Up and over Breams Head - Here march the conquerors - by Joanna and Jenny






Only 7 hours to do 5.3 km.  

We set off from the car park after saying our hellos to the French campers we'd met on Friday. Then very quickly we found ourselves going up up up. This track has almost as many steps as paths going both directions so it was very steep. We walked up from Ocean Beach to Bream Head (Te Whara), then along a very narrow ridge over several spikes, to Mt Lion and down the 1200 wooden steps to a very welcome swim at Smuggler's Bay. The drop offs, sometimes both sides at once, were extreme; mind you mostly lots of trees so if you had fallen you would have hooked up on something. At one of the worst places there were bannisters, which gave a wonderful sense of security. The worst of the trees down had been cleared, the others Bruce forged a way through and we followed.

We all agreed that it was the most challenging day as far as obstacles and the precariousness of the path, and only second in the exhaustion factor after the first long trek down 90 mile beach. 

We are not in agreement about whether the views were worth the climb.  You, dear reader, get to see the views, or at least the photos of them without the effort.  Sorry for the photo bomb, but the views were so spectacular that I couldn't choose.















I found it particularly rewarding to discover that the founding patron of Breams Head is Sir Edmund Hillary. 

After this momentous climb we treated outselves to a swim at Smuggler's beach and then back to Jenny's place for dinner, showers and an early night. 

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