Virgin Territory

The start of the track at the end of Humber Rd.

Wa hoo - bit scary in the wind.

Riding past Onekawa industrial area.

Under the Old bridge and over the weir, and under the express-way.

Peep holes to observe the birds.

It's always exciting to conquer virgin territory! The long awaited Estuary ride was advertised in the paper as being 'hopefully' open last weekend. Hopefully being the operative word! A small group of us (Rose and Bob, Fenton and us) met at Humber Rd (by the optimus yatching head-quarters) and hit the Estuary walk trail. Felt a bit bad about it, as really, it is still a walking track and there were hundreds (or so it seemed) of people on it, all ducking for cover as we tinged our little bells. It is really too narrow for bikes and walkers to pass comfortably on it. So we have decided to by-pass it in the future.
It's only a short stretch and we were soon on the old Westshore bridge. From here, we ducked under the express-way and onto the new path, which we had tried sometime ago, but the gate was locked. Guess what? It still was! There were so many people on the track - hippies, families, wrinklies (like us), -and everyone was just heaving their bikes over the gate,so  we decided we would too.
It was lovely for a little bit; following the line of the wetlands. Apparently Transit (New Zealand's roading contractor) wanted to put the expressway through this wetland, as it was the shortest route to the airport. The Ahuriri Protection Society put forward a forceful protest and it was diverted to its current position. Great! Unfortunately they have been just as adamant about bikers, walkers and dog owners. So for a lot of the ride the ducks were buffered from us 'despoilers' by a large stop bank. The original plans for the track is vastly different from what it is. Good for the birds I guess, although the ones we did pass didn't seem too phased about sharing a little bit of their home with us.
We passed through lovely meadows (paddocks, pastures, fields) of grass and russian-fudge-coloured cows (not to mention a rather alarming sized bull but as I was too busy negotiating the path he had roughed up, I didn't really bother about him.) This farmland is owned by the Napier Harbour Board and run by Landcorp. It appears very lush and fertile and parts were being mown for hay that day. It's hard to believe that is was all under water a mere 80 years ago.

Oh no! Locked gated! Lucky we're such rebels.

Fudge coloured cow.

Nearing the end of the rough bit ( until the next one, that is).

Now that's a bridge to nowhere.

Hunkered down behind the Estuary.

The limestone ends abrubtly ( as did the battery in my camera) and then we really roughed it to the 'other Bridge to Nowhere', by Park Island. The track is prepared for the limestone having been passed over by a grader blade, but it is simply not there yet. Lucky we are such intrepid bikers. A bit of jarring and juddering and then we were soon rewarded with the concrete path again - oh bliss!

The end of the limestone.

The top of the stop-bank looking back.

Do we carry on - we're not sissys - of course we do.

Bit rough ( an understatement)

Hooray! We have a bit of a tail wind that shoots us down the concrete pathway down Prebensen Drive (a main artery) but stops at a very painful point - so now we have to negotiate a terrifying crossing and a mere 100 metres to our junction. Rich and I have done this bit before and feel just a little bit grand guiding the rest of our party along a track which we can only describe as 'more exciting but less dangerous' (so long as a train doesn't come on by). We wave goodbye to our new friends who have travelled at least half of the way with us. At times they easily pass us until I point out to Rich, that  one of the guys has exactly the same bike, so Rich drags him off. Ha ha - he didn't even realise there was a competition.
Funny thing is - we all arrive at our starting point at exactly the same time (I suspect our way WAS shorter, but we may have taken longer.)
We haven't bought our thermoses today so we go our seperate ways. It's not even 15 ks so although we weren't sore, we were satisfied.

Clifton - Again!

The 'Team' @ Clifton Cafe. (or Teashop as Bob likes to call it)

While the weather was not perfect today, a cold breeze blowing off the sea, Rich, determined to share his love of cycling the bike tracks with anyone and everyone, organised a family jaunt with two of our, mostly uncomplaining, kids who are home for only a short time. Along with his sister, Rose, and her band of enthusiasts, we made quite a team today.
The thought of those delicious sandwiches meant there was little fuss from Tom (home from uni for a few days before starting a summer job in Christchurch) and Kate ( off back to Spain in a week).

We started the ride at the same place as last week, beside the Clive river mouth, but headed off in the opposite direction, straight into a rather sharpish head wind. I scored the good bike again this week, so it actually wasn't too bad and only for a kilometre or two, before we turned down the the track that runs parallel to the sea. I love this little bit of the ride, heading towards Cape Kidnappers , along the wetlands which are teeming with bird life, mostly black swans and mallards today. Orchards and farms line the other side of the track and occasionally seeping out onto it. While we had to dodge the 'landmines', the big, sleek, black and white cattle were dozing in the sun down the other side.
(whoops - my camera was on video mode for a while today - I wondered why it didn't make that tickety noise - the curse of aging eyes.)

The temperature rose rather dramatically along here, although I never had to take my polar fleece jacket off and reveal my peeling arms (a result of last weeks ride without sunscreen  - what a slow learner)

Don't you just love biking shots - backs n bums?

Because Bob has a crook knee today, we met up with him at Blackbridge. It's a terrifying ride across the bridge on a windy day, especially if you are on a 'high' bike. I kept thinking that a brisk gust of wind would pop me over the rail and plummet me to a horrible death on the riverbed below, but it hasn't happened yet and it pays to focus straight ahead and not look over the rail and be hypnotised by the flowing of the river below.
On our way up to Napier this morning, Rose text me and mentioned there was a market at Haumoana. I wondered for a moment whether to warn Rich that it was a possible side-stop, but wisely decided against it. Wisely because by the time we arrived at Blackbridge there was a constant stream of head to tail traffic and we could see that the cars were parked miles from the domain. We actually congratulated ourselves on not giving it any serious consideration. (Darn - I love a good market.)

                                                             Blackbridge behind.

                                                        Bob's a Wild Child.
Near the Te Awanga/Haumoana (depends who you are) shops, Tom rides straight into an innocuous looking flower stem of one of those flax-like looking succulents that was slightly overhanging the track. He reckons he did it on purpose, but we have our doubts. We don't doubt his athletic(make that miraculous) recovery, however, as the solid branch hits him fair midbody. A wobble or two, and he was firmly back on track (oh to be young again).
As we cruised past Elephant Hill winery we smile to ourselves. Just on the other side is the tsunami track. I visualise having to use it. After you have negotiated the closed iron gates, you run at least 500 metres before you hit a dip and then there is a slight rise some 1 kilometre further on. I can't run (or bike) fast enough to save myself, and wonder what would happen if we ever had to use it. God willing, I never will have to.
And talking of Elephant Hill, what a blight on the landscape. It is merely my personal opinion, but it really doesn't fit - naturally aged copper - my a*#.  One day I will post a photo, I promise.

We hit Clifton beach and, while not exactly surprised, we are sorry to see, even further damage. The concrete blocks we usually use as picnic tables have disappeared, although the beach seems less steep. We are so anxious to eat our sarnies that we immediately prepare to disembark and dig in. Rose arrives and persuades us to go back to  the Tearooms (that's just Bob's wind-up - it's really a posh cafe) for coffee. Because it's such a lovely spot and our usual has disappeared, we do.
A bit of a rest and we saddle up for Te Awanga and lunch.

The wait was worth it but I may have had one or two sandwiches more than I needed. As we go to saddle up for the return ride home, Bob discovers his bike is missing!! We simply can't imagine how that had happened - we were all sitting there, right beside the bikes. Who could possibly have nicked it?

It turns out to be one of those understandable mistakes - Rose (who was riding a borrowed bike) picked up the nearest recognisable bike - which turns out to be Bob's. Talk about laugh. (Well I did, especially after having to search the bike rack at Clifton for my borrowed bike - the kids couldn't believe I didn't recognise my  fluffy white, sheepskin rug on the seat.)

Loading up for home.

Sore but satisfied.

Charming children.

I think they're lovely really.

Tom's  Zoolander 'Blue Steel' look (except it''s more brown)

The wind had changed angle slightly in our favour - that doesn't happen often, I can tell you. So we had a brisk ride home. On the stretch by the river with a direct tail wind, and open space in front of me, I slapped Steve's bike into top gear and booted it. It was exhilarating to ride so fast. Unfortunately a little too fast as I decided to nip off the track onto the BMX track which lead to an open gate (so I didn't have to get off). There was a terrifying moment when I realised I had misjudged, but calmly I applied the disc brakes and was soon back under control.
We pulled up beside the car pleased with ourselves for yet another successful and fun day out.