On the trail at last....

Today started out very busy - breakfast first, pack our night bag for on-transfer to our overnight stay, prepare the biking gear and pack the cases for storage in our cars for them to be driven to Hyde.
But we managed to be ready to start at 9:30. And we were off......
It was merely 8km along the trail when we arrived in Lauder and saw a cafe and decided it was time for coffee. There were many riders there doing the same thing and it was super enjoying good coffee in the sun.
Back on the ride. This time it would be a fair hike before lunch - a further 22k. There are two tunnels on this section and before the first we came across a small group having a chat and it included two women on horseback - we stopped too - one named Hawk was a beautiful Appaloosa. The first tunnel was very dark inside.
We stopped along the way to take photos or for water intake. As you might guess the scenery was beautiful in places.
The trail has varied surfaces - some time a pea like gravel or just crushed rock - so it was not fast riding as we are used to on limestone.
We had lunch in a cafe near Oterehua at an old mechanics yard. There was quite a crowd there and had a superb lunch - god I was hungry.
That left us with about 12k to our accommodation at Mt Ida Farmstay, near Wedderburn. But this was the hardest part - a steady rise and it was hard - Gran however was getting used to her E Bike by then and decided to stretch it - I tried for a few km to keep up, but left me in the dust - Bob and Mary were behind me.
So we sleep tonight in an old homestead - very comfortable. We had a spa before bed.
We had dinner down at the Wedderburn hotel - and a good meal it was.
The trail has been fun and at times hard work - a little tedious at times too - some very long straight sections - one in particular must have been more than 4km straight.
We have been impressed how seriously everyone we have come in contact with is taking Covid protocols - always masks, QR scan and passports. We couldn't get a beer at one pub in Ophir because Robyn didn't have her phone (passport) with her - by the time we called into the next pub I remembered I had her passport on my phone.
So tomorrow it's on to Hyde and a little further but it's down hill riding.Read more