After topping up the dino-juice I made my out to Pohangina and then onto the gravel of Pohangina Road - always a favourite for me as it starts off nice and fast. In no hurry I kept my eye out for spots to stop for pictures - bridges always seem to be interesting places...
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| Autumn! |
Just up the road from the bridge, the road climbs up a little higher and there's great views out across the Pohangina Valley.
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| Good dog, stay... |
Hitting Makoura Road I turned left to make my way towards Apiti. The gravel was fun but I did have to avoid a few locals on quads, out doing farmer stuff. At the bottom of the hill I stopped because there was another bridge...
While I was wandering around I got to thinking that there might be trout in the river so took a peek over the side and spotted this fella straight away.
And because I thought it might be hard to see the little joker against the river bottom I even took some moving pictures so ya could see him better.
And then when I took my eyeballs away from the camera I noticed his buddy about 2m away - I think there's trout in this river...
Remounting I crossed the bridge and clambered up the other side of the hill and got a rude shock...
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| Another rude shock... |
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| It's not the bridge that was shocking |
Some blighters have been hard at work sealing the road! There was no more gravel (just new seal and road works) for the rest of Makoura Road! Spoil sports!
Anyway instead of riding into Apiti I stuck to my hastily hatched plan and steered for Ridge Road where I saw a welcome sign...
It's not often that I ride Ridge Road (another fav) in this direction but I did, after all, have to get to Feilding at some stage. It was still only mid-morning so I managed to kill some more time stopping for more pics...
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| Seat cover anyone? |
Wandering up and down on the road I was surprised at how squishy the road was but then, we did get quite a bit of rain the day before. Squishy or not, the Tenere felt pretty good and was behaving itself rather nicely.
Travelling the road in the direction I was I noticed another road heading off to the right. It had a signpost suggesting that it went through to Kimbolton. I couldn't remember riding it before so thought it would be worth a crack...it was a nice little road but it was bye-bye gravel...
Londons Ford Road spat me out on the Apiti-Kimbolton Road and I was soon in Kimbolton and settling down for the cruise into Feilding via Cheltenham.
At the olds place I was only there for about 5 minutes when 2 other bikes rode up the driveway. It was a couple of Dad's mates having ridden down from Napier to say hi. One even had a new horse to show off. Geoff will be most interested to hear that Dave (73) had just sold his GSX-R1000 (with nearly 100,000kms on it) and got himself a shiny new GSX-S1000. Sorry no pics Geoff...red/black it t'were.
Anyway, you can probably imagine what we talked about for the next few hours...
A pretty short ride for me and perhaps not the quickest way to Feilding...
You had to charge the battery, wait didn't the 2 week ride around the south island charge it enough?
ReplyDeleteMint gravel, lucky someone thought to start tarring it.
Yes, you need don't want to be stuck with a flat battery now, do ya?
ReplyDeleteI know you don't mean that last bit...
Not sure why folks feel the need to pave over perfectly good gravel. Sigh. They do it here too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful views of those lush green valleys though.
Ahhh, a sympathetic soul who loves the gravel - I always knew you were ok ;)
DeleteYep, everything pretty green at the moment, leaves are changing colour though...
So is it a collapsible fishing rod for those trout next time Andrew? You must know all those terrific back roads inside out by now! Had to smile at your reference to the local farmers on quads and the like. Around our way on both dirt roads and seal, the local farmers and the like seem to regard the choice of which side of the road to drive on purely optional.
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe if I was a trout fisherman - always struck me as being a bit boring (not mention you need a bit of skill with a fly). Give me a decent salt water loving, nylon stripping fish anyday.
DeleteYeah, quads can be interesting but I reckon utes are more dangerous - they're going faster and tend be all over the road...
I love stitching gravel roads together to make a loop ride, unfortunately someone is always paving them. People bitch about the dust, and cost of maintaining gravel roads so they pave them; then they bitch about the increase of traffic causing potholes, and how everyone drives too fast. I'll take gravel over asphalt any day.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful scenery and seclusion, perfect opportunity to pack a camp chair and picnic lunch.
Yep, loops are a lot more fun than out and backs. Gravel is good!
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