a picnic about half way up!

Vesty gaining altitude – about 10 minutes from the summit at this point.

Camo moving along and up the trail too. Gorgeous Nelson winter weather. Blazing sun and blue sky!

Worth the effort! A cracking view across Nelson and the Tasman Bay and on to the snow capped Mt Arthur and sister peaks.

And the famous old railway. The remnants of the oldest railway in NZ. As we were striding down we could see the old railway sleeper still buried in the path from time to time.

We had a great time cruising this race. Vesty and Camo decided to take it fairly easy and enjoy the views and experience. Plenty of stops for photos and chats – a really nice (and unusual) way to MARCH.

It’s a great course. Fairly demanding. There was a good 60+ minutes of climbing, some of it pretty steep, followed by a nice traverse, a downhill and then about 40 minutes of fairly arduous undulating terrain. We crossed the line in 3 hours 14 for a nice day out in the beautiful scenery of – and above – Nelson!

 

 

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