Surveying...

Once again there has been a bit of rain falling around the place and though we weren't hit as bad as the East Coast and some other places we did have a few local roads closed and the rivers came up a lot requiring flood gates to be opened and that sort of thing.  But with Saturday morning not looking too bad I decided to make my own recce of the Pohangina Valley and in the process check out a road I hadn't ridden in a while - my version of public service eh...

After pumping up a fairly flat rear tyre (I'd better keep an eye on that), I puttered out to Ashhurst and then up to Pohangina on wet roads.  All around me the sky was fairly dark and I was pretty sure that at some stage I might trip over some wet weather.  My first bit of gravel was on Pohangina Road and the first section through to the Totara Reserve turn-off was just as fun as usual, even if there were a few muddy bits.

The Road (Churchill Road) to the reserve was closed but I discovered that a Tenere could sneak through the gap in the cones and puttered down to check out what the damage was.  I don't know if it was just what you see in the pictures of the bridge below as I decided not to cross the bridge just in case.

A lot of wreckage pushing on the bridge

Water level a lot lower than it would have been just days ago

Perhaps some new slip damage?

The old bridge has definitely been leaned on - the gap is easily big enough to stick your hand in

Back on Pohangina Road I made my way towards Utuwai.  But not far from the corner there was sign saying that the road was going to be closed for a period of time for maintenance.  The dates were right for it to be closed but I decided to carry on and check it out - I had all day...

My next stop was at at a spot where I often take photos.  This time around I was able to stay on my bike for the pictures as my camera can fit in my new tank bag.  Unfortunately if you do drop a glove in the dirt, you have to get off to pick it up...

The next bit of road to Utuwai was a bit interesting in places as it was muddy and a bit sloppy so I tended to tip-toe through there a bit.  Turning left, the road through to Apiti was fine but I was still disappointed by the (good) progress the roading guys had made in sealing the road.

From Apiti it was wet tar up the hill towards Kimbolton, the front end letting me know that an E-07 with nearly 17,000km on it is perhaps not the ideal tyre for the conditions.

Rather than take the boring seal ride back towards Cheltenham I turned right and carried on towards Rangiwahia before turning off onto McBeth Road.

A little Tenere waits...

I hadn't been through here in a long time and when I got to the first intersection I turned again onto Junction Road to see where it would take me - perhaps to a Junction?  As it turned out Junction Road became more like a farm track and after the second gate (both open) I decided that I'd better turn around in case I ended up annoying a farmer - the road looked like it was going to get rougher too so not a crazy idea...

Note: some idiot made an error at the start of the video.  It is actually McBeth Road at the start, later on I turn-off onto Junction and then back onto McBeth to finish.  Must get a better video editor...

Back on McBeth Road and there was more gravel goodness before the road finally turned to seal and then ended at Perry Line.

Grass, clouds...

Kiwitea thataway!

Perry Lane took me through to Kiwitea where I turned for home and lunch.  A nice little morning's ride of around 150km.

No, I hadn't forgotten...

...that this was in my shed...

It's a long weekend here and yesterday was supposed to be the best day of the weekend weather-wise (forecast is holding true so far) so I took the opportunity to give the poor old Connie a quick run.

I decided that perhaps lunch in Hunterville sounded ok but that I should probably make sure that I got in a decent ride.  So rather than a direct route over Vinegar Hill, I made my way to over to Marton first.

From Marton I checked out Makuhou Road which is always nice but this time around showing wintry signs of fallen leaves and twigs along with metal dragged out onto the road near driveways and farm gates.

A little sealed taste of Turakina Valley Road got me back out onto the main road where I followed a monkey with a death wish for a while - double yellows on corners not seeming to phase him too much.  Unfortunately the cop at the top of the hill by the turn-off to Ratana didn't seem to catch any of the action...

I let him go and then turned off to Fordell to make my way through the back roads to Hunterville.  The roads through here were also pretty dodgy with plenty of wet roads (the kind of wet where they won't be dry until spring), patches of road works and new seal.  There was also more stock on the road than I've seen in ages - 2 steers on different corners and a mob of about 8-10 sheep.

Just above the intersection at Ongo Road I thought I'd better stop for a few phone pics:

Google even liked one of them enough to do this to it:

At the bottom of this hill is the intersection and I timed it just right - I managed to turn towards Hunterville just before a huge mob of sheep arrived on the scene.  It looked like they'd just be shorn or something and were being driven back towards their paddocks.

By now the old girl was getting lowish on gas but as I rode into Hunterville I didn't feel like stopping for either fuel or food so did some quick sums and decided that I could easily make Feilding on the gas I had.

My trip over Vinegar Hill was fairly sedate and I had to wait at the lights again before the charge up the hill to the lookout.  I didn't bother stopping as there were quite a few cars parked up taking in blocking the view.

Not far from the summit my fuel light came on but there was only around 20km to go until I hit Feilding and I'd even be able to make Palmy if I wanted.  In the end I made the quick stop in Feilding and then cruised home.  Google reckons around 200km and 3 hours, 9 minutes for the trip - I guess they don't own in Kwakas...