Day 93

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Today I needed to try and get back into at least some semblence of training. As my feet are still a bit of a mess post run, I decided a cycle would be the best way forward, but, unfortunately, I’d not counted on just quite how hilly Dunedin is, so there was no real way of getting a flat ride out. Even to get into town from the camp site was a steep climb up followed by a terrifying ride downhill on bumpy roads the other side. However, the name of the game was the steepest residential street in the world!! The goal was to try and cycle up it. It starts off fairly shallow, but then gets steeper and steeper, culiminating in one part which is a 1 in 2.6(!!!) (almost 45 degree angle, for those who aren’t familiar) and, one thing I’d not counted on was the sheer number of tourists. I think my arrival coincided with a couple of coachloads of tourists, as there were people with cameras all over the place. Second issue was just how narrow the street is. To cut a long story short, I managed to get about 2/3rds of the way up the hill riding but, by then, I had to stop and it just wasn’t possible to get both feet clipped in and make a turn in order to zig zag up the road before you ran out of actual road to cycle in, so I had to admit defeat, and wish I’d been there with a mountain bike as that, combined with the lack of having to clip in would probably have been enough to allow me to ride to the top. It wasn’t the power in the legs that was the issue, it was simply too steep to be able to zig zag across the road at its steepest point. From there, I cycled home again, but was so wrecked by the time I got ¾ of the way back up the hill towards the campsite my heart rate was racing and I had to stop and walk for a bit. Most embarrassing! Got back and had a shower and then we decided to head into town. Went to the isite and booked ourselves on a walking tour for tomorrow evening, and were considering going to the botanical gardens but the weather wasn’t looking so good so we decided instead to check out some of the shops. Whilst in there, I saw a photo of what turned out to be St Clare Poles, and they were on the beach at St Clare, which is a southern end of Dunedin, so we went off to find them, armed with a tripod. Got there just in time for the rain to really start, but managed to get some decent photographs of them, as well as one or two of the many surfers who were having a great time in the large breakers which were crashing into the beach. From there we headed back to the camp site and made tuna rice in the kitchen area and wondered just how wet our tent was going to get from all the rain overnight…

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