The northernmost tip of the Coromandel Peninsula is a remote headland cloaked in dark, lush greenery flowing down to a string of secluded coves and slender sweeps of pebbly beach.

This is where you’re headed if you’re hiking the Coromandel Coastal Walkway – a deserted stretch of unspoilt coastline, between Stony Bay and Fletcher Bay, where the trails follows a historic bridle path along the very edge of the sparkling Pacific Ocean.

At the starting point in Stony Bay, the track disappears into native forest and runs north, closely tracing the contours of the land where long waves rush the rocky shore. It’s a really quiet, isolated spot, down a narrow, unsealed road, and the trail rarely gets busy outside the school holidays. On a weekday with menacing clouds piled high that threatened rain at any minute, we met no one all day.

We had hoped for sunshine of course, but the dark, moody sky fitted the scenery just as well. When the clouds eventually gained the upper hand, the sea lost its striking turquoise colours and turned into a choppy mass of muted blues and sinister greys.

As the track proceeds along the coast, it takes in a fabulous viewpoint on the ridgetop, dips down into Poley Bay, and finally breaks out into open farmland and rolling green hills towards the Fletcher Bay end of the walkway.

It’s a gentle walk on a well-graded trail suitable for most walking abilities. Only the steep descent into Poley Bay and optional short detour at Shag Bay that climbs the ridge to a lookout overlooking Great Barrier Island and Cuvier Island are two slightly more challenging trail sections.

If you’re looking to shorten the walk, that viewpoint on the clifftop at Shag Bay is at the halfway mark and a rewarding destination for a 10-kilometre return walk.