The end of a biking era...

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29/3/09 = Day 10: The last and longest day


Alarm went off today at 6:15 and was like part of a horrible dream…something I shuold sleep through and then it would get better. Wasn’t part of my dream. Pitch black outside and inside room; hate getting up in dark. Laid for 5mins trying to let eyes adjust (what an excuse) then forced self out of bed and into kitchen. Made porridge and ate it watching T.V., then packed up and set off at 7:30. 7:30…what an ungodly hour! Still not fully light outside and sun not fully risen, but was just about light enough to be safe to ride, and didn’t have a choice anyway…needed to get to Geraldine by 3pm.

Pedalled off in semi darkness looking to the left at semi-dark Lake Tekapo; still lovely even in dark. Could see red above it as evidence that sun was rising, but was too early and too cold to stop and watch. Steady pedalling along with only a few hills to climb. After 20mins, Lake Tekapo was behind us and were now cycling passed mountains on right hand side. Glanced over and noticed sunrise affect on them. Beautiful; had to stop for that. Sun had tinted tops of mountains red and as stopped to watch, red seeped down them until they were stained fully red. Really beautiful. Turns out it was a sign of things to come, because the whole ride ahead was both beautiful and enjoyable 😊

Got passed the mountains and the whole ride after that was a steady decline down…the whole ride. Wow! Hardest gear on and hardly had to pedal to move. Such a refreshing change. Zoomed along totally happy and definitely doing more than 15kms an hour. Whizzed through Dog Kennel corner (which is an actual place name!), down more slopes and then arrived at Burkes Pass. Knew that there were some hills on this journey, nothing is perfect, and Burkes Pass was one of those hills. Had had a nice 20kms downhill up to this point, so really couldn’t complain!

Suprisingly, managed to get up Burkes with not too much effort.Took a lot of granny gear and a substantial amount of deep breathing, but other than that, was relatively painless. Once over the pass, was back to the lovliness of downhills. Love downhills. Had only been cycling an hour at this point and done over 20kms = good going for us. Kept flying downhills, in hardest gear for ages; brilliant ride. Not even taking much note of scenery because seemed to be moving so fast. Did notice heat of sun though; definitely getting warmer.

Took a few minutes to fly through Kimbell and then arrived in Fairlie. Was only 9:30 and had already done 44kms…brilliant. Would only usually be setting off at this time on a normal day. Felt good to be over half way though; less pressure to make it for bus and be in Geraldine by 3pm. Fairlee= quite a big town and was supposed to be our lunch place, but at 9:30, was way too early for lunch. Decided to wait until we reached Allandale café at top of Mt Micheal. Would be a good treat after cycling up a mountain and was only another 10kms away. Had a few raisons as a snack, then back on bikes and off to Allandale.

No more downhills, but a flat(ish) few kms with some actual rolling hills. Not too bad. That was until we came to Mt Micheal. And he was a mountain. Granny gear on and off we went. He wasn’t a long, drawn out hill, just a short and incredibly steep hill…I mean mountain.Took a lot of pedalling and was so steep in parts, that actually found myself leaing forward to push bike on. Took more than enough sweat, deep breathing and contemplations of stopping. Couldn’t stop on my last day though; needed to get to top. Pushed through and managed to get there, the lovely Allandale café waiting there for us, like a mirage in the desert. Absolutely shattered and aching, but sight of café made it all worth while. Clambered off bike and stumbled in. Nice little place, with a café and a shop and the best looking cakes ever. Only 10:30 and still not hungry, but no other food stops now, so had to get something. Natural option = cake…surely. Well,it was for us. Got a beautiful caramel cake and drunk the water the lady had poured immediatley on seeing us, before even asking if we wanted any; we looked that bad. Cake was giant, gogeous and v.caramel. Actually turned out to be way too big and had to force last bit into a now sickly belly.

Read magazine and had a little look round shop - plenty of time to get to Geraldine - then set off to do last 38kms at 11:00, caramel a bit settled. Couldn’t believe had already done 52kms before midday. Great start to afternoon ride with the downhill of Mt Micheal as soon as we came out of café. It was a massive downhill, v.steep and v.long. Literally did fly down it, having to break in sections because going uncomfortably quick. So glad we were riding this way. Climbing up this side of Mt Micheal would have been disasterous, if even possible. Flew along and was at this point that looked up to take in scenery. Green everwhere around us. Green hills, green fields, plants and flowers. No longer in Mackenzie country, in fact, it reminded meof home…of Yorkshire.

Was easy going fromthis point on. Not as easy as first part, because hit a few rolling hills after downhill of Mt Micheal, but was still easy in comparrison to some of other killer days. Then last 10kms were upon us and went back to being downhills again…brilliant. What a great way to end a day…and a whole cycle trip. Been a brilliant day and left us on a real high. Even felt like could have cycled more, although doubt that bum would have agreed to it. Last days cycling done…90kms achieved. Proud moment.

Arrived nicely in Geraldine at 1pm, a whole 2hrs early. Found i-site straight away, parked bikes, removed padded pants (would be indecent to stroll around town in those) and left luggage in i-site whilst went off to explore. Was a little market on because it was Sunday and got sucked straight into jewellrey store. Some things never change. Had a look round - didn’t buy anything! - then went to see the famous tapestry in town; it was a local attraction. The Tapestry was inside The Giant Jersey shop, run by a man and his wife. The name was taken from the fact that the wife had knitted together the worlds largest jersey, which she was in the Guiness book of Records for. Wow, that jersey was big. And the husband…I found him even more impressive. He had built a 42m replica of the Bayeux Tapestry, which took him 25yrs and 2,000,000 pieces of steel stook together mosaic style. He had even made an ending for the original tapestry, put together using various text books from history…trust me, he had read them all. Totally impressive an inspiring. Can remeber studying the tapesty in college. He had mosaiced all the pieces, painted on all the details of the tapestry and then even worked in his own mathematical puzzles. Crazy…totally beyond me. Met both him and his wife and congratulated them on their work. They were exactly what you would imagine them to be. Turns out that their daughter had got involved with and helped create that tapestry too; a family of amazing people. Meeting people like that reminds me that there are some truly amazing people in life, people beyond that of your everyday mere mortal. Not just scholars or ‘intelligent people’…more than that. He knew every single thing about that tapestry. He had read every single book about the battle of Hastings…and don’t even get me started on his maths. He tried to get us to solve someof his ‘simple’ puzzles…it was totally lost on us…TOTALLY. Left there a little awestruck but happy to have met such people. Got back to normal life then and went to supermarket for food. Got a giant pizza bread and a pear (try to be healthy) and then rushed back to i-site, which closed at 2:30.

Sat and ate yummy bread whilst waiting for bus, which was actually late. Unlucky for my purse, the bus stop was situated right next to the jewellery stall. Went back for just a quick look. Of course I did end up buying a ring, nice ring though and only $10, so not too bad. Got on bus when it arrived and closed eyes for entire journey to Christchurch.Not tired, but couldn’t be bothered to makeconversation with guy next to us…left poor Deb to it. Ha! You know when you just have those days?! Arrived in Christchurch at 5pm and pedalled off towards hostel = Charlie B’s. *Note to self…skirts not good for bike riding!

Only took 5mins to find hostel, then locked up bikes, checked in and headed straight back out to find a shop for dinner. Got soup to go with remaining bread and made it as soon as got back. Totally full. Condensed soup supposed to feed 4, but managed to squeeze it in. Went on internet then, did some good blogging for a few hours, then got ready to watch a film. Had tea and a museli bar and sat through some of Minority Report, but have never liked that film, so left half way through and went to bed instead. Chilled in bed for a while. Can’t belive today was last day biking…actually quite sad 😞.

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Photos

A little brighter
I'll try and be selective with photos.

Me and sunrise
...and my trusty steed of course; can't forget him!

The jumper
A little bigger than the ones my granny used to knit.

Walls and walls of tapestry
V.impressive in real life.

Christchurch
Cathedral Square. The prettiest part I'd say.