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| Me at the Cyclists' Retreat, Waikari |
I started off the day with two eggs I had collected and mushrooms I picked. Fresh eggs are good! Not only is the Cyclists' Retreat such an enjoyable place to stay it must be the best bargain in NZ: delicious home grown and cooked dinner, comfortable bed, and tasty breakfast for NZ$50 (about US $25).
I set off about 9:30 with about 50 miles to go to the end of the trip. Sad! The ride went up a little at first, going through limestone hills with interesting shaped rocky outcrops (one is called Frog Rock) but after that was downhill or flat. NZ has had enough of me - a very strong wind blew me all the way back to Christchurch. At one stage I was doing 25mph along the flat without pedalling! For the whole journey I averaged 15 mph even including a lunch stop in the time.
Soon after Waipara, where the relatively quiet road I was on rejoined the main north-south Route 1, I began following the route from Lonely Planet Cycle New Zealand that I had programmed on my GPS . This was on a completely empty back road through farms and wineries, starting off with some convoluted back tracking, bipassing Amberley altogether, and eventually meeting up with the "Inland Scenic Route" 72. A little longer, but certainly far better for cycling than Route 1. The scenery was back to the flat Canterbury Plains as on the first couple of days, but now with a greener tint from the rain while I've been here.
After about 35 miles the route put me in Rangiora where I stopped for pie for lunch. Rangiora marked the return to quite a large town, and the rest of the ride was low density suburbia, reminding me of the surroundings of Cambridge in England (equally flat), back into Christchurch.
It was sunny but still very windy in Christchurch. I wandered around the Botanical Gardens and city center, caught up with my e-mail, and did some laundry in machines in the hotel so my travel clothes would be more respectable and bike clothes less smelly.
Tomorrow I put the bike away and fly home. Right now it's raining, cold, and windy. It feels like winter is coming. Maybe it's good to be at the end!
A grand total of 1348.2 miles. Not counting the two no cycle days that's an average of 58.6 miles a day. Or subtracting the "rest" day mileage in Wanaka gives 60.0 miles a day. And not a single flat tire or any other bike problem. Go Bike Friday!
