Walk status: On-lead
This walk is perfect for those who like to reward themselves with a coffee after the effort. Located a minutes drive from Titirangi town centre, there are a multitude of options for that caffeine reward. Including Park Road Kitchen which is located on the same road and has outside seating for the doggies.
The parking area is located on Park Road for this walk, although there are a couple of other options to access it. The carpark only has space for a maximum of about 5 cars. When we arrived the carpark was full, but thanks to having a tiny car I managed to squeeze in. By the time we returned we were the only car left so it seems to be a bit hit and miss as to whether you'll get a park here. There is parking up the road by the cafe, so don't give up if you can't park at the actual entrance.
The gravel track descends through a bush covered valley through to Titirangi Beach Road. While the sign says it will take 30mins, we had walked to the bottom and back within 30mins.
The reason its called Zig Zag becomes pretty obvious within the first few minutes as you climb your way down the hill zig zagging through the bush. Now take note, that the lovely downhill you're enjoying right now and all those stairs are going to have be climbed on your way back up. I counted on my way back up, mainly as a way to keep my mind occupied so my legs kept moving, there are 46 stairs to climb on the way back.
Dogs need to be on lead here, but you'll probably notice from the photos that George wasn't. We started off the walk with him on lead, but soon enough encountered 4 others who weren't. If we do this walk again in future, he will be on-lead and you shouldn't follow my bad example.
The walk only took around 30mins, and that was to the end of the track and back. If you wanted to make it longer you can loop onto the Mahoe Walk which leads onto South Titirangi Road and then head right to head back up to Park Road along the road to avoid having to do the stairs on the way back. The Mahoe Walk wasn't signposted so although Map My Dog walk was showing id walked past it, it wasn't super obvious.
Location: Parking area at 83 Park Road, Titirangi.
Things to know:
There are no toilets here
Parking is limited to approx 5 cars
There are lots of cafes in the township that allow a coffee stop afterwards