Not everything goes according to plan-and that just part of the adventure 😀😀
Once again spectacular views. I tried to stop a bit more today to take photos….but the most soeovurws are across the road…usually when I’m going uphill.
I had an early start this morning, packing up in the dark, so that I could leave at first light-around 7am. The first 50km were on the paved road…some hills, but not like yesterday. These were a bit more reasonable in size….except that there were 13 hills, and some smaller hills that weren’t classified as hills….but they were up anyways.
The gravel section wasn’t too bad….but near the end I took a bit of a tumble. We had a strong gusty southerly wind all day, and that’s what caught me and over I went. I did need a bit of a hand to get my chain on, and since I was less than 2km from the end…. I mostly walked it.
This was about the time that I found out that the ferry was cancelled for today. That was my reason for getting up early, so that I could make the 1730 ferry. It’s not really a ferry, it actually a boat that people can rent. During the tour Aotearoa he has several sailings….just one per day, timed with the tides and all in the late afternoon so that riders have time to ride the 73km with 850m of elevation gain. The boat ride is $900, but is divided up according to how many people are on it, never less than $95. For the TA riders it’s $65.
With the cancellation it meant that everyone who was planning on being on the ferry is camped out at Puoto point….just a basic campground, and a small shop that sells chips and ice cream. Everyone is making the best of it….getting to know some of the other riders since we are all together. A sizeable kitchen, and a huge sitting room with several couches and tables and chairs. Lots of visiting going on. Many people seem to know my name for some reason….and many are very nice.
If the wind dies down, the sailing will be at 0630….that means tents packed up and bikes loaded by 0615. Likely no time for breakfast. The alternative is to spend the day here, and hope for an evening sailing tomorrow night which isn’t very appealing as it’s a 2-3hr ferry ride….which means setting up the tent in the dark on the other side after an evening sailing.
The plan is Auckland tomorrow….maybe a bit farther.
No comments:
Post a Comment