We’ve come to New Plymouth to compete in the Lonely Mountain Sprints – Mt Taranaki being the “lonely mountain”.  So named because there is nothing of comparable size anywhere, and when you can see it in all its glory, it completely dominates the view.  Last time we visited, the skies were cloud free and we had beautiful clear views.  Today we peered around the curtains to see it draped in grey, so it was an easy decision not to drive to any of the viewpoints.  Instead, we left Captain K to guard the house, and headed for the coast, just a few minutes away, cameras at the ready. 

Taranaki is, of course, an inactive volcano, but it’s not the only one.  The coastline is dotted with volcanic plugs of various shapes and sizes.  One of them is climbable if you are younger and fitter than me; others close to the shoreline can be viewed from several vantage points.

The first lookout was previously a military bunker, overlooking the port.  In one direction you see gorgeous blue sea dotted with forested, rocky conical islets.  In the other direction you see a long jetty, an enormous chimney, lots of oil storage tanks, and other evidence of industry – Taranaki being one of the few sheltered harbours on the west coast.

Pete and Peter decided to head partway up the steep hill, to see what they could see.  The girls decided that with nine sprint races coming up, we weren’t going to risk injury by doing anything silly.  Turns out that the view wasn’t much better from their vantage point.

The next lookout was lovely, overlooking a grassy bowl with a picnic table and shaded trees, and a gorgeous vista of the same volcanic cliffs and islands, but from a different angle.  Below us was a black sand beach, and we could see gulls and even a petrel gliding overhead.  How are seagulls able to squawk and fly at the same time?

We headed back into town, stopping at a third overlook point; this one with a sculpture that we had some fun with.  Although the sky was mostly clear overhead, the Lonely Mountain was still hiding all but its lower slopes, so we headed home for lunch, and to put our feet up before this afternoon’s event.

Today was a non-competitive warm-up, to get our legs and brains into Sprint mode.  It was at New Plymouth Girls High School, and was probably a good enough map to be used for a race, with plenty of variety and detail, and some multiple levels.  All good for getting us into the right frame of mind before tackling the first two races tomorrow.  We took it casually, choosing mostly to walk and get our heads into the map, although I did do a few experimental jogs (having done no running at all since late November).  My vestibular is doing pretty well, and I think I should be able to run at least parts of the actual races.

As we drove home in the late afternoon, the cloud had all but cleared, just leaving a collar surrounding the upper slopes; we could see small patches of snow right on the top.  The Lonely Mountain had finally revealed itself.