Day 13 - Walk on and be strong
Day 13
I woke up this morning having had the longest sleep I have had since I got here, a good 6 hours... but was struggling to get going. I awoke feeling a bit homesick and therefore stuck to fb for slightly longer than I should have.
Eventually I packed up and set off ... only to stop 200 yards later for breakfast. My plans, constantly changing, had now gone back to my original original plan and tonight I wanted to be in a little place called Eketahuna. This would be my jumping off spot for my assault to Wellington tomorrow, but more about that in a bit.
The first bit of todays ride was to Dannevirk and was essentially a long drag up before descending into the town itself. It was around 35 miles away and the plan was to be there lunchtime.
The scenery on this stretch of road was of fields in the valley stretching out either side of the road, flanked by 'hills' ( there ya go Lorraine!) Cattle were grazing and I still have seen very few sheep. However there were signs for breeding programs and sheep auctions so they must be around somewhere. Despite the drag upwards, the road was good and the tarmac on a reasonable smooth scale. I was moving at a reasonable pace and even the climb when it came was not insurmountable today.
At one point I was trundling along and got hit in the face by a butterfly. Now I havent mentioned the butterflies yet and that is an oversight. There have been thousands and thousands. In particular today at times it looked like petals blowing all over just because of the sheer number of them. Many were on the tarmac of the shoulder, possibly dying, but it was like an obstacle course trying to avoid them all the time. They looked kinda like cabbage white butterflies and really it was quite a sight to behold.
Before I reached Dannevirk I came across a little place called Norsewood. The strong viking/danish connection began here. The danes that emigrated here were mainly employed as labourers to clear the forests ready for settlement. Both Norsewood and Dannevirk seem to be very proud of this connection and history and the towns exploit it for tourist purposes. I pushed on past Norsewood eager to get to Dannevirke before lunch to give a good amount of time to eat and then push on for the last 45 ish miles. The climb just before Dannevirk was a small tester for legs that were not working by days end yesterday... I went slowly and stopped halfway up to 'enjoy the view'. As I started to set off again, I almost fell off because my chain had jammed. Fortunately it was easily dealt with, leaving me with some oily fingers but a working bike.
When I finally reached Dannevirk, I immediately liked the town.. it hsd a bit of an old world feel to it with some older buildings, which I was informed shortly after that many were being torn down as they werent earthquake proof! I stopped in a cafe for lunch and got chatting to a nice chap about the ride and LHS. I enjoy that part of my journey... connecting with complete strangers out on the road. So thank you Clarke for your interest and message of support for the ride. It was lovely to meet you.
Pancakes for lunch with bananas..... mmmmmmm
Right then, 45 miles to go. Straight flattish road... oh and a headwind of course. Add to that, the sun was now burning hot and I went back to my previous worries about water. I split the 45 miles up in my head to make it seem better, Woodville first at 15 miles, then another small hop to Pa something, then the final 15 miles to Eketahuna, a place which whenever I mentikned today to people, they pulled a face, and told me there was nothing there. As long as it had a bed and a plug point, im good!
The road to Woodville was good smooth tarmac and despite the headwind I made it in just over an hour, which was pretty good going. Another food stop and unfortunately also a wee stop. I say unfortunately, because its quite a process as im wearing bib shorts, so I pretty much have to strip off my cycling jersey and baselayer to remove the bib short straps. Quite a palava and not somethingmI wish to be doing more than once a day if possible, especially contorting in a small cubicle.
I was finally back on the road and the next ten miles to the next oittle town, went by fast, my headspace being more preoccupied with tomorrow and the climb I knew I was going to have to face. Silly possibly really to be worrying about that today but so many people had drawn a sharp intake of breath when I said I was going over the pass, but then I reasoned that it couldnt be as bad as the Taupo-Napier road and even if it was, id just go slowly and hike a bike if necessary. Then there was the downhill to look forward to. Just as I was contemplating all this Walk on, be strong came on my Ipod, part of the Mike Peters/Big Country collaboration, and it was impeccable timing because it filled me with belief for today and tomorrow and gave me todays blog title - Result!!
The last 15 miles to Eketahuna were long, slow, hot, dusty and It took a lot of effort to keep the pedals turning. The cows that I passed were all beginning to wander, on their own accord it seems, towards their evening paddocks, one set going through atunnel under the road, very well thought out. The hills on either side of the valley were beginnig to close together, the pinch point being at my climb tomorrow. One way or another, id have to get my arse up it.
I crawled into Eketahuna and fortunately there was a room available.
Then this was the evening in order of importance:
Shower... so bloody good!
Plug in phone, Ipod etc
Put photos up from the day
Food
Fb messages, comments etc- try to reply to most/all
Blog
Zzzzzzzz
So another day done
Walk on, Be strong!
I woke up this morning having had the longest sleep I have had since I got here, a good 6 hours... but was struggling to get going. I awoke feeling a bit homesick and therefore stuck to fb for slightly longer than I should have.
Eventually I packed up and set off ... only to stop 200 yards later for breakfast. My plans, constantly changing, had now gone back to my original original plan and tonight I wanted to be in a little place called Eketahuna. This would be my jumping off spot for my assault to Wellington tomorrow, but more about that in a bit.
The first bit of todays ride was to Dannevirk and was essentially a long drag up before descending into the town itself. It was around 35 miles away and the plan was to be there lunchtime.
The scenery on this stretch of road was of fields in the valley stretching out either side of the road, flanked by 'hills' ( there ya go Lorraine!) Cattle were grazing and I still have seen very few sheep. However there were signs for breeding programs and sheep auctions so they must be around somewhere. Despite the drag upwards, the road was good and the tarmac on a reasonable smooth scale. I was moving at a reasonable pace and even the climb when it came was not insurmountable today.
At one point I was trundling along and got hit in the face by a butterfly. Now I havent mentioned the butterflies yet and that is an oversight. There have been thousands and thousands. In particular today at times it looked like petals blowing all over just because of the sheer number of them. Many were on the tarmac of the shoulder, possibly dying, but it was like an obstacle course trying to avoid them all the time. They looked kinda like cabbage white butterflies and really it was quite a sight to behold.
Before I reached Dannevirk I came across a little place called Norsewood. The strong viking/danish connection began here. The danes that emigrated here were mainly employed as labourers to clear the forests ready for settlement. Both Norsewood and Dannevirk seem to be very proud of this connection and history and the towns exploit it for tourist purposes. I pushed on past Norsewood eager to get to Dannevirke before lunch to give a good amount of time to eat and then push on for the last 45 ish miles. The climb just before Dannevirk was a small tester for legs that were not working by days end yesterday... I went slowly and stopped halfway up to 'enjoy the view'. As I started to set off again, I almost fell off because my chain had jammed. Fortunately it was easily dealt with, leaving me with some oily fingers but a working bike.
When I finally reached Dannevirk, I immediately liked the town.. it hsd a bit of an old world feel to it with some older buildings, which I was informed shortly after that many were being torn down as they werent earthquake proof! I stopped in a cafe for lunch and got chatting to a nice chap about the ride and LHS. I enjoy that part of my journey... connecting with complete strangers out on the road. So thank you Clarke for your interest and message of support for the ride. It was lovely to meet you.
Pancakes for lunch with bananas..... mmmmmmm
Right then, 45 miles to go. Straight flattish road... oh and a headwind of course. Add to that, the sun was now burning hot and I went back to my previous worries about water. I split the 45 miles up in my head to make it seem better, Woodville first at 15 miles, then another small hop to Pa something, then the final 15 miles to Eketahuna, a place which whenever I mentikned today to people, they pulled a face, and told me there was nothing there. As long as it had a bed and a plug point, im good!
The road to Woodville was good smooth tarmac and despite the headwind I made it in just over an hour, which was pretty good going. Another food stop and unfortunately also a wee stop. I say unfortunately, because its quite a process as im wearing bib shorts, so I pretty much have to strip off my cycling jersey and baselayer to remove the bib short straps. Quite a palava and not somethingmI wish to be doing more than once a day if possible, especially contorting in a small cubicle.
I was finally back on the road and the next ten miles to the next oittle town, went by fast, my headspace being more preoccupied with tomorrow and the climb I knew I was going to have to face. Silly possibly really to be worrying about that today but so many people had drawn a sharp intake of breath when I said I was going over the pass, but then I reasoned that it couldnt be as bad as the Taupo-Napier road and even if it was, id just go slowly and hike a bike if necessary. Then there was the downhill to look forward to. Just as I was contemplating all this Walk on, be strong came on my Ipod, part of the Mike Peters/Big Country collaboration, and it was impeccable timing because it filled me with belief for today and tomorrow and gave me todays blog title - Result!!
The last 15 miles to Eketahuna were long, slow, hot, dusty and It took a lot of effort to keep the pedals turning. The cows that I passed were all beginning to wander, on their own accord it seems, towards their evening paddocks, one set going through atunnel under the road, very well thought out. The hills on either side of the valley were beginnig to close together, the pinch point being at my climb tomorrow. One way or another, id have to get my arse up it.
I crawled into Eketahuna and fortunately there was a room available.
Then this was the evening in order of importance:
Shower... so bloody good!
Plug in phone, Ipod etc
Put photos up from the day
Food
Fb messages, comments etc- try to reply to most/all
Blog
Zzzzzzzz
So another day done
Walk on, Be strong!
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