Last Updated: 29th Mar 2025
Godley Head Walkway
Submitted by Daniel Redmond
Last Updated: 29th Mar 2025
Open
Grunt Factor: 23 ?
Gnarl Factor: 32 ?
18.1km
650m
650m
303m
Urban fringe
Loop
Undulating, some big hills
Dog Friendly
Beach
Coastal
Open farmlands
Open ridges/tops
Sealed Road
Easy Single Track
Moderate Single Track
Technical Single Track
Average Uphill Gradient: +11.5%
Average Downhill Gradient: -10.6%
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3:00
Slow
2:15
Moderate
1:40
Fast
Head up the main road up the hill to the first hairpin corner, where Flowers Track starts and climbs steeply to Nicholson park on the top of the hill. Cross the road and head east down a track to get behind the houses. Head right, and follow the track along the cliffs down to Taylors Mistake beach. On the south end of the beach, pick up the Boulder Bay walkway for a cruisey run (with a few small hills) around the coast to Godley Head. From the Godley Head carpark, pick up the poled Crater Rim track that roughly follows the main ridgeline heading west, all the way to Evans Pass (where the road comes up from Sumner). For a slightly longer but less hilly option for this section, you can follow the road. From Evans Pass head back down into Sumner on the Captain Thomas track which runs along the true left side of the valley. This track ends in a park on the edge of Sumner. Follow your nose back towards the beach through the streets.
Historic gun emplacements. Coastal cliffs. Post run swim at the beach
If you know of any public toilets near the trail start or on the route, please login and then let us know so we can update this section.
Plenty of parking along the esplanade. Purple line bus goes to Sumner from the central city.
13 km
22 minutes
Yes
No
Moderate.
At the Godley head gun emplacements, you can either run up the road to the carpark, or drop down the trail on the harbour side to get to the same carpark.
Generally good.
Long-sleeved thermal top, Seam-sealed waterproof jacket, Gloves, Beanie/thermal headwear, Whistle, First aid kit, Extra food for emergencies, Cellphone, Map
A tap can possibly be found at the surf clubs in Taylors Mistake and Sumner, otherwise not much drinkable water on the route
Very exposed to wind for a large portion of the route
Watch out for mountain bikers on the Captain Thomas track
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Fastest Known Times (FKTs)
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BD
Beautiful views. Only reason not to give 5 stars is that a small part of the track is closed (asbestos in the ground), and the way around could be more clearly marked. I ended up just following the fence, and that worked out, but following a track on that part would have been nicer I think.
September 13, 2023
Well, I'll say one thing - that was definitely more of an adventure than I was counting on! When doing a WT trail I like to follow the GPX file to run the route as intended by the author. I've run around this area fairly often and went out without paying much attention to the prescribed route. As others have mentioned above the route doesn't exactly follow the most well groomed trails and I think that may be the most I've stopped on a run to pull grass seed out of my socks! I enjoyed the alternative route thoroughly and was glad to experience the area in a different way, but on balance I think there are better ways to run this loop. I'd personally start in Taylor's, drop down to the lower battery (as opposed to through the gorse field), past the barracks and then as others have said, stay leftmost on the Lyttelton side until the top of Evans Pass Road. Now I love a Captain Thomas downhill, but I think the best way to complete the loop from here is to take Scarborough Bluffs track and then the steps back down to Taylors. This eliminates the road section in Sumner and gives a good 15km loop.
January 28, 2022
These overlap with this trail to some degree. You may wish to combine them but please note that to qualify for FKTs on these runs you should record a separate activity for each.
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