Two months in NZ...must be Queenstown
Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ - if you raise your eyes to roof level or up to the skyline you can usually see a kiwi at altitude - often secured to a bungy chord, parachute or sometimes with no attachment whatsoever. Mostly they are preparing to chuck themselves off, but sometimes they just seem to like the height!
We liked Queenstown a lot, despite its trendiness - the setting is stunning; its a combination of Keswick and Fort William with a bit of South Kensington stirred in. We say its definitely one of the places we would head back to if we return to NZ at any point (along with Kerikeri, Devonport, Coromandel, Wellington coast line, Kaikoura and Akoroa) and wished we had had more than 4 nights there. We were able to find a really fine noodle bar and a first rate chippy (ah the simple pleasures).
Our plan was to finish our stay in the very South of New Zealand with at least one really big climb on the bike. We had our eye on two possible climbs ie into Milford Sound and/or over Crown Range. As we only had 3 full days in Queenstown we chose the biggest climb over the highest sealed road in NZ - Crown Range. We climbed to over 1000 metres it was a long hot day in the saddle but we managed it after a few stops for oxygen and CPR. There are of course much bigger climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees (not to mention the Andes, Rockies and Himalaya's) but we could not have gone higher in NZ on a sealed road. We were well chuffed. We were the only cyclists on the moutain that day. On our out and back ride stopped briefly at a little place called Arrowtown (in gold rush country). This is a really charming little place and again we said we would have liked to spend more time there.
While in Queenstown we stayed at another Top Ten site; on our second day there we spotted the German couple that we had met on a hill top in Wanganui. They looked terrifically fit. Apart from Mark calling out
"4-1, Geof Hurst and long live sterling" from behind bushes, we avoided any contact with them. Seriously if they had cycled the length of the South Island they had done really, really well - very impressive.
We used our last full day in Queenstown to go and have a look at Milford Sound, a fabled vista and area in Fjiordland on the South West Corner of NZ. We think the area was heavily featured in Lord of the Rings movies. We decided to fly their and take a day cruise as to drive would have been over 10 hours in the car. We booked a place on a small charter plane, only to be advised later on in the day that because of weather coming in we would not have time to do the cruise. This put most other people off and the we were the only two people who turned up. Hank the boss man paired us up with Rupert the pilot - who looked about 16 - and we strapped ourselves in to a well worn Cesna prop plane.Rupert was great. Everything was going well until after about 20 minutes into the flight the horizon darkened notably and turbulence hit us big time and Hank came on the radio saying that we had to come back . The weather had deteriortated markedly and it was impossible to proceed. Sad. Still we got a full refund which was great and we got to fly over the Queenstown area and had a good luck for orks and hobbits.
From Queenstown we drove the long west coast route back to Blenhiem; it was a massive drive in terrible weather. We took that route because we wanted to see the glaciers on the West coast. We stopped briefly at Fox's glacier. We had a quick lick to see if it was minty and scouted for urbane Polar Bears but it was too cold and wet to stay long - it was an impressive apocalyptic site; very, very cold in surrounds of relentless mist and grey and white slabs of ice and rock.
We stayed in Blenheim and apart from one incident of spectacularly ugly bit of manouvering by a fellow driver off the ferry we had an uneventful crossing to Wellington the next day. We headed for New Plymouth to look at Mt Taranaki and possibly ride a route around it. The moutain is impressive, similar in profile to Mt Fuji or Kilimanjaro but not as high. The wind during our stay there was ferocious and at the visitor centre there were warnings for hurricane like blasts toward the summit. We mooched up to the viewing platform on foot but that was as far as we could go.
The site where we stayed was choc full of people with push bikes and we found out from our neighbour that the ride we had planned to do was the basis for a very big and organised public cycling event. We were tempted to enter but the roads were not closed to traffic and the wind was horrendous. We opted not to join in - our neighbour thought we made a good choice as he said that the riders - even the pro;s - said they had never cycled in anything like it.
We drove from New Plymouth to Devonport. On the way we took a detour to Raglan, the Newquay of NZ. We only stayed briefly as it was heaving but it seemed like a pretty chilled place.
We stayed a couple of nights with Gwenda and Pete at Ducks Crossing Cottage and met a range of fellow travellers - really good people. We took the bikes to bits (needed some help from the local bike shop to loosen the pedals) and packed them up. We dropped all our stuff off at the airport, took the hire car back (no damage or probs - hurrah!). Air New Zealand people were A1 giving us advice on how to adjust our packing and luggage to avoid extra costs. Whilst waiting to board the flight to LA we were addressed by a very excited hispanic NZ oppo who reminded us on several occassions that we were about to board a new 777 and how fab this was; on one occassion he invited us to "sniff" the plane !
Goodbye and thankyou NZ - you were good to us and your people were friendly and kind. Your country is beautiful and your weather was fab.(although we reckon that the UK can still give NZ a run for its money!). You health service was fab too. However we will not miss all your adverts on TV - Dick Smith, Noel Leeming, and co. - and your sandflies, and the price of your wine. Meer quibbles.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Ocean Turkeys and Sore Bums
An apology to our reader...sorry for the delay in organising this post, it has been several weeks since our last blog and these are our modest adventures....
Since we last blogged we have spent a few days in Dunedin in NZ and then moved on to our final destinations in NZ which included Queenstown. From there we drove over 700 miles back to Blenheim/Picton to get the ferry back to Wellington on the North Island. From their we went to New Plymouth, where we stayed a couple of nights and from there we drove to Devonport on the outskirts of Aukland to await our flight to Los Angeles.USA. We are composing this blog in San Diego but more about the USA leg of our trip later.
Dunedin
Had a few days of bad weather here but on the couple of goodish days we tackled two demanding rides. Dunedin has a bit of a Celtic flavour (eg lots of references to Robbie Burns) and we are reminded of Scottish cities particulary as the weather was a bit overcast and grey. It is an extremely hilly little coastal city - boasting the steepest street in the world and just riding around the city we found quite demanding. Some of the drivers in Dunedin felt like the most hostile and inconsiderate in NZ.
In the introduction to Our Lonely Planet guide to cycling in NZ the author highlights the Otaga/Dunedin penninsular ride as his pick of all the rides covered in the book. So we did that one. We were not dissapointed. The road was a total of 70km of excursion - out and back - along the coast mainly by the sea. It took us to two bird sanctuaries, one for rare blue eyed penguins and the second for Royal Southern Albatrosses. We came to the conclusion that NZers have kidnapped all rare penguins on their coasts and are holding them ransom and that the penquins have developed Hearst syndrome. We found it impossible to see penguins in the wild and each sanctuary costs $40 dollars or more to get a squint of a penguin - $40 buys a lot of sardines so we would expect the penguins to be thriving...probably explains why they are reluctant to organise a break out. Caroline particular dischuffed about 'bogus' penguins, coming to the conclusion that they might not really exist as they are so difficult to find/see. The price and time constraints meant that we opted to see the Albatrosses. These are mightily impressive specimens and we were unprepared for their size. They have wing spans of up to 3.5m and weigh anything up to 2 stones - veritable ocean turkeys. We learned a lot about the birds but rather than put all the details here we can spiel them to anyone interested when we get home.
The return ride home was marred by a break to Marks chain, but we were better prepared following our Kaikoura incident and it only cost us 20 minutes.
The other ride that we tackled was a 11 hour monster which Caroline hated almost from its start.....lots of the NZers that we spoke to about our cycling ambitions urged us to try the Otago rail trail which runs an 160km from Clyde (west) to a place called Middlemarch (east), telling us that it was a dream to ride. On paper it is an attractive proposition because it takes riders on an auto free route through some stunning countryside which used to be for steam trains. We decided to drive 80km to Middlemarch from Dunedin with the bikes and then get a bus from Middlemarch to Clyde and cycle back from there to the car etc. Mark went to buy the tickets for the bus portion of the trip at the tourist office. In making polite conversation the tourist oppo asked about the purpose of our bus trip and then our plans for the trail. He asked how many days we would take to ride it and where were we staying along the way. He took a sip of his coffee at that point. When we explained that we were going to do it in a day he managed in one movement to look Mark up and down and choke on his coffee. Caroline now looked worried. The tourist oppo explained that most people took 3 days to do the trail and that once you are on it places to stop and refresh etc are sometimes 30 and 40km apart. Mark did the maths and reckoned that a speed of 15km for 11 hours of cycling would complete the trip - no problem as long as we set off early enough and had appropriate bike lighting, clothing and supplies and spares. Carolines doubts grew.
The next day saw us get up and drive to Middlemarch without a problem and we arrived to catch the chartered minibus to Clyde. There were not many people on the bus and only a couple of werewolves...seriously when we again explained our plans the bus went silent and Caroline went grey...the bus driver kindly managed the verbal equivalent of taking Mark aside to advise him that trying the full trail in one day was not a good idea. His key point being that its a long way! It was becoming apparant at this stage that no one we had talked to had actually cycled for any distance on the trail. We did however err on the side of divorce and caution and cut the distance by 40km and were dropped off before Clyde by the trail in the middle of nowhere, the minibus tore off on two wheels in a black haze of exhaust fumes and burning rubber with the driver giving himself the sign of the cross. The driver had found a really good map of the trail which included a proper altitude profile for us - which we had been unable to get and it showed that over the first 80km of the trailo it rose to about 700m which is a lot of steady uphill and explained why notices on the trail advised riders that the average speed of cyclists is 10-15km per hour. By shortening the first section of the ride we got rid of 40km of distance and climbing. The other point that commentators fail to mention is the very poor quality of the ride surface, its either like riding over cobbles or through sand. Dentists should sponsor this route.The under tyre conditions are what Caroline hated most - 40km of steady climbing over really unstable surfaces is not fun particularly if you are feeling some time pressure. Anyways to cut a long story short we completed the ride at about 9.30.pm after setting off at about 11am. It was a significant achievement for us but not much fun. There were no injuries but two very sore bums and lots of aching joints and muscles.
From Dunedin we drove to Queenstown - a spectacular drive.We really liked Queenstown.
Since we last blogged we have spent a few days in Dunedin in NZ and then moved on to our final destinations in NZ which included Queenstown. From there we drove over 700 miles back to Blenheim/Picton to get the ferry back to Wellington on the North Island. From their we went to New Plymouth, where we stayed a couple of nights and from there we drove to Devonport on the outskirts of Aukland to await our flight to Los Angeles.USA. We are composing this blog in San Diego but more about the USA leg of our trip later.
Dunedin
Had a few days of bad weather here but on the couple of goodish days we tackled two demanding rides. Dunedin has a bit of a Celtic flavour (eg lots of references to Robbie Burns) and we are reminded of Scottish cities particulary as the weather was a bit overcast and grey. It is an extremely hilly little coastal city - boasting the steepest street in the world and just riding around the city we found quite demanding. Some of the drivers in Dunedin felt like the most hostile and inconsiderate in NZ.
In the introduction to Our Lonely Planet guide to cycling in NZ the author highlights the Otaga/Dunedin penninsular ride as his pick of all the rides covered in the book. So we did that one. We were not dissapointed. The road was a total of 70km of excursion - out and back - along the coast mainly by the sea. It took us to two bird sanctuaries, one for rare blue eyed penguins and the second for Royal Southern Albatrosses. We came to the conclusion that NZers have kidnapped all rare penguins on their coasts and are holding them ransom and that the penquins have developed Hearst syndrome. We found it impossible to see penguins in the wild and each sanctuary costs $40 dollars or more to get a squint of a penguin - $40 buys a lot of sardines so we would expect the penguins to be thriving...probably explains why they are reluctant to organise a break out. Caroline particular dischuffed about 'bogus' penguins, coming to the conclusion that they might not really exist as they are so difficult to find/see. The price and time constraints meant that we opted to see the Albatrosses. These are mightily impressive specimens and we were unprepared for their size. They have wing spans of up to 3.5m and weigh anything up to 2 stones - veritable ocean turkeys. We learned a lot about the birds but rather than put all the details here we can spiel them to anyone interested when we get home.
The return ride home was marred by a break to Marks chain, but we were better prepared following our Kaikoura incident and it only cost us 20 minutes.
The other ride that we tackled was a 11 hour monster which Caroline hated almost from its start.....lots of the NZers that we spoke to about our cycling ambitions urged us to try the Otago rail trail which runs an 160km from Clyde (west) to a place called Middlemarch (east), telling us that it was a dream to ride. On paper it is an attractive proposition because it takes riders on an auto free route through some stunning countryside which used to be for steam trains. We decided to drive 80km to Middlemarch from Dunedin with the bikes and then get a bus from Middlemarch to Clyde and cycle back from there to the car etc. Mark went to buy the tickets for the bus portion of the trip at the tourist office. In making polite conversation the tourist oppo asked about the purpose of our bus trip and then our plans for the trail. He asked how many days we would take to ride it and where were we staying along the way. He took a sip of his coffee at that point. When we explained that we were going to do it in a day he managed in one movement to look Mark up and down and choke on his coffee. Caroline now looked worried. The tourist oppo explained that most people took 3 days to do the trail and that once you are on it places to stop and refresh etc are sometimes 30 and 40km apart. Mark did the maths and reckoned that a speed of 15km for 11 hours of cycling would complete the trip - no problem as long as we set off early enough and had appropriate bike lighting, clothing and supplies and spares. Carolines doubts grew.
The next day saw us get up and drive to Middlemarch without a problem and we arrived to catch the chartered minibus to Clyde. There were not many people on the bus and only a couple of werewolves...seriously when we again explained our plans the bus went silent and Caroline went grey...the bus driver kindly managed the verbal equivalent of taking Mark aside to advise him that trying the full trail in one day was not a good idea. His key point being that its a long way! It was becoming apparant at this stage that no one we had talked to had actually cycled for any distance on the trail. We did however err on the side of divorce and caution and cut the distance by 40km and were dropped off before Clyde by the trail in the middle of nowhere, the minibus tore off on two wheels in a black haze of exhaust fumes and burning rubber with the driver giving himself the sign of the cross. The driver had found a really good map of the trail which included a proper altitude profile for us - which we had been unable to get and it showed that over the first 80km of the trailo it rose to about 700m which is a lot of steady uphill and explained why notices on the trail advised riders that the average speed of cyclists is 10-15km per hour. By shortening the first section of the ride we got rid of 40km of distance and climbing. The other point that commentators fail to mention is the very poor quality of the ride surface, its either like riding over cobbles or through sand. Dentists should sponsor this route.The under tyre conditions are what Caroline hated most - 40km of steady climbing over really unstable surfaces is not fun particularly if you are feeling some time pressure. Anyways to cut a long story short we completed the ride at about 9.30.pm after setting off at about 11am. It was a significant achievement for us but not much fun. There were no injuries but two very sore bums and lots of aching joints and muscles.
From Dunedin we drove to Queenstown - a spectacular drive.We really liked Queenstown.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Goats...
We are updating the blog from Dunedin which is a long way south on the South Island of NZ. Since we last blogged we have stayed on several holiday camps and crossed on the ferry to the South Island. The other places we have visited are:
No major disasters have befallen us - although there was a minor earthquake tremor in Christchurch over Christmas, but we missed that thank goodness (no casualties either) - and we have continued to tackle ever more challenging bike rides. Generally the weather has been very kind and we cannot remember experiencing such an extended period of sunshine. Since we have been in NZ we have had perhaps one full day of rain, its been warm and sunny pretty much everyday. Our trip to see whales has probably been our most exciting and noteworthy event..more about this and our bike rides later.
Wanganui (or is it Whanganui?)
We spent a low key Christmas by the river bank in Wanganui in a Top 10 holiday park. We usually rent a self contained cabin on one of their sites which has all we need. The discounted rates - based on a cheap membership scheme- are reasonable and the sites are clean, quiet and well managed. Kiwis are pretty much to a man and woman, very friendly and Wanganui was no exception.
On Christmas day we went for a 30km bike ride along the river and out to the coast. We were looking for a nice bar and to raise wine glasses to absent family and friends, but the area was as quiet as the grave. So we returned to the cabin, prepared a traditional Christmas dinner there and toasted all and sundry with a glass of NZ fizz. We traded some modest presents and were enjoying a placid if slightly dislocated Christmas moment, pondering the contrast between our sunny quiet circs compared with the highly social and hectic time we usually have in UK, when we noticed that someone had set up their tent in the path of the sites tethered goat (which we had named Graham); the campers were however nowhere to be seen. Caroline had had mixed attempts to befriend Graham. On one occasion he had not hesitated to take shortbread of her, on another he had butted her when she offered biscotti and also broccoli stalks (which he did eventually eat). As we considered the advisability of pitching a tent in his path, Graham's tether was becoming entangled with the tent's guy ropes. Mark went to advise the staff of the situation, in the meantime Graham had taken to butting the tent and his horns had begun to rip the tent to shreds. When advised of the situation the receptionist giggled and quickly advised her managers of the situation - we had a sense that Graham is often at the centre of kerfuffles. A small group of staff with a 4WD and trailer arrived to tackle Graham and were slightly confused when we started talking about 'Graham'. In any event after several unsuccessful gentle efforts to tempt Graham on to the trailer he was firmly pushed and lifted on. As the track around the site is designed for safety it meant that Graham had to be driven the circumference of the place - it looked like he was doing a lap of honour - head in the air, standing tall. It left us wondering just how many similar incidents Graham had been involved with. We were sorry to see him go. The campers were given complementary cabins.
We subsequently learned that a goats most favoured food is custard creams!?
While at Wanganui we tackled a 40km ride which took in the start of the remote Wanganui River Road. We snaked up a hill of about 200m. At the top of the climb we were able to recover at a spectacular viewing point. We were joined by a German couple who were touring. They had tackled the hill fully loaded and so had done pretty well. These sorts of encounters are always a little awkward because unless you are a dick you don't want to share stories in a competitive manner so we did not mention the war and headed off back to Wanganui while they looked for a spot to wild camp (much to the grumpiness of Mrs German who clearly envied the comfort of our holiday camp).
Wellington
From Wanganui we headed for Wellington, the political capital of NZ. The road journey was bedevilled by high winds and torrential rain which nearly blew the bikes off the car rack. We stopped to restrap them, leaving the lights and the hazhards on for safety but in 10 minutes these flattened the battery so we had to call out the AA and they sorted us out.
We generally select cycling routes from Lonely Planet cycling guide to NZ. Once you get used to the density of information and take the plunge and use the guide carefully it becomes invaluable. We chose a couple of routes around Wellington that were very enjoyable - the scenic route which takes you all around the shoreline (about 40km) was pretty good. Wellington's harbour and shoreline area is pretty impressive - just the right blend of development, commerce, leisure and residential buildings. We were warned by numerous signs to be careful of penguins crossing the roads - this marked the beginning of our mission to spot some wild penguins ; so far this has been frustratingly unsuccessful but for Caroline is developing into a mild obsession.
While in Wellington we got the ferry across the harbour and booked a deferred New Years meal at a fab restaurant in a suburb called Eastbourne. Again a really lovely area. We also cycled along that bit of the coast along a very rough track right out towards the lighthouses at Barings head. The wind was so strong coming back that it blew us to a standstill - cycling in such strong headwinds is hard, sometimes comical and occassionally dangerous. We felt and probably looked like Wallace and Gromit in a wind tunnel. We learned that Wellington is renowned for its high winds.
Motueka (South Island)
From Wellington we got the ferry to Picton on the South Island. The crossing takes about 3 hours. We amused ourselves in the loading queue by watching a very confident NZ toddler driving up and down the car lines in his go kart
taking no prisoners; the very definition of an 'ankle biter'. We called him the Stig. We did not see him again on the boat so assumed he was driving it.
NZ drivers have generally been okay although we are learning that they have a disproportionate problem with road casualties and deaths.
We stayed one night in Blenheim and then headed on a rather picturesque drive throught the wineries of Marlborough - including the Nelson and Richmond areas - to Motueka in the North West of the South Island. Motueka and the surrounding area (particularly Kaiteriteri and the Golden Bay area) is classic seaside resort territory. The site was by far the busiest we have used - like Glastonbury. Caroline was a wee bit poorly for a couple of days here but we managed to get one reasonable ride in of about 50km around the Ruby Bay scenic route, again the ride was made more demanding because of strong headwinds on the return journey. Mark tackled a substantial climb - Takaka Hill - which involved nearly 800m of climbing and the whole ride took about 6 hours. A self taken photograph on a mobile phone at the top of the climb, above the clouds, is a non to flattering picture of a 50 year old man in crisis! Thank goodness the return trip was mostly downhill.
Kaikoura
From Motueka we had an uneventful but long drive to Kaikoura, enlivened by the chance to see colonies of fur seals by the road side. We were able to get out of the car and stand 10 yards from them and their pups. They are wild but they are also used to humans so we had a really good look at them. Delightful.
We stayed at a holiday park, not Top 10 but fine all the same. Our main reason for visiting Kaikoura was to go on a trip to see Whales. We booked on a trip that promised refunds if whales were not spotted. We arrived on time for our trip but got boosted on to an earlier trip that had been delayed (due to choppy seas). We took our sea sickness tablets and reckoned we would be okay. A catamarhan sped 40 of us off into the wide blue yonder. The commentary was very informative and explained why whales come to Kaikoura - basically the geology just off shore means that they have the depths to dive for food. We saw 3 sperm whales surface from about 5 metres away, dwell on the surface for 10 minutes catching their breath and then dive. They arch their huge backs, their tale comes out of the water and then slip down into the depths. It was very impressive and well worth the trip. Needless to say that the waters were very choppy and despite taking meds, Caroline turned a luminous puce colour and Mark used up his quota of sick bags - the bonus being that a playful seal appeared to see what all the fuss was about (big thanks to Taunton Fiskes for this whale trip).
Kaikoura is a really chilled out place, well worth a visit. We did a reasonable sized ride from Kaikoura towards Waiwa which involved a climb to about 400m. One of those rides that to start with looks like flat but if you stop pedalling you immediately stop because of the deceptive incline. The ride was about 60km but as Mark's chain broke after descending the steepest climbs we started to trudge back. We were really blessed however when a Dpt of Conservation oppo stopped for us with a truck and he gave us a lift back. He also informed us of a creek, pool and waterfall that seals use to hide their pups when their mums are out feeding at sea. We went to visit but sadly did not see any pups.
Rest of stay at Kaikoura involved Mark spending time learning how to fix a chain and re-tune gears.
Christchurch
Christchurch is a lovely city and apparantly the most English of the big NZ cities. We did a short bike tour of the parks and gardens which was more like a map reading challenge - it was only about 20km but took us about 3 hours to do. We had a good rest before thinking about our next challenges; resting included watching the film "men who stare at goats" we felt it explained a lot regarding Graham's behaviour.
We concentrated on doing some big rides from here. In nutshell we tackled a climb on Banks peninsula near Akaroa which topped out at over 700m This was a monster that in some places was so steep we nearly fell backwards on the bikes. It went up 800m in only 6km. Akoroa is a fab place with a big French influence. The only cyclists we saw were coming down and they looked suspiciously fresh to us!
The other ride involved tackling Porters Pass which rose to nearly 900m. We chose the hotest windiest day to do this. Not only that but the wind changed direction just as we turned around off the summit so we rode into it on the way to the peak and also on the ride home. Mark took this extremely personally at first raging into it Lear Like. Caroline was the first to the top on this ride and the people in the few cars that were on the same road all gave her the thumbs up!. We have decided to seek out big climbs here as a test of fitness and also in honour of Graham - they bring out the mountain goat in us. We have just arrived in Dunedin (gaelic for Edingburgh) and we can seek out some monsters from here eg Crown Range and Milford Sound. We will blog again before we leave NZ for USA on the 1st Feb.
Love to all and thanks for being interested in what we do. xxxxxxC&M
- Wanganui
- Wellington - then crossed to South Island
- Blenheim
- Motueka (taking in Nelson and Richmond)
- Kaikoura
- Christchurch
No major disasters have befallen us - although there was a minor earthquake tremor in Christchurch over Christmas, but we missed that thank goodness (no casualties either) - and we have continued to tackle ever more challenging bike rides. Generally the weather has been very kind and we cannot remember experiencing such an extended period of sunshine. Since we have been in NZ we have had perhaps one full day of rain, its been warm and sunny pretty much everyday. Our trip to see whales has probably been our most exciting and noteworthy event..more about this and our bike rides later.
Wanganui (or is it Whanganui?)
We spent a low key Christmas by the river bank in Wanganui in a Top 10 holiday park. We usually rent a self contained cabin on one of their sites which has all we need. The discounted rates - based on a cheap membership scheme- are reasonable and the sites are clean, quiet and well managed. Kiwis are pretty much to a man and woman, very friendly and Wanganui was no exception.
On Christmas day we went for a 30km bike ride along the river and out to the coast. We were looking for a nice bar and to raise wine glasses to absent family and friends, but the area was as quiet as the grave. So we returned to the cabin, prepared a traditional Christmas dinner there and toasted all and sundry with a glass of NZ fizz. We traded some modest presents and were enjoying a placid if slightly dislocated Christmas moment, pondering the contrast between our sunny quiet circs compared with the highly social and hectic time we usually have in UK, when we noticed that someone had set up their tent in the path of the sites tethered goat (which we had named Graham); the campers were however nowhere to be seen. Caroline had had mixed attempts to befriend Graham. On one occasion he had not hesitated to take shortbread of her, on another he had butted her when she offered biscotti and also broccoli stalks (which he did eventually eat). As we considered the advisability of pitching a tent in his path, Graham's tether was becoming entangled with the tent's guy ropes. Mark went to advise the staff of the situation, in the meantime Graham had taken to butting the tent and his horns had begun to rip the tent to shreds. When advised of the situation the receptionist giggled and quickly advised her managers of the situation - we had a sense that Graham is often at the centre of kerfuffles. A small group of staff with a 4WD and trailer arrived to tackle Graham and were slightly confused when we started talking about 'Graham'. In any event after several unsuccessful gentle efforts to tempt Graham on to the trailer he was firmly pushed and lifted on. As the track around the site is designed for safety it meant that Graham had to be driven the circumference of the place - it looked like he was doing a lap of honour - head in the air, standing tall. It left us wondering just how many similar incidents Graham had been involved with. We were sorry to see him go. The campers were given complementary cabins.
We subsequently learned that a goats most favoured food is custard creams!?
While at Wanganui we tackled a 40km ride which took in the start of the remote Wanganui River Road. We snaked up a hill of about 200m. At the top of the climb we were able to recover at a spectacular viewing point. We were joined by a German couple who were touring. They had tackled the hill fully loaded and so had done pretty well. These sorts of encounters are always a little awkward because unless you are a dick you don't want to share stories in a competitive manner so we did not mention the war and headed off back to Wanganui while they looked for a spot to wild camp (much to the grumpiness of Mrs German who clearly envied the comfort of our holiday camp).
Wellington
From Wanganui we headed for Wellington, the political capital of NZ. The road journey was bedevilled by high winds and torrential rain which nearly blew the bikes off the car rack. We stopped to restrap them, leaving the lights and the hazhards on for safety but in 10 minutes these flattened the battery so we had to call out the AA and they sorted us out.
We generally select cycling routes from Lonely Planet cycling guide to NZ. Once you get used to the density of information and take the plunge and use the guide carefully it becomes invaluable. We chose a couple of routes around Wellington that were very enjoyable - the scenic route which takes you all around the shoreline (about 40km) was pretty good. Wellington's harbour and shoreline area is pretty impressive - just the right blend of development, commerce, leisure and residential buildings. We were warned by numerous signs to be careful of penguins crossing the roads - this marked the beginning of our mission to spot some wild penguins ; so far this has been frustratingly unsuccessful but for Caroline is developing into a mild obsession.
While in Wellington we got the ferry across the harbour and booked a deferred New Years meal at a fab restaurant in a suburb called Eastbourne. Again a really lovely area. We also cycled along that bit of the coast along a very rough track right out towards the lighthouses at Barings head. The wind was so strong coming back that it blew us to a standstill - cycling in such strong headwinds is hard, sometimes comical and occassionally dangerous. We felt and probably looked like Wallace and Gromit in a wind tunnel. We learned that Wellington is renowned for its high winds.
Motueka (South Island)
From Wellington we got the ferry to Picton on the South Island. The crossing takes about 3 hours. We amused ourselves in the loading queue by watching a very confident NZ toddler driving up and down the car lines in his go kart
taking no prisoners; the very definition of an 'ankle biter'. We called him the Stig. We did not see him again on the boat so assumed he was driving it.
NZ drivers have generally been okay although we are learning that they have a disproportionate problem with road casualties and deaths.
We stayed one night in Blenheim and then headed on a rather picturesque drive throught the wineries of Marlborough - including the Nelson and Richmond areas - to Motueka in the North West of the South Island. Motueka and the surrounding area (particularly Kaiteriteri and the Golden Bay area) is classic seaside resort territory. The site was by far the busiest we have used - like Glastonbury. Caroline was a wee bit poorly for a couple of days here but we managed to get one reasonable ride in of about 50km around the Ruby Bay scenic route, again the ride was made more demanding because of strong headwinds on the return journey. Mark tackled a substantial climb - Takaka Hill - which involved nearly 800m of climbing and the whole ride took about 6 hours. A self taken photograph on a mobile phone at the top of the climb, above the clouds, is a non to flattering picture of a 50 year old man in crisis! Thank goodness the return trip was mostly downhill.
Kaikoura
From Motueka we had an uneventful but long drive to Kaikoura, enlivened by the chance to see colonies of fur seals by the road side. We were able to get out of the car and stand 10 yards from them and their pups. They are wild but they are also used to humans so we had a really good look at them. Delightful.
We stayed at a holiday park, not Top 10 but fine all the same. Our main reason for visiting Kaikoura was to go on a trip to see Whales. We booked on a trip that promised refunds if whales were not spotted. We arrived on time for our trip but got boosted on to an earlier trip that had been delayed (due to choppy seas). We took our sea sickness tablets and reckoned we would be okay. A catamarhan sped 40 of us off into the wide blue yonder. The commentary was very informative and explained why whales come to Kaikoura - basically the geology just off shore means that they have the depths to dive for food. We saw 3 sperm whales surface from about 5 metres away, dwell on the surface for 10 minutes catching their breath and then dive. They arch their huge backs, their tale comes out of the water and then slip down into the depths. It was very impressive and well worth the trip. Needless to say that the waters were very choppy and despite taking meds, Caroline turned a luminous puce colour and Mark used up his quota of sick bags - the bonus being that a playful seal appeared to see what all the fuss was about (big thanks to Taunton Fiskes for this whale trip).
Kaikoura is a really chilled out place, well worth a visit. We did a reasonable sized ride from Kaikoura towards Waiwa which involved a climb to about 400m. One of those rides that to start with looks like flat but if you stop pedalling you immediately stop because of the deceptive incline. The ride was about 60km but as Mark's chain broke after descending the steepest climbs we started to trudge back. We were really blessed however when a Dpt of Conservation oppo stopped for us with a truck and he gave us a lift back. He also informed us of a creek, pool and waterfall that seals use to hide their pups when their mums are out feeding at sea. We went to visit but sadly did not see any pups.
Rest of stay at Kaikoura involved Mark spending time learning how to fix a chain and re-tune gears.
Christchurch
Christchurch is a lovely city and apparantly the most English of the big NZ cities. We did a short bike tour of the parks and gardens which was more like a map reading challenge - it was only about 20km but took us about 3 hours to do. We had a good rest before thinking about our next challenges; resting included watching the film "men who stare at goats" we felt it explained a lot regarding Graham's behaviour.
We concentrated on doing some big rides from here. In nutshell we tackled a climb on Banks peninsula near Akaroa which topped out at over 700m This was a monster that in some places was so steep we nearly fell backwards on the bikes. It went up 800m in only 6km. Akoroa is a fab place with a big French influence. The only cyclists we saw were coming down and they looked suspiciously fresh to us!
The other ride involved tackling Porters Pass which rose to nearly 900m. We chose the hotest windiest day to do this. Not only that but the wind changed direction just as we turned around off the summit so we rode into it on the way to the peak and also on the ride home. Mark took this extremely personally at first raging into it Lear Like. Caroline was the first to the top on this ride and the people in the few cars that were on the same road all gave her the thumbs up!. We have decided to seek out big climbs here as a test of fitness and also in honour of Graham - they bring out the mountain goat in us. We have just arrived in Dunedin (gaelic for Edingburgh) and we can seek out some monsters from here eg Crown Range and Milford Sound. We will blog again before we leave NZ for USA on the 1st Feb.
Love to all and thanks for being interested in what we do. xxxxxxC&M
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Christmas Broadcast
HI everyone. As ever, all messages and texts have been hugely appreciated- thankyou. This is our pre-Christmas blog so in case we forget, Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you all. We will miss you. Christmas seems a bit low key for us here - we know you will be hating the bad weather in UK but it does also complement the Festive season and leaves you in no doubt that Christmas is arriving!
Mark's cracked ribs are on the mend so he was back on the bike within 10 days of the accident (and on a trampoline and swimming after dolphins within 3 weeks).
Here are some glimpses into what we have been up to:
After Auckland we hired a car (10 pounds per day!) with a bike rack and set off to the Bay of Islands which is about 3 hrs drive north of Auckland. We stayed on a campsite at Kerikeri and visited other places from there including Pahia. We did a couple of rides in the area, including to Opito Bay and the Marsden Winery which had a fab bistro, a welcome carrot at the end of a tough ride. We also went on a marine safari. We saw lots of dolphins in the wild - close enough to touch. We were also promised a chance to swim with them provided they did not have babies with them. The second pod we came across were all big adults so we were scrambled into the water; we had snorkles snapped on to our faces and flippers slapped onto our feet and we were bundled unceremoniously into the deep cold pacific water miles from the coast with a crash course on how to differentiate a shark from a dolphin. We were then yelled at from the boat to tell us where the pod was - which even when idling moved like torpedoes. It was like a scene from a second world war movie where a warship is sunk and the survivors thrash around chaotically. Despite all the frenzy Mark had the pleasure of having a very large animal swim under neath him, eyeing him suspiciously as if to say "blimey, thats a chubby one!"
From here we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula (east of Aukland) and had 5 nights at a campground near Coromandel town. The drive along the coast was stunning- quite similar to a drive alongside the Scottish Lochs in Summer time. We saw loads of birds - we think the flocks included some Godwits but we could not tell if they were the bar tailed variety. These birds apparantly travel from Alaska on a none stop journey. We did a couple of demanding rides along the coast; one was to Colvile and backand one was to Coromandel town. We were tackling hills that are steeper and longer than anything else we have tackled and were pleased not to have bags on the bike. Our experience of wildlife was not all pleasurable; the beaches are idyllic in this area except they also a haven for sandflies which savaged us on one day and we ended up with over a 100 bites between us (the ennumeration process gives a glimpse into some of our fun packed evenings!).
We headed for the Rotorua region after this which is considered the heart of Maori culture. We stayed by Blue Lake. We cycled around a couple of the Lakes and visited the large Redwood Forest in Rotorua; we also drove to Lake Taupo and cycled from there to Acacia Bay - again mainly very lumpy! We managed to visit some of the thermal springs where the areas volcanic activity is expressed through steaming water and mud pools. Fascinating and a bit scary.
After this we had a big drive to Hawkes Bay - we are in Hastings now; wall to wall Wineries! We cycled along the coastal path yesterday and will return to it to complete the route to Napier. We keep an eye out for wildlife all the time and have seen wild parrots and turkey's and alpaca's. The variety of bird life is impressive. Although we have not seen a real Kiwi yet, we have seen a wide range of birds of prey. We fully intend to bother brother in Law Alan about what these might have been when we get back, although we saw a massive animal by the roadside which took about 30 seconds to become airborne it was so big.
Caroline continues to be engaged by the possibility of a possum siting although we have learned that the NZers hate possums! In a hardware store we saw an ad for a possum plucker - warm or cold! We were leafing though a guide for activities in the Hawkes Bay area and spotted a picture of a possum next to some bold type that announced OPOSSUM WORLD..hopes were raised and then dashed as Caroline read out the small print in a squeaky, shaking voice....."Opossum for rugs, cushions and fashion accessories...save a New Zealand tree and buy oppossum fur"
Much love to everyone, enjoy the festive season and ambience, stay safe in the snow and the cold. Love C&M.xxxx
Mark's cracked ribs are on the mend so he was back on the bike within 10 days of the accident (and on a trampoline and swimming after dolphins within 3 weeks).
Here are some glimpses into what we have been up to:
After Auckland we hired a car (10 pounds per day!) with a bike rack and set off to the Bay of Islands which is about 3 hrs drive north of Auckland. We stayed on a campsite at Kerikeri and visited other places from there including Pahia. We did a couple of rides in the area, including to Opito Bay and the Marsden Winery which had a fab bistro, a welcome carrot at the end of a tough ride. We also went on a marine safari. We saw lots of dolphins in the wild - close enough to touch. We were also promised a chance to swim with them provided they did not have babies with them. The second pod we came across were all big adults so we were scrambled into the water; we had snorkles snapped on to our faces and flippers slapped onto our feet and we were bundled unceremoniously into the deep cold pacific water miles from the coast with a crash course on how to differentiate a shark from a dolphin. We were then yelled at from the boat to tell us where the pod was - which even when idling moved like torpedoes. It was like a scene from a second world war movie where a warship is sunk and the survivors thrash around chaotically. Despite all the frenzy Mark had the pleasure of having a very large animal swim under neath him, eyeing him suspiciously as if to say "blimey, thats a chubby one!"
From here we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula (east of Aukland) and had 5 nights at a campground near Coromandel town. The drive along the coast was stunning- quite similar to a drive alongside the Scottish Lochs in Summer time. We saw loads of birds - we think the flocks included some Godwits but we could not tell if they were the bar tailed variety. These birds apparantly travel from Alaska on a none stop journey. We did a couple of demanding rides along the coast; one was to Colvile and backand one was to Coromandel town. We were tackling hills that are steeper and longer than anything else we have tackled and were pleased not to have bags on the bike. Our experience of wildlife was not all pleasurable; the beaches are idyllic in this area except they also a haven for sandflies which savaged us on one day and we ended up with over a 100 bites between us (the ennumeration process gives a glimpse into some of our fun packed evenings!).
We headed for the Rotorua region after this which is considered the heart of Maori culture. We stayed by Blue Lake. We cycled around a couple of the Lakes and visited the large Redwood Forest in Rotorua; we also drove to Lake Taupo and cycled from there to Acacia Bay - again mainly very lumpy! We managed to visit some of the thermal springs where the areas volcanic activity is expressed through steaming water and mud pools. Fascinating and a bit scary.
After this we had a big drive to Hawkes Bay - we are in Hastings now; wall to wall Wineries! We cycled along the coastal path yesterday and will return to it to complete the route to Napier. We keep an eye out for wildlife all the time and have seen wild parrots and turkey's and alpaca's. The variety of bird life is impressive. Although we have not seen a real Kiwi yet, we have seen a wide range of birds of prey. We fully intend to bother brother in Law Alan about what these might have been when we get back, although we saw a massive animal by the roadside which took about 30 seconds to become airborne it was so big.
Caroline continues to be engaged by the possibility of a possum siting although we have learned that the NZers hate possums! In a hardware store we saw an ad for a possum plucker - warm or cold! We were leafing though a guide for activities in the Hawkes Bay area and spotted a picture of a possum next to some bold type that announced OPOSSUM WORLD..hopes were raised and then dashed as Caroline read out the small print in a squeaky, shaking voice....."Opossum for rugs, cushions and fashion accessories...save a New Zealand tree and buy oppossum fur"
Much love to everyone, enjoy the festive season and ambience, stay safe in the snow and the cold. Love C&M.xxxx
Friday, 26 November 2010
On the road again - literarily
Hi All
Since we last blogged we cycled through the Cantabrian mountains to Santander for the ferry back to Portsmouth, where we got the train all the way back to North Yorks where we stayed with Mark's family (big thankyou to them for their hospitality). The Cantabrian Mountains were spectacular and we would go back there again, We managed to find a downhil section that allowed us to freewheel for 18 kilometres - bliss it was that day to be on a bicycle! Glad we did not have to do it the other way.
We also spent 6 days in London staying with cousin Nick in Southfield - big thankyou to him for his help and hospitality. We spent most of the time in London tooing and fro-ing to a bike frame builders Chas Roberts in Croydon. We needed to have the brake and gear cables split on the bikes so we could collapse them into bike boxes for the flights. Chas was able to do the work but in the meantime found that one of the welds on one of the bikes had loosened and was quite dangerous. We had an anxious few days waiting to see if they had the time to fix this and also they could not give a quarantee that the new weld would 'take'. Thankfully all turned out well,
We flew to Hong Kong with Air New Zealand who were great. We were pretty jet lagged but managed to see a bit of the city. The highlights were going to see Panda's, sea lions and dolphins. We have photo's and will put them up shortly. Hong Kong's urban environment, particularly by night, is of course spectacular. We never felt brave enough to sample the more esoteric cuisine on offer eg one place advertised 'bittern intestines' as a delicacy...the RSPB would be pleased! ....not!
We got the flight to New Zealand without a hitch. On the flight we were given arrival documentation to complete. The major concern of the NZ authorities seems to be - understandably - to keep foreign and unwelcome flora and fauna getting into the country. We then became irrationally concerned about our Liptons breakfast tea bags and also the dirt on our bikes. We declared both as well as the fungus on Mark's feet.....Caroline was delighted to find the customs area swarming with sniffer dogs - one of which unearthed a bunch of brocolli (not ours).
Our trip to NZ has been disrupted - Mark had a nasty fall onto his bike wheel and has cracked a couple of ribs so we have spent a day in Aand E. We are now lying low on a lovely camp site in fab weather. Need to rethink our plans as its looks like cycling will not be possible for Mark for at least two weeks. ho hum. Thanks for following us, photos and more detail to follow. Much love to all. C&M
Since we last blogged we cycled through the Cantabrian mountains to Santander for the ferry back to Portsmouth, where we got the train all the way back to North Yorks where we stayed with Mark's family (big thankyou to them for their hospitality). The Cantabrian Mountains were spectacular and we would go back there again, We managed to find a downhil section that allowed us to freewheel for 18 kilometres - bliss it was that day to be on a bicycle! Glad we did not have to do it the other way.
We also spent 6 days in London staying with cousin Nick in Southfield - big thankyou to him for his help and hospitality. We spent most of the time in London tooing and fro-ing to a bike frame builders Chas Roberts in Croydon. We needed to have the brake and gear cables split on the bikes so we could collapse them into bike boxes for the flights. Chas was able to do the work but in the meantime found that one of the welds on one of the bikes had loosened and was quite dangerous. We had an anxious few days waiting to see if they had the time to fix this and also they could not give a quarantee that the new weld would 'take'. Thankfully all turned out well,
We flew to Hong Kong with Air New Zealand who were great. We were pretty jet lagged but managed to see a bit of the city. The highlights were going to see Panda's, sea lions and dolphins. We have photo's and will put them up shortly. Hong Kong's urban environment, particularly by night, is of course spectacular. We never felt brave enough to sample the more esoteric cuisine on offer eg one place advertised 'bittern intestines' as a delicacy...the RSPB would be pleased! ....not!
We got the flight to New Zealand without a hitch. On the flight we were given arrival documentation to complete. The major concern of the NZ authorities seems to be - understandably - to keep foreign and unwelcome flora and fauna getting into the country. We then became irrationally concerned about our Liptons breakfast tea bags and also the dirt on our bikes. We declared both as well as the fungus on Mark's feet.....Caroline was delighted to find the customs area swarming with sniffer dogs - one of which unearthed a bunch of brocolli (not ours).
Our trip to NZ has been disrupted - Mark had a nasty fall onto his bike wheel and has cracked a couple of ribs so we have spent a day in Aand E. We are now lying low on a lovely camp site in fab weather. Need to rethink our plans as its looks like cycling will not be possible for Mark for at least two weeks. ho hum. Thanks for following us, photos and more detail to follow. Much love to all. C&M
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
We have a friend in Jesus
Probably final blog from Spain before a brief return to UK before flying (14/11) out to New Zealand via Hong Kong. We are using the internet in a public library in Aguilar de Campoo in Northern Spain. The sun is shining and we have cycled about 36kilometers to get here from a tiny place called La Rad where we rented a charming studio flat for a week from....Jesus. Here are some bullet points of our latest experiences....
Wine tasting with Sandra and Noel was a no nonsense, rustic and authentic experience. Sandra and Noel buy from a reputable vineyard in a place called St Nicholas de Bourgueil near Chinon, near the Loire. The vineyard owner was a great advert for the stuff he makes and sells - full of life and good humour. He did not have a massive range of products which suited us as we were able to taste everything he made... there were no biscuits to soak samples up so we left his premises with a great impression and feeling a tad squiffy.
Sandra and Noel kindly gave us a lift to the nearest TGV station at Chatelerraut for the next leg of our journey. It was here that we encountered the only really unhelpful person we have met on our travels. We needed a bit of help with our bags and wanted to avoid lugging them up and down lots of stairs but the station guard would not let us use the short cut ramp for no good reason that we could see. Still we got on the train and again as we had to sit in the cycles section we had a carriage pretty much to ourselves to Bordeaux. We stayed one night in Bordeaux at a cheap hotel near the station; it did the job but it was definitely a low spot as it was so grotty ( eg shared loos with no doors on them!).
Our cunning plan was to sneak into Spàin avoiding the Pyrennees by going to the southwest france/northern spain coast via Biarritz. This worked quite well and was necessary because you cannot take bikes on the fast Spanish trains so we had to use Medio Distancia trains (thanks for the research Debalho) - still very good but they require lots of changes which with bikes and bags and fast change overs is a real fag after a while.
From a place called Hendaye on the Border we got a Euskotren to San Sebastien -Donostia. We were in the heart of Basque country here so the language was a bit of a challenge but again people were very helpful. San Sebastien was a revelation - very lovely old town with a fab beach and harbour. Famed for its culinary prowess we had a go at sampling the tapas (called pincho´s there) in the old town after we had found a great pension nearby. The weather was warm and sunny so we felt vindicated for trying to get south, but after the first day it became overcast and cool. As we headed south to Burgos the weather turned cold, wet and windy and only yesterday did it begin to improve. The terrain around San Sebastien was too difficult for us to do much cycling fully loaded so by heading for Burgos we hoped to get to a flatter warmer area. Burgos is a beautiful walled ancient city. As the weather was pretty bad we bunkered down and rethought our plan. We worked out that taking medio distancia trains to southern spain and back again would have taken at least 4 days continous train travel and would have been really expensive, and requiring a trek across madrid with the bikes.
So helped by the lovely Paloma in the Burgos tourism office we found Jesus and his Casa Rural in La Rad a mere 50 kilometres from Burgos. The journey involved tackling the biggest hill of our trip so far - a real monster but its some measure of our progess that we were able to get up and over it. We had one small problem....we had no room on the bikes to carry food and there was no shop within 20 kilometres of La Rad. No sooner had we arrived in La Rad Mark used his best Spanish to explain to Jesus that he had a really big problem with his ´'dining room"; a cloud of doubt clearly passed across Jesus´ mind until after 5 minutes of pointing at the phrase book to indicate words for food it dawned on him that he was about to take on two tenants who unless he was able to help would have been found starved to death in his casa rural after a week. Jesus was great and immediately offered to drive us to the nearest supermarket 35 kilometres away. He also stopped at the nearest train station to check on trains for us to Santander- Mark was so overcome by the whole experience he dissapeared only to be found throwing his guts up on a railway siding. Undeterrred Jesus took us for a coffee and then proceeded to show us the local sights which involved driving up long steep winding roads to observation points where you could look over very steep drops into impressive canyons.......
We had a week at La Rad where we could re-charge and dictate our own pace. Caroline used the time to befriend and fatten the local pack of Perro´s who much to their owners consternation are plumper and less obedient than when she found them. We also continued to do some cycling in the area '- really good to tackle rides without the bags.
Our final challenge in Spain will be to cycle the 140k to Santander for our return boat on the 27th October (only one we could get on to that took us to Portsmouth in time for all the things we need to do in UK).
Thanks again for all your support and interest. We will definitely write up our visit to Hong Kong so check in again in 3 weeks time for some more news. Until then love to all. Caroline and Markxxxx
Wine tasting with Sandra and Noel was a no nonsense, rustic and authentic experience. Sandra and Noel buy from a reputable vineyard in a place called St Nicholas de Bourgueil near Chinon, near the Loire. The vineyard owner was a great advert for the stuff he makes and sells - full of life and good humour. He did not have a massive range of products which suited us as we were able to taste everything he made... there were no biscuits to soak samples up so we left his premises with a great impression and feeling a tad squiffy.
Sandra and Noel kindly gave us a lift to the nearest TGV station at Chatelerraut for the next leg of our journey. It was here that we encountered the only really unhelpful person we have met on our travels. We needed a bit of help with our bags and wanted to avoid lugging them up and down lots of stairs but the station guard would not let us use the short cut ramp for no good reason that we could see. Still we got on the train and again as we had to sit in the cycles section we had a carriage pretty much to ourselves to Bordeaux. We stayed one night in Bordeaux at a cheap hotel near the station; it did the job but it was definitely a low spot as it was so grotty ( eg shared loos with no doors on them!).
Our cunning plan was to sneak into Spàin avoiding the Pyrennees by going to the southwest france/northern spain coast via Biarritz. This worked quite well and was necessary because you cannot take bikes on the fast Spanish trains so we had to use Medio Distancia trains (thanks for the research Debalho) - still very good but they require lots of changes which with bikes and bags and fast change overs is a real fag after a while.
From a place called Hendaye on the Border we got a Euskotren to San Sebastien -Donostia. We were in the heart of Basque country here so the language was a bit of a challenge but again people were very helpful. San Sebastien was a revelation - very lovely old town with a fab beach and harbour. Famed for its culinary prowess we had a go at sampling the tapas (called pincho´s there) in the old town after we had found a great pension nearby. The weather was warm and sunny so we felt vindicated for trying to get south, but after the first day it became overcast and cool. As we headed south to Burgos the weather turned cold, wet and windy and only yesterday did it begin to improve. The terrain around San Sebastien was too difficult for us to do much cycling fully loaded so by heading for Burgos we hoped to get to a flatter warmer area. Burgos is a beautiful walled ancient city. As the weather was pretty bad we bunkered down and rethought our plan. We worked out that taking medio distancia trains to southern spain and back again would have taken at least 4 days continous train travel and would have been really expensive, and requiring a trek across madrid with the bikes.
So helped by the lovely Paloma in the Burgos tourism office we found Jesus and his Casa Rural in La Rad a mere 50 kilometres from Burgos. The journey involved tackling the biggest hill of our trip so far - a real monster but its some measure of our progess that we were able to get up and over it. We had one small problem....we had no room on the bikes to carry food and there was no shop within 20 kilometres of La Rad. No sooner had we arrived in La Rad Mark used his best Spanish to explain to Jesus that he had a really big problem with his ´'dining room"; a cloud of doubt clearly passed across Jesus´ mind until after 5 minutes of pointing at the phrase book to indicate words for food it dawned on him that he was about to take on two tenants who unless he was able to help would have been found starved to death in his casa rural after a week. Jesus was great and immediately offered to drive us to the nearest supermarket 35 kilometres away. He also stopped at the nearest train station to check on trains for us to Santander- Mark was so overcome by the whole experience he dissapeared only to be found throwing his guts up on a railway siding. Undeterrred Jesus took us for a coffee and then proceeded to show us the local sights which involved driving up long steep winding roads to observation points where you could look over very steep drops into impressive canyons.......
We had a week at La Rad where we could re-charge and dictate our own pace. Caroline used the time to befriend and fatten the local pack of Perro´s who much to their owners consternation are plumper and less obedient than when she found them. We also continued to do some cycling in the area '- really good to tackle rides without the bags.
Our final challenge in Spain will be to cycle the 140k to Santander for our return boat on the 27th October (only one we could get on to that took us to Portsmouth in time for all the things we need to do in UK).
Thanks again for all your support and interest. We will definitely write up our visit to Hong Kong so check in again in 3 weeks time for some more news. Until then love to all. Caroline and Markxxxx
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Sandra and Noel to the Rescue!
Hi Everyone, thanks for the comments on the blog and also related texts and e-mails they are searched for and viewed with pleasure and affection and really appreciated. We are aware of lack of photos but we have worked out that we do not have the technology to put them on yet - sorry about that. Will sort this before we head off to New Zealand. We composed our last posting from a pretty good campsite in Ancenis - we stayed two nights here - where we were befriended by a friendly scouser on a voyage of discovery after being made redundant. He was clearly capably of moving more swiftly than us so we hid in our tent the next morning as he packed up and left. The weather at nights particularly is cooling off and for the past few days it has been overcast and a bit wet so this has dimmed our waning enthusiasm for camping further and also boosted our interest in moving south to warmer climes (more of this later). So quickly in bullet points here are the latest highlights.
Big cycle after Ancennis. More brilliant paths. We stopped off at a little snack shack in the middle of nowhere and were served by a really charming and friendly couple; Caroline being the fruit bat that she is spotted a couple of punnets of peaches and pointed enthusiastically at them; the guys face momentarily fell as he explained that they were his own shopping...but let us buy some anyway. The shack had only one other customer who had locked his moped to a bench and sat next to it...did he know something that we didn't?!
After this we found charming Chambre D'Hote in Montjean run by Irina and Serge called the Cedres; fantastic place - we had our own lounge, and kitchen. There were even two muts for Caroline to feed crisps to. We stayed two nights coz it was so good...but had to leave before Mark did anymore damage to their furnishings!
Unexpectedly after this we had our biggest ride yet. We reckon it was over 60km which fully loaded was quite hard even on the flat. We had intended to go shorter but having so easily found and got into the Cedres we were lulled into believing that Chambre D'Hotes would be ten a penny and not very busy - we were wrong. We tried several with no luck before we got to the Ste-Gemmes area just south of Angers. It was 8.00ish and getting dark. We found a deserted campsite which Caroline thought was charming because of the smell of woodsmoke.....except that woodsmoke does not usually come from cigar like objects. We decided to try our luck at the train station which we hoped would take us into Saumur. After 30 mins of waiting a train approached..Mark jumped up with a heart full of hope only for it tear through the station tooting as it went nearly taking Marks wig with it. We then decided that we might have to night cycle to Saumur. By this time it was dark and wet but we were so pleased that we had decided not to camp that our spirits were high (or was it the woodsmoke?) and we sped off into the night avoiding the deer that periodically lept across our paths. We got to a place called Thoreiul where in the distance we spotted a premises that was beautifully lit and looked like a hotel - it was infact a restaurant which was so quiet that all the staff were having a drink on the terrace. Using our best french we tried to ask about anywhere where we could stay. John Claude was summoned and sprang into action - he phoned the local Chambre D'Hote and then leapt into his little red van and told us to follow him (at least that's what we thought he said!). His staff were most amused and advised him to get on his bike and give us the car (jean claude was quite portly). Anyway he took off like a bat out of hell with Mark in hot pursuit shouting pidgeon french and obscenties between desparate gulps of air; Caroline was left in the distance in a fit of giggles. To be fair John Claude did eventually slow down on quite a steep hill and rather than taking us to the local police station he had actually taken us to a brilliant Chambre d hote owned by a charming couple. She ran the local twinning committee (Thoreiul twinned with Wincanton) and was pleased for the chance to practice her english (which was better than ours!). They fed us and gave us wine and beer - fab. We cycled on through Saumur- looking at the trog dwellings in the cliffs - and had a relatively uneventful two night stay at the Blue Balcony in Tuquant. The highlight here was finding 101 ways of spending 5 euros on food (turned out to be spuds and eggs) because we could not face cycling 18km to the nearest bank. Next stop was Chinon birth place of Rabelais.
From there we cycled to Tour St Gelin where Sandra, Caroline's God mother and husband Noel live. This bit of cycling showed how spoiled we have been on the Loire path. We cycled into a strong headwind and the roads are much more rolling - we were reminded of the need to tackle harder terrain in preparation for NZ. Its been fab staying here - they could not have been more welcoming or kind - we have been regenerated by the stay and will look for a chance to return the kindness. We are about to tackle a wine tasting mission (someone has to do it) and tomorrow we are going to try and get the train to the south of France/spanish border, but its harder than you might think to book a ticket with bikes.
Next time we post we will hope to be basking in the sunshine somewhere in southern spain - don't worry Marks Spanish is excellent (not!) until then Buenos Dias much love to all our readers. xxx C&M
Big cycle after Ancennis. More brilliant paths. We stopped off at a little snack shack in the middle of nowhere and were served by a really charming and friendly couple; Caroline being the fruit bat that she is spotted a couple of punnets of peaches and pointed enthusiastically at them; the guys face momentarily fell as he explained that they were his own shopping...but let us buy some anyway. The shack had only one other customer who had locked his moped to a bench and sat next to it...did he know something that we didn't?!
After this we found charming Chambre D'Hote in Montjean run by Irina and Serge called the Cedres; fantastic place - we had our own lounge, and kitchen. There were even two muts for Caroline to feed crisps to. We stayed two nights coz it was so good...but had to leave before Mark did anymore damage to their furnishings!
Unexpectedly after this we had our biggest ride yet. We reckon it was over 60km which fully loaded was quite hard even on the flat. We had intended to go shorter but having so easily found and got into the Cedres we were lulled into believing that Chambre D'Hotes would be ten a penny and not very busy - we were wrong. We tried several with no luck before we got to the Ste-Gemmes area just south of Angers. It was 8.00ish and getting dark. We found a deserted campsite which Caroline thought was charming because of the smell of woodsmoke.....except that woodsmoke does not usually come from cigar like objects. We decided to try our luck at the train station which we hoped would take us into Saumur. After 30 mins of waiting a train approached..Mark jumped up with a heart full of hope only for it tear through the station tooting as it went nearly taking Marks wig with it. We then decided that we might have to night cycle to Saumur. By this time it was dark and wet but we were so pleased that we had decided not to camp that our spirits were high (or was it the woodsmoke?) and we sped off into the night avoiding the deer that periodically lept across our paths. We got to a place called Thoreiul where in the distance we spotted a premises that was beautifully lit and looked like a hotel - it was infact a restaurant which was so quiet that all the staff were having a drink on the terrace. Using our best french we tried to ask about anywhere where we could stay. John Claude was summoned and sprang into action - he phoned the local Chambre D'Hote and then leapt into his little red van and told us to follow him (at least that's what we thought he said!). His staff were most amused and advised him to get on his bike and give us the car (jean claude was quite portly). Anyway he took off like a bat out of hell with Mark in hot pursuit shouting pidgeon french and obscenties between desparate gulps of air; Caroline was left in the distance in a fit of giggles. To be fair John Claude did eventually slow down on quite a steep hill and rather than taking us to the local police station he had actually taken us to a brilliant Chambre d hote owned by a charming couple. She ran the local twinning committee (Thoreiul twinned with Wincanton) and was pleased for the chance to practice her english (which was better than ours!). They fed us and gave us wine and beer - fab. We cycled on through Saumur- looking at the trog dwellings in the cliffs - and had a relatively uneventful two night stay at the Blue Balcony in Tuquant. The highlight here was finding 101 ways of spending 5 euros on food (turned out to be spuds and eggs) because we could not face cycling 18km to the nearest bank. Next stop was Chinon birth place of Rabelais.
From there we cycled to Tour St Gelin where Sandra, Caroline's God mother and husband Noel live. This bit of cycling showed how spoiled we have been on the Loire path. We cycled into a strong headwind and the roads are much more rolling - we were reminded of the need to tackle harder terrain in preparation for NZ. Its been fab staying here - they could not have been more welcoming or kind - we have been regenerated by the stay and will look for a chance to return the kindness. We are about to tackle a wine tasting mission (someone has to do it) and tomorrow we are going to try and get the train to the south of France/spanish border, but its harder than you might think to book a ticket with bikes.
Next time we post we will hope to be basking in the sunshine somewhere in southern spain - don't worry Marks Spanish is excellent (not!) until then Buenos Dias much love to all our readers. xxx C&M
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