November Road Trip

(with the Last of the Summer Wine riders)

With the Ferry booked and the weather forecasters predicting a mixed bag of weather, we decided it was still worthwhile heading south.

The first little hurdle was that two of the five were booked on a ferry that left 30 minutes before the rest of the team (and the bikes). The issue was compounded by Bluebridge cancelling their ferry crossing. This resulted in two of us having to rebook a day early.

We made ourselves comfortable on the ferry crossing.

We made the most of the extra day with Carrol & I cycling the Queen Charlotte link track to Ngakuta Bay. (24km)

A few slips on the track made for an interesting (and wet ride)

The rest of the team arrived and we headed to Hanmer Springs.

Stopped for a quick lunch at The Store on the Kaikoura Coast.

The first major ride was on the St James Cycleway 14 km inland from Hanmer Springs.

A solid slog up the track from Scotty’s Hut

We dropped back down to the river looking for the washed-out Macarthur bridge.

So it was back up the hill with a couple of the team needing to conserve their batteries to ensure they would make it back to the car.

After a soak in the hot springs, it was back to the house for clean up ready for an early start to Reefton the following morning.

We headed to the Lyell Hut end of the Old Ghost Road Trail and unloaded the trailer

The track started out as a very pleasant ride through native bush

The rain started, the track narrowed and became a bit mucky

Lyell Hut was a welcome shelter from the rain

Two of the team went a little further up the track before returning to the hut

Checking out the vista from the helipad behind the Lyell Hut

By the time we got back to the car, the riders were almost as muddy as the bikes

The next day we did it all again from the Seddonville end of the Old Ghost Road track

The track started as it had finished the day before

Then it was on to Kaiteriteri and a quick ride around the Mountain bike park before heading to Nelson to tackle the Coppermine track.

Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park.

The weather was an improvement from the previous few days. We headed up the 11.5km to the third house at 660 meters

The ride up was very pleasant.

Lunch was at the Coppermine Saddle at 880 meters.

There are no photos of the wild ride back down to Nelson as we all needed to hold on with total concentration to ensure we all made it down in one piece.