Day 20 - Trying to get to the end of the world....
Day 20
....Trying to reach the final third
Whenever I fall down you pick me up
Whenever I fall to pieces
You put me back together
So so very tired... last night I had the spins from sheer exhaustion... never a good thing... not a drop of alcohol in sight. Therefore this morning I was somewhat slow to jump out of bed again. Nonetheless... with my now highly honed packing routine I was still out the door by half seven and round the corner hoping... but expecting dissapointment as it was Sunday... that it would be open this early. Luck was on my side and breakfast of pancakes on the cards.
The weather... dry... altough had rained overnight... still cloudy and a bit chilly. But no rain.. 2 days on the trot... what did I do to deserve that!
The gillet went on but in anticipation... so did the suncream and a herbal fly repellant that may or may not work. What with those... deep heat ... chammy cream and bepanthen... my life is full of lotions and potions... just gotta be careful and not put deep heat where chammy cream goes! And as for order... do I put on suncream then insect repellant or vice versa?? Answers on a postcard!
Apparently the road ahead (which is forever calling) has a few lumps and bumps in it and one climb of note and then flat to Franz Joseph... my destination and home for my rest day tomorrow. So I set off and braced myself for 67 miles in the saddle. The first 5 miles was relatively flat with not a breath of wind... the roads were extraordinarily quiet and it was looking to be a good day. Then the lumps and bumps appeared. 20 miles of up... down... up ... down... hopping from one scenic reserve to another through the greenest verges of bush I have ever experienced. The crickets were out in force and the birds joined in. I amused myself (it doesnt take much after all these days on the road) by whistling back at them... only to get a reply or two... well it amused me!
The constant up and downing was extremely wearing and it shows what a knifedge Im on in terms of my body packing up. It didnt take long at all (despite the calories I have been shoving in) for the legs to start to blow up on the climbs... the downs not being enough recovery. Grinding out the miles and giving myself a pep talk. Its only 67 miles... 20 done by 10:00... 40 by 12:30 (half hour for lunch) and 67 done by 15:30! Ambitious yes and not allowing any time for photo and snack stops. It was never going to be correct so add on an hour and should be done by 16:30 ... more realustic for sure. These calculations are an ongoing dialogue in my head as I go along... every time I stop.. I recalculate. This takes up a huge amount of thinking time.
I hardly saw a soul on this stretch of road.. I was alone and despite the bad legs was greatly appreciating the solitude... just me and the road. And what a road... winding round and up and down the base of the foothills it was beautiful in its apparent remoteness. The view across the valley was good.
Then came Mount Hercules!! The climb of the day... I hadnt been particularly dreading it... my new mantra being 'it cant be as bad as The Rimutaka Hill'! The first part was pretty steep but then the gradient eased off and I tapped my way up.. not quite in the lowest granny gear. It was a test but not an insummountable one.. or even close and it felt good to get to the top. I did think it ironic that this was 'Mount' and Riutaka was 'hill'... possibly the kiwi sense of humour coming into play. The downhill was fast and flowing and beautiful. I did stop once to let a tour bus through but it was a very pleasant 10 minutes of descending.
As I emerged from those hills I stopped for more calories and found a perfect spot. The valley stretched out with the river at its heart... To my left and in front of me... the hills were getting more mountainous and stretched out of the ground.. reaching for the blue sky. The clouds had cleared except for those shrouding the hills and the sun was trying to break through. Down in the valley... the cows grazed peacefully. It was pretty perfect.
Couldnt last forever though... i could stand around all day but that wouldnt get me to where I wanted to go. So I continued round. Somewhat annoyingly the road twisted round the valley... i kept thinking how much easier it would have been to cut straight across. The wind had also picked up slightly and as the road meandered round... it was a sidewind then headwind then sidewind... (course not a tailwind ... that would be too nice)
I reached a layby where several cars were stopped. The high peaks of the alps were just visable above the thin white cloud. At ladt... the mountains reveal themselves. I was chatting to one guy who worked for a helicoptwr company and as we were talking .. one took off and lazily spun round and headed for the peaks... graceful in its manoevrability .. the sound of the rotors deadened by space and distance. I spent 5 minutes staring at the peaks and felt like New Zealand was gradually revealling itself to me... as a reward for how hard Id worked to get here.
At one point I crossed the Kakapotahi River.. narrow bridge but no traffic so for once I allowed myself a bridge stop. The water was grey blue in colour and stretched up to the foothills cutting a gash in the hillside. I resisted the urge to just go and sit on the riverbank forevermore but it mesmorised me and once again I found myself fighting back tears... not usually quite so emotional... it had been a hard road to get here... and this little moment ... in this place... had tipped me over the edge (another knifedge). Weariness may have had something to do with it... but also disbelief that I was standing here... having been convinced many times that I wouldnt get past Auckland.
I breathed the air and absorbed the sounds and smells... trying to draw strength from the natural world around me. Letting it soak into my soul.
As I continued on... the headwind became fiercer... making me fight for every inch of ground gained. Another 5 miles or so and Lake Lanthe came into view. A glorious blue and another oasis of calm until I passed the recreation area with !people!. I continued on.. unwilling to spoil the solitude. Headwind ... sidewind... headwind!! The legs were giving out. The road was relatively flat now with the odd rise but still going slowly ... Fortunately reasonably soon I came across the town of Whataroa and found a cafe... lunch!
I ordered a cheeseburger... devoured it in seconds and then immediately ordered another one!! As I was about to leave a couple of kitchen sink tourers pitched up but unusually for once.. I didnt feel like swapping road stories. I was having a me and the road day and continued on... eager to get to Franz Joseph.
The headwind had worsened... of course... no easy miles allowed. The cycling gods were making me work hard to get to my rest day but I reasoned that nothing worth having is easily won and the pedals kept turning... just! The last ten miles continued in that fashion. Passing two Lakes... both deep blue and calm... more soul fortification. Then buildings started coming into view... Franz Joseph machinery... Franz Joseph holiday park... and then!!! The town sign. I leaned my bike against it and took my photos. Somewhat in shock! I had made it here. The ride is one thing... my rest day here with helihike was the one thing I had on my 'must do' list. I almost had that pinch yourself feeling! These dreams are coming true...
Sauntering towards the town I had a quick mosey before heading to my two nights of luxury accomodation... The Rainforest Retreat and my tree hut. The girl checking me in was from Tilehurst in Reading which really made me laugh and they had kindly given me a 50% discount. I was shown to my tree hut... huuugggee bed... kitchen... nice shower and a balcony!! Perfect... although to be honest... long as it has a bed and electrical sockets it doesnt actually make much difference.
Then I had a treat in store. Some relatives of a friend of my mum (Thanks Rosie for putting me in touch with them... and you must must come here... its an unbelievable place!!!) were driving over from near Christchurch... just to visit me. Chuffed to pieces... I went to meet them in reception where we relocated to the bar to get a drink before dinner. Mary and Alec were from the UK but now live here near their grandchildren. And it was wonderful to meet them! Mary presented me with two presents... a bag of sweets... and some chafing cream!!! Wooohhoooo. Yup I was ecstatic... starting to run out of supplies of 'Udderly smooth' .. it was perfect... as I couldnt see where I was going to find some more. Chammy cream sorted. The conversation flowed... Mary had been a nurse and worked in Reading and Oxford so we swopped stories.. hers of Battle Hospital and the adult wards... turns out she knew some people that one of my work mothers remembered... small world! Did I say how lovely it was!! We then went to eat... and I found Pasta!!!!! The day had a perfect ending... fantastic company and good food... what more could a weary cyclist want. Many hours passsed and it was soon time to part company. Despite feeling exhausted I was reluctant to say goodbye to Mary and Alec... a little slice of home...
Thank you so much for coming to meet a strange and slightly crazy cyclist... it was lovely to meet you and you coming all this way to see me is greatly appreciated.
The internet connection wasnt great here and found myself frustrated trying to catch up with facebook and blog... nothing except messenger properly working. I was sitting in bed when I felt a shudder.. the building rocked. Was it??? Could it possibly be??? I had missed the mornings 4.4 earthquake when on the road... but now I excitedly messaged Lorraine.... was there just an earthquake?? 3.7 came the reply!! Woohooooooooooo! Stupidly excited (possibly a bit wrong) to have felt my first earthquake... and I mean really stupidly excited... Lorraine informed me that my Kiwi experience was now complete.
Unable to blog etc I finally crashed out... like lightening... with dreams of tomorrows helihike to the forefront!
I made it here!! And like my blog title says... im trying to get to the end of the world but have got here because of all my friends and family picking me up and putting me back together. I couldnt have got this far without your support for sure. The mountains still challenge me to do battle in the days to come but today I am at peace in the beauty of my surroundings.
LHS
....Trying to reach the final third
Whenever I fall down you pick me up
Whenever I fall to pieces
You put me back together
So so very tired... last night I had the spins from sheer exhaustion... never a good thing... not a drop of alcohol in sight. Therefore this morning I was somewhat slow to jump out of bed again. Nonetheless... with my now highly honed packing routine I was still out the door by half seven and round the corner hoping... but expecting dissapointment as it was Sunday... that it would be open this early. Luck was on my side and breakfast of pancakes on the cards.
The weather... dry... altough had rained overnight... still cloudy and a bit chilly. But no rain.. 2 days on the trot... what did I do to deserve that!
The gillet went on but in anticipation... so did the suncream and a herbal fly repellant that may or may not work. What with those... deep heat ... chammy cream and bepanthen... my life is full of lotions and potions... just gotta be careful and not put deep heat where chammy cream goes! And as for order... do I put on suncream then insect repellant or vice versa?? Answers on a postcard!
Apparently the road ahead (which is forever calling) has a few lumps and bumps in it and one climb of note and then flat to Franz Joseph... my destination and home for my rest day tomorrow. So I set off and braced myself for 67 miles in the saddle. The first 5 miles was relatively flat with not a breath of wind... the roads were extraordinarily quiet and it was looking to be a good day. Then the lumps and bumps appeared. 20 miles of up... down... up ... down... hopping from one scenic reserve to another through the greenest verges of bush I have ever experienced. The crickets were out in force and the birds joined in. I amused myself (it doesnt take much after all these days on the road) by whistling back at them... only to get a reply or two... well it amused me!
The constant up and downing was extremely wearing and it shows what a knifedge Im on in terms of my body packing up. It didnt take long at all (despite the calories I have been shoving in) for the legs to start to blow up on the climbs... the downs not being enough recovery. Grinding out the miles and giving myself a pep talk. Its only 67 miles... 20 done by 10:00... 40 by 12:30 (half hour for lunch) and 67 done by 15:30! Ambitious yes and not allowing any time for photo and snack stops. It was never going to be correct so add on an hour and should be done by 16:30 ... more realustic for sure. These calculations are an ongoing dialogue in my head as I go along... every time I stop.. I recalculate. This takes up a huge amount of thinking time.
I hardly saw a soul on this stretch of road.. I was alone and despite the bad legs was greatly appreciating the solitude... just me and the road. And what a road... winding round and up and down the base of the foothills it was beautiful in its apparent remoteness. The view across the valley was good.
Then came Mount Hercules!! The climb of the day... I hadnt been particularly dreading it... my new mantra being 'it cant be as bad as The Rimutaka Hill'! The first part was pretty steep but then the gradient eased off and I tapped my way up.. not quite in the lowest granny gear. It was a test but not an insummountable one.. or even close and it felt good to get to the top. I did think it ironic that this was 'Mount' and Riutaka was 'hill'... possibly the kiwi sense of humour coming into play. The downhill was fast and flowing and beautiful. I did stop once to let a tour bus through but it was a very pleasant 10 minutes of descending.
As I emerged from those hills I stopped for more calories and found a perfect spot. The valley stretched out with the river at its heart... To my left and in front of me... the hills were getting more mountainous and stretched out of the ground.. reaching for the blue sky. The clouds had cleared except for those shrouding the hills and the sun was trying to break through. Down in the valley... the cows grazed peacefully. It was pretty perfect.
Couldnt last forever though... i could stand around all day but that wouldnt get me to where I wanted to go. So I continued round. Somewhat annoyingly the road twisted round the valley... i kept thinking how much easier it would have been to cut straight across. The wind had also picked up slightly and as the road meandered round... it was a sidewind then headwind then sidewind... (course not a tailwind ... that would be too nice)
I reached a layby where several cars were stopped. The high peaks of the alps were just visable above the thin white cloud. At ladt... the mountains reveal themselves. I was chatting to one guy who worked for a helicoptwr company and as we were talking .. one took off and lazily spun round and headed for the peaks... graceful in its manoevrability .. the sound of the rotors deadened by space and distance. I spent 5 minutes staring at the peaks and felt like New Zealand was gradually revealling itself to me... as a reward for how hard Id worked to get here.
At one point I crossed the Kakapotahi River.. narrow bridge but no traffic so for once I allowed myself a bridge stop. The water was grey blue in colour and stretched up to the foothills cutting a gash in the hillside. I resisted the urge to just go and sit on the riverbank forevermore but it mesmorised me and once again I found myself fighting back tears... not usually quite so emotional... it had been a hard road to get here... and this little moment ... in this place... had tipped me over the edge (another knifedge). Weariness may have had something to do with it... but also disbelief that I was standing here... having been convinced many times that I wouldnt get past Auckland.
I breathed the air and absorbed the sounds and smells... trying to draw strength from the natural world around me. Letting it soak into my soul.
As I continued on... the headwind became fiercer... making me fight for every inch of ground gained. Another 5 miles or so and Lake Lanthe came into view. A glorious blue and another oasis of calm until I passed the recreation area with !people!. I continued on.. unwilling to spoil the solitude. Headwind ... sidewind... headwind!! The legs were giving out. The road was relatively flat now with the odd rise but still going slowly ... Fortunately reasonably soon I came across the town of Whataroa and found a cafe... lunch!
I ordered a cheeseburger... devoured it in seconds and then immediately ordered another one!! As I was about to leave a couple of kitchen sink tourers pitched up but unusually for once.. I didnt feel like swapping road stories. I was having a me and the road day and continued on... eager to get to Franz Joseph.
The headwind had worsened... of course... no easy miles allowed. The cycling gods were making me work hard to get to my rest day but I reasoned that nothing worth having is easily won and the pedals kept turning... just! The last ten miles continued in that fashion. Passing two Lakes... both deep blue and calm... more soul fortification. Then buildings started coming into view... Franz Joseph machinery... Franz Joseph holiday park... and then!!! The town sign. I leaned my bike against it and took my photos. Somewhat in shock! I had made it here. The ride is one thing... my rest day here with helihike was the one thing I had on my 'must do' list. I almost had that pinch yourself feeling! These dreams are coming true...
Sauntering towards the town I had a quick mosey before heading to my two nights of luxury accomodation... The Rainforest Retreat and my tree hut. The girl checking me in was from Tilehurst in Reading which really made me laugh and they had kindly given me a 50% discount. I was shown to my tree hut... huuugggee bed... kitchen... nice shower and a balcony!! Perfect... although to be honest... long as it has a bed and electrical sockets it doesnt actually make much difference.
Then I had a treat in store. Some relatives of a friend of my mum (Thanks Rosie for putting me in touch with them... and you must must come here... its an unbelievable place!!!) were driving over from near Christchurch... just to visit me. Chuffed to pieces... I went to meet them in reception where we relocated to the bar to get a drink before dinner. Mary and Alec were from the UK but now live here near their grandchildren. And it was wonderful to meet them! Mary presented me with two presents... a bag of sweets... and some chafing cream!!! Wooohhoooo. Yup I was ecstatic... starting to run out of supplies of 'Udderly smooth' .. it was perfect... as I couldnt see where I was going to find some more. Chammy cream sorted. The conversation flowed... Mary had been a nurse and worked in Reading and Oxford so we swopped stories.. hers of Battle Hospital and the adult wards... turns out she knew some people that one of my work mothers remembered... small world! Did I say how lovely it was!! We then went to eat... and I found Pasta!!!!! The day had a perfect ending... fantastic company and good food... what more could a weary cyclist want. Many hours passsed and it was soon time to part company. Despite feeling exhausted I was reluctant to say goodbye to Mary and Alec... a little slice of home...
Thank you so much for coming to meet a strange and slightly crazy cyclist... it was lovely to meet you and you coming all this way to see me is greatly appreciated.
The internet connection wasnt great here and found myself frustrated trying to catch up with facebook and blog... nothing except messenger properly working. I was sitting in bed when I felt a shudder.. the building rocked. Was it??? Could it possibly be??? I had missed the mornings 4.4 earthquake when on the road... but now I excitedly messaged Lorraine.... was there just an earthquake?? 3.7 came the reply!! Woohooooooooooo! Stupidly excited (possibly a bit wrong) to have felt my first earthquake... and I mean really stupidly excited... Lorraine informed me that my Kiwi experience was now complete.
Unable to blog etc I finally crashed out... like lightening... with dreams of tomorrows helihike to the forefront!
I made it here!! And like my blog title says... im trying to get to the end of the world but have got here because of all my friends and family picking me up and putting me back together. I couldnt have got this far without your support for sure. The mountains still challenge me to do battle in the days to come but today I am at peace in the beauty of my surroundings.
LHS
Comments
Post a Comment