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Latest Manawatu walking guide

Wednesday 13 February 2008, 8:51PM

By Horowhenua District Council

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MANAWATU-WHANGANUI

Now is the ideal time to enjoy the Manawatu countryside when the district is looking its summer best.

To help walkers find the interesting and special parts of the district, the seventh edition of the guidebook, Walks in the Manawatu, is hot off the press. It is an essential handbook for anyone who enjoys walking and the countryside, and contains details of around 40 walks within an easy driving distance of Palmerston North.

Walks are classified as paths, short walks, walking tracks or easy tramping tracks and most are suitable for family walking trips, says Gillian Absolon, chairperson of the Manawatu Walkways Promotion Society, which prepared and published the booklet.

"The degree of difficulty is included in the detailed description for each walk, as well as distances and approximately times when walking at a comfortable pace. Each walk description includes a sketch map, showing the main approach roads, tracks and obvious land features. Most walks range from half an hour to several hours."

"The booklet has been designed for people who enjoy a challenge and love the Manawatu foothills, plains and coastal areas, but who are not necessarily intrepid trampers."

Listed in this edition are walks in and around Palmerston North, in the Pohangina Valley, along the Manawatu coast, in the Apiti area, through the Manawatu Gorge and in the eastern Ruahines, Levin and further south, and Wairarapa. Several new walks are included in this edition.

Other essential information for walking includes appropriate clothing and footwear for trips, as weather conditions can catch people out in exposed situations, and general advice for walkers.

The guidebook is light enough to carry with other essential gear in a daypack, but it will always pay to read it beforehand so that you know where you are heading and what you need to take with you for that particular trip.

There is also a short guide on how walkers can take care of the countryside they pass through, including that wise advice - "take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints".

Copies of Walks in the Manawatu are available from the Palmerston North and Feilding i-sites, Bivouac Outdoor, Bruce McKenzie Booksellers, and Country Fayre. The Manawatu Walkways Promotion Society will have a display at the Esplanade Day and will have booklets on sale there.