Whenever the TT is in the South Island (my preferred option), it is always a spectacular excuse to do a bit more poking around the mainland. This year, one of our missions was to pop over to Cardrona and stay with Colin's step daughter and have some fun while there. But first we had to get there.
There are a few different routes to Cardrona from Oamaru but checking GoogleMaps shows that the quickest sealed route is 250km but if we took Danseys Pass then it would only be 293km - and we'd also get to enjoy some more gravel. And everyone knows that gravel is good!
In the morning we had a fairly latish start as we wanted to catch up with Chris and Stella before leaving to wish them well on their next wee adventure (hopefully Chris posts up a certain ride report soon) and also because we were in no particular hurry with only 293km to ride.
Our initial route retraced the start of our TT but before the Duntroon checkpoint we turned off towards Danseys Pass.
I believe that it was only a month or two before our trip when a big storm caused a lot of damage to the road (and I think it was even closed for a while), but when we tackled the road it was all good. I also think that the East-West (or North-South depending on how you like to describe the route) direction we were taking is my favourite. You're kinda eased into the ride by a nice trip up a valley and then get a decent hill climb up to our usual photo stop.
The road then drops back down the hill and onwards to the pub. This time around we actually went in and had a drink and a bite.
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| The Oasis... |
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| Trying to get service in the crowded bar |
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| My arty shot... |
Here's the video of the ride in:
Leaving Danseys Pass and heading back towards civilisation in Naesby the road just gets better - it opens back out into another great Southern gravel highway. The big bikes love it!
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| Still in TT mode - engines running while taking photos... |
Back out onto the seal, we settled down for the cruise through to Cardrona. We had a quick stop in Omakau (just up the road from the Lauder CP) for fuel and then bypassed Alexandra to Cromwell and Wanaka before finally touching down in Cardrona.
What an awful location to stop for the night...
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| Maybe I do need a new seat cover? |
We even had to struggle to find a decent place for a feed!
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| Actually, seriously good tucker! |
What a great wee ride through some more of the South Island's magical country. Roll on Tuesday...
Noice! Love the Cardrona Hotel.😎
ReplyDeleteNeat place alright, cool pub with neat atmosphere. We had two meals there - both superb!
DeleteThat looks like a great ride. The hotel looks like a really neat place to stay.
ReplyDeleteCan't speak to the accommodation but the tucker was great!
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