The weekend with my first cycle tour

Hi,

Wow - just wow!  What a great weekend.  We got the 8pm ferry, which, as stated when you bought the tickets, has little in the way of services.  So holding out for dinner on the 8pm ferry is not the right idea.  I had the absolute worst sausage roll I have ever seen, let alone eaten.  But I was hungry.  Andrew had the last pie. Guess the flavour?  Kumara and cashew!  Yep - I know!  That's not a pie!  That's an abomination!

Anyhow, I fell asleep curled up on a seat lying over my pannier.  We were the only two bikes on board and lashed them together over the top of the pathetic bike stand.  We carried our gear up and strewed it all around us and dozed after the satisfying meal.  Or is that in spite of the less than satisfying meal?

Off the ferry and the excitement levels were high.  We rode past the waterfront at about 11.20pm.  I spied Le Cafe and discovered it was the cafe we have used the last few times we've been in Picton.  Cool.  Rode over the arched bridge through the marina and out into suburban Picton.  Soon we were outside the built up area in pitch blackness and hooning through the bays.  I'm sure they were pretty.  Couldn't see much.  Some houses looked spectacular.

I almost bowled a penguin (Little Blue - or Fairy for the Australian readers) sitting in the middle of the road.  Lucky for it there were no cars.  Seems like a silly thing to do if you ask me.  It was the same colour as the road and I braked hard and Andrew also had to as he was right behind me.  I yelped "Penguin" and Andrew noticed a blur on the road as we passed.

Soon at Whatamango Bay and pitched the tent, brushed my teeth under the brilliant Milky Way and fell asleep to the bird life all around.

Whatamango Bay - very pleasant spot

Up early enough to misty drizzle and ate my muesli.  It was yummy.  Hubbards toasted with no fruit.  Mmmmm.  Struck the tent, packed up and left after circling the campsite to check it out.

Out of the campsite and the road immediately went up.  And up. And up.  Five kilometres of unrelenting up. I was down in the granny gear before too long and eventually, after about an hour, I was up.  Phew!  Good views!

Down the other side was fun.  The little bays and inlets were lovely.  Lots of hills and we ran out of seal pretty soon.  I found it tough riding up loose gravel on steep hills.

Cup of tea at Tom Canes Bay - very pleasant.

Shot of the bike computer showing kms.

Cup of tea?  It was welcome!

My bruise from netball on Friday afternoon looks good

More of the same for the afternoon.  I had to push up the hill out of Robin Hood Bay as the steep hills and gravel defeated me.  But I got back on at every opportunity!

Robin Hood Bay - historic whaling bay

Loving my bruise

We decided to ride all the way to Rarangi - the seal started again at White Bay.  We got a bit of rain for 5 minutes so we didn't stop.  Got to Rarangi and pitched the tent and it started hosing down!  Andrew cooked tea in the vestibule of the tent while I perhaps fell asleep.  Dinner was scrumptious.

Rarangi DoC campsite

Up early to strike the tent and off to Blenheim for breakfast at Figaros.  It was great - I had Eggs Benedict and a great cup of Rooibos tea.  Andrew had buttermilk pancakes with lashings of bacon and banana and maple syrup.

Blenheim Farmers market - these were the best!

 Off to the Farmers market to check it out.  It was very, very nice.

Bruise developing nicely

 Then along to Renwick, I went back via the shortcut road and Andrew rode along the Wairau river bank.  We met at Wairau Affray and had lunch.  Then we tackled the Picton hill.  I didn't realise it was not that steep - I was anticipating a devilish ride.  It was easy in comparison to the hills Andrew had me on the day before!  We rode 125 kilometres all up - but the 40km on loose gravel with steep hills was by far the hardest part.  The ride around Blenheim was indulgent really.  Now I know how easy that can be!  The off road, not so much!

On the road back to Picton

Picton and a really strong iced coffee at Le Cafe

A long afternoon spent sampling the delights of Le Cafe.  Andrew is converted to that cafe.  We watched a Herald Triumph lose its front wheel right in front of us.  It makes a loud noise when that happens.  The driver was doing a sharp u-turn and the wheel didn't turn.  Oops.

Onto the ferry and Mike met us at 10pm and took us home.  What an amazing weekend.  I'd like to do more!

Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Angela