One challenge at a time

Day 19 Ive been waiting a looonng time to use this as my blog title.. some of which will be explained later in the blog. Last night I crashed out really early having had difficulties uploading photos to fb. I then awoke at around 23:30 with a blog still to do. By the time id finished it was 0100 hours and meant I only got 4 and a bit hours kip overnight. To say I had difficulty waking up this morning was an understatement.  By the time Id hauled my sore arse out of my nice warm bed.. I had very little time to pack up. I initially didnt want to look out of the window and see what the weather was doing but as the time came to make a choice about cycle clothing, I pulled back the curtains to find a grey day with the cloud hanging round the hills.... but no rain!!! I packed up pretty quickly after that.. dispensed with the leg warmers but kept the gillet. And set off in search of breakfast, literally 2 secs down the road to the pub id eaten the night before. They did a good break...

Day 18 The rain was coming down in torrents, no deluge... no ... in biblical proportions... and im not exaggerating much. All night it had hammered down as as I peered out my window into the early morning gloom.. yup youve guessed it.... still raining. My plan then was too set out a little later.. see if the rain would abate somewhat as it had yesterday. I had the 'luxury' of only 54 odd miles today on what should be an easy run (curse that thought... the cycling gods are listening) and therefore felt I could afford a bit of time. I was extremely tired, worn out after the exertions of yesterday. Everything hurt. I had a lump on my spine from where my rucksack has been bashing... mildly sunburnt legs... knees that felt like those of an 80 year old.... sore arse... and generally totally body tired. The thought of heading out to do battle in that rain was not an appealing one... yet I hauled myself up and packed up, the routine so practised that I was still done and out the ...

Day 17 Apologies for length of blog... a lot to recount today! Awoke this morning to rain.,. No not just rain, an absolute downpour. It was 0500 and the rain was hammering down. Bugger! No excuses today... just got to go and face it. So packing up took slightly longer as wanted to ensure everything was locked down and watertight. My Apidura bags arent immune to a deluge but pretty much everything I ned to stay dry is housed within another waterproof bag.. double layering! My off bike shoes were conveniently housed in a plastic bag from my shopping trip the day before, as they are in the webbing on the outside of my rucksack.. all my electrical kit is in another waterproof bag in my rucksack... everything else including me will have to get wet! Rain gear on and poked my head out of the door and to my surprise the rain had pretty much stopped and there were clear skies overhead. The 'hills' had dark clouds hovering above the, but they didnt seem to be moving much.. so I pushe...

Day 16 Rest day... what the hell do I do with myself? My 'lie in' this morning saw me awake at 0700 and already at a bit of a loss. My usual morning routine of fb... then packing up ready for the day wasnt necessary this morning and it felt a bit wierd. Outside was cold (by my recent standards) and drizzly. It was a very grey morning but I was a bit igity so after an hour or so of catching up with messages I decided to wander by foot into Spring Creek town. From the campsite it is a nice stroll with the river on my left and the road to my right. Past a little nature reserve bit and in a short distance I reached the junction. One small supermarket and a hotel stood here but I wanted breakfast so thought Id go further into Spring Creek. The backpackers place was on the left and then it was a single street down... houses to my left and right... past a school and a kindergarten, but no sign of any shops/cafes etc that I have so far found in little towns. Even the ubiquitous D...

Day 15 Wooohoooooo ..... Clean cycling clothes!!! Oh no thats the end of the day ... start again.... My day began what seems an awful lot of hours ago.. last night I had booked the 9am ferry from Wellington to cross to Picton on the south island. Check in was at 08:15 and I had a 6 mile cycle to get to the terminal. 6 miles of unknown track... ?headwind... ? difficult navigation. My point being that I couldnt be late.  So my alarm was set even earlier 04:45 to give me enough time to pack... fb... and get out of the door by 06:45. I tried to creep around so as not to wake Graeme and Lynnie and managed to accomplish everything by half six. As I wheeled my bike out Lynnie was in the kitchen... gave me a hug and wished me well for the journey. I was sad to go because they have been a huge part of what makes this a journey.. despite the fact we only met for a few hours they will live on long in my memories associated with this ride.  As soon as I went out ...

Day 14 My usual packing routine saw me leaving Eketahuna at 07:20... far too early for anything in that little town to be open.. even on a Monday morning. So breakfast was going to have to wait 20 ish miles until I got to Masterton, my first aim for the day. It was an unbelievably beautiful morning.. the sunshine lighting up the fields of gold and framing the 'hills' on either side of the valley. It wasnt hot yet but the sun warmed the bones as I peddled out of town. I kept my Ipod off this morning.. wanting to hear the early morning sounds of the landscape... and I was already feeling bloody good. Words had been written in the sand this morning filling me with Love Hope and Strength and I kept them with me as I pushed onwards. I musta broke my speed record for this trip so far as I rattled out the miles to Masterton, lost in thought of what the day could bring... Rimutaka 'Hill' looming large on my horizon. Its all I could think about. Fear could even be u...

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 f...