Going visiting

My olds are currently homeless after selling their house and taking to their bus.  They are currently tiki-touring around the place and today they were in Otaki which is only about 70km from me so I thought I'd pop down to see them.

The trip down to Otaki was on main roads and in pretty heavy traffic at times so didn't really rate as a lot of fun but on rolling up at Otaki beach there was lunch to be had so that kinda made up for it.

Kapiti Island in the distance

Gotta park in the shade

With the day being so nice I was hardly going just turn around and head home so I decided a trip over the hill into the Wairarapa was on the cards.  I little more of the dreaded SH1 was sucked up before I turned off up Paicok hill - a great ride with some good views from the top.

That wee island again

On the way over the Haywards I was stopped briefly at an incident.  I'm not sure if there had been a car accident or what but a car was ablaze on the side of the road and the fire service were sorting it out as I rolled up.  Unfortunately I only had my phone with me to take pics so the below is the best  I could do.  There had been a lot more smoke prior to me being able to get the phone out.

I also failed to get a picture of the little dog riding in a tank-bag on the bike at the right of the pic.

Excitement over and sweat pouring out of me from waiting in the sunshine I was glad to be riding again with at least a bit more air blowing over me.  The trip over the Rimutakas was pretty good (my first in the dry for a long time) but man there were some car drivers that needed nudging over the side...

In Featherston I decided to get off the main road and made for Martinborough.  By now I was really feeling the heat but still didn't stop in Martinborough, instead I opted to take some my favourite roads back to Masterton where not only I would get a drink but also the Connie.  I ended up buying a 750ml bottle of water and downed all but a couple of mouthfuls in about 20 seconds flat...

From Masterton I decided to head up Route 52 to Alfredton and then onto Pahiatua and check out the stories of earthquake damage to the road on SH52.  There wasn't too much on the bit of 52 I did but there was evidence of slips and some slumps in the road on Pa Valley Road and Mangaone Road on my way back into Pahiatua.

The rest of the ride simply took in the Pahiatua Track (new seal in places) and back into Palmy where there was yet another cold drink required - damn, it was hot out there...

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More pics here.