With a brand new nephew to go and visit a trip up to the Taranaki & back was definitely on the to-do list. So after waking up pretty damn early for a Sunday I was up and on the road by ten past seven.
Conditions were perfect leaving Palmy - nice and warm, no wind and not a cloud in the sky. There's something about early morning rides: the still conditions and lack of traffic make for a nice quiet ride. There was a few bugs out and about though and they were as keen as ever to commit suicide on my visor.
I stopped off at Wanganui for some petrol at about 8 and continued on up the road in good conditions. It was even sunny in Hawera - but not for long. Leaving Normanby a few spits soon turned into proper rain and the roads were pretty wet for the rest of the way. Another quick stop in Stratford to raid the bakery and close the vents in my helmet and I was off again.
I arrived at Christine & Stu's for a much needed coffee and was soon introduced to little Billy. After lunch and a coffee with both sets of Billy's grandparents it was time to turn the bike around and head back.
I left in fine but grey weather but soon had to stop to put my sunglasses on. Very warm & mild. Just south of Stratford there was quite a major detour in force and had to take a real back country loop before getting back on the main road.
Started seeing a few bikes heading north and decided that some of them may be heading home from the racing at Manfield so it was time to keep a good eye out for cops. Sure enough between Wanganui & Bulls I saw 2 on the road and there was a 3rd one ticketing a 4wd in Bulls itself.
Another quick top off in Bulls (327km from that tank) before heading home. Nice little Sunday ride of about 420k's.
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