New Zealand Walk: Cable Bay Walkway for coastal

Cable Bay Walkway for coastal views

By Yvonne van Eerden

The Cable Bay Walkway is 21 km north of Nelson and can also be started at Glenduan which is about 10 km north of Nelson. It is about a three hour one way tramp.

We were visiting Nelson and started at the Cable Bay end.

The weather was rather dull but no rain. There just seemed to be low cloud and fog hanging around but this did not deter us.

We headed up the steep hill and just took our time. We had glimpses of the scenery. It would have been spectacular if the sun was shining, but it was an incredible experience in the low cloud and fog. We could still get beautiful photos, this was

Above: Looking back at Cable Bay.

Below left: Walking through a pine forest.

just a different tramp.

As this was a three hour tramp one way we thought we would walk for two hours and have lunch and then head back. (We had done a lot of tramping the previous days).

As we started climbing two of our group said they would go back as it was a little slippery and would be rather difficult if we had to return the same way so they would go back to Glenduan and walk towards us, then the rest of us could do the entire tramp.

We carried on and kept looking around to see as much as we could as the fog moved, there was no wind at all and very pleasant walking. We even managed to see that we were walking along the bluffs as the sea appeared at one stage. The pastures were so green and the cattle and sheep seemed to be fine with us walking through as they did not even move away from us. We came to the 4WD track and entered the native forest which was so lush and green with huge ferns everywhere.

Above left Going through farm gates. Above right: Hiking in a fog patch. Below left: The view from the top of the bluffs.

Great walking on the Pakihi and other tracks.

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Cable Bay Walkway

for coastal views

As we progressed we realised we were in the pine forest and then we came up to a lookout where we meet the others in our group.

They had come in quite far as well and thought the lookout with the seating would be a great place for lunch, as they had also walked in for quite a distance considering they had a lot of uphill as well from the Glenduan side.

We had lunch together and then continued down to Glenduan. This was a very enjoyable walk and quite different with the low cloud and fog. Above left: In a thick pine forest with ferns. Above right: A flat section of the track. Right: A fallen tree over the track.

Fact file

Cable Bay Walkway is 7.9km long. Time: Allow four hours one way. Physical difficulty: Moderate Getting there: The Walkway access is 15 minutes drive from Nelson at the southern end of the walkway that starts at the end of Airlie St, Glenduan. The drive between the start and the other end is 14 kilometers.