Hill Climb
D: 6.7km El:247 T:1hr Av Sp: 6.7km/hr Max Sp: 38.9:km/hr Cal: 344
https://www.strava.com/activities/2129494540
Pootle with Lochy
D: 4.7km El: 38m T:38mins Av Sp: 7.3kn/hr Max Sp 24.5 km/hr Cal:116
https://www.strava.com/activities/2120210763
Old Ghost Road: Day One
D: 16.5km. El: 1,603m T: 3hrs 4mins Av Sp: 5.4km/hr Cal: 1,550. Max Sp: 26.3km
We were not as organised as we might have been! We arrived at the lazy cow hostel at about 7.30 last night. After giving the bikes a good clean we had a meal in the pizza place next door. Really nice mix of tapas and pizza washed down with some red wine. We sorted all of our gear out this morning. Packed out panniers and set off for the trail head.
Today’s ride was great. All up hill! Pretty exposed but it was misleading really because of the trees. We saw some lovely birds. Including a large parrot like bird.
We were first to arrive at the bunk house. There are two other parties hear. A group of 4 women and a family of 4. Lovely day. Think we have enough food! We had the reconstituted venison casserole for tea nice! Then we watched the helicopter return to pick up the men working in the roof. And an early night. I slept well.
Winery ride
The Timber Trail Day Two
D: 53.2 El:618m. T:4hr 38mins Cal: 1,216. Av. Sp. 11.4. Max Sp. 42.5
https://www.strava.com/activities/2084076869
Day two started off with a great breakfast. Cereal and a banana and a cuppa tea. Before the lady came to give us a lift to the top of the hill we had a little walk to the waterfall which was impressive. Today was roasting hot. The trail was as good as yesterday. We still had a fair bit of climbing but not the huge uphill that we had yesterday. The down hill at the end was amazing but very bumpy. The bikes stood up well. We got back to the Flashpackers enjoyed a good beer, a sit in the hot tub and a nice tea. Tomorrow would be a travelling day…..
The Timber Trail Day One
D: 40.1km. El: 793m T: 4hrs 10mins. Av Sp: 9.6 km/hr. Cal: 1,134 Max Sp: 40.3 km hr.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2084076933
We were up early to get ready for our ride. Very exciting sorting all the food and kit out and getting it packed into our bags. Very pleased with my bike bags by the way. We rode up to the shuttle bus loaded onto the trailer and off we went.
The trail was fantastic much better riding than I expected like kilometres of blue runs twisting through the forest. The forest was so verdant and noisy with birds and insects. At first we had 12km of up hill which was quite testing by the end but then there was 18km of beautiful down hill. Our accommodation was 6km off the track. Which for our tired bodies was a Long way! But when we got there it was lovely. Really lovely and we were the only people staying so we have the place to ourselves. There was cold beer in the fridge. Very welcome. Now I am going to make some tea. I think it will be an early night for me. And the good news is we are getting a lift part the way back to the trail in the morning. Yay. Life is good.
The Pauanui Trail
D: 26.6km. El: 169m. T2hr 14mins. Av.Sp: 11.9km/hr. Max Sp: 53.6km/hr Cal: 442
Today we sorted out our bike packing kit and went on a proper test ride from the house we are staying. We rode along the pauanui trail in to Pauanui. It was great to be on my new bike. The position was a bit different to mine at home but i did a bit of fiddling with the seat and got it a bit further back which definetly improved things. I think me and my new bike will get along just fine.
It was cloudly when we set of but dry. It did however start to rain once we got to the beach. And we got drenched! We made a dash for the supermarket but by the time we got to the garage we were soaked. We used our beach towels to dry our selves. We had a coffee and some really nice cake. Bought some chain lobe and once the rain stopped set of again the sun came out and really dried us out. Great ride
Down under getting there……..
It all began before we went with two days of frantic packing and sorting and deciding. In between all that also finishing various bits of wedding editing etc etc etc
Finally it all got packed and for some reason the house looked like it had been totally trashed!
Then the journey down to Sue and Chris’ and a lovely meal out with them for my birthday Chris drove us to the airport, we arrived in plenty of time. The journey was good. The usual nonsense getting through customs in the USA even though we were only traveling through! After getting through all that we had a nice New York lager and very fresh salad.
We had some amazing views of the prairies covered in snow and San Francisco lights from the plane. We were late getting into San Francisco due to a late take off and a strong head wind so we did get a little concerned that we might not make our last flight which we really wanted to do as it was New Zealand air.
We made it phew and after a nice meal and a couple of glasses of wine I slept better than I ever had on an airplane. Mind you by then we had been up for about 30 hours.
we arrived on time picked up our car, there was a bit of a faff with the bike rack we had to go get one from the bike shop that the hire car had ordered. My bike as I feared was too small but the lovely man in the shop swapped it for another. Which is a pretty silver purple and pink. Still need a bit of fannying to get the bikes properly on the bike rack.
The hostel is a bit tatty and our room was boiling hot but I am getting better negotiating our needs and we got moved to a larger quieter cooler room. Tomorrow we shall get our selves sorted out and explore Auckland. Yay
Christmas Day Pootle
Hallin Fell 388m
As joe was working Boxing Day we took our Xmas walk on Christmas Day. It was a lovely day mild with nice light although it was getting a bit grey as we headed back lovely to be back in the fells. Great views down Ullswater. And I ticked off another wainwright.
Misty twisty petal ride
D: 12.4km T: 1h 24mins El: 188m
Very misty this morning and cold. It stayed below freezing all day. We set of from Dulnain Bridge went on some new tracks and some that we went on the other Saturday from Julia’s. I had my new camera which I am really liking.
Mountain Days and Photo Nights 