Day 5 Balclutha - Invercargill: Blown Away

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131km 1310m ascent.

Finally on the bike. 1 1/2 days lost. Despite the forecast saying it will be wet it was a nice warm sunny day. Scratch that...It was a nice and f*&^ing windy day. Supposedly the gusts were 45km. I call bullshit on the meteorologist. Maybe in the towns it was but in the Catlins 45km/h was the average and the gusts were at least 60km.

I also want to give a "F*&^ you" to google maps. Google said 814m ascent...no bloody way 1310m ascent by garmin and almost all of it was the first 75km. Suffice to say it was hard and hot. Thanks to being in Balclutha there were no stores open to get sunscreen and the first place with a store was Mataura 80km in. By then we were baked and wind swept.

There were however highlights to the route. We had a herd of curious cows run alongside us as far as their pasture allowed and a couple of times we laid down on the side of the road for much needed breaks. Sounds dangerous...and yeah..it was. The transport trucks here do not move over at all and drive at full speed and then some. I will never complain about Ottawa drivers again!! We arrived finally around 8 p.m. and crashed.

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Photos

Ready to start
About to leave the motel in Balclutha

Taking a break
Taking a nice break in the Catlins