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Wutheringbikes Home -- New Zealand
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29th Jan 2011 - On and Off the Rail Trail
From Crow's Nest Backpackers (and camping), Oturehua, to Middlemarch Blind Billy's Campsite, about 90kms or 56 miles. A rather slow and quiet day. Slow because we involved ourselves on and off with the Central Otago Rail Trail, in spite of the punctures of yesterday; also slow because of the strong winds, side and headwinds, that buffeted us.
 The day started cold with a hint of rain. We had breakfast (which Guy went to the old general grocers to buy - old style store with a long counter and heaps of goodies behind them) and set out. The first stretch took us along the highway 85 to Ranfurly. Ranfurly was cold and windy so we didn't do much other than huddle and eat lunch from the 4square supermarket. The sun then made a brief appearance so we chased after it along highway 85 and then turned off, into the wind, on highway 87. At Kokonga we turned off onto the Rail Trail and enjoyed the gorges and tunnel up until we reached Hyde. Here we met a seriously long distance cyclist from Ireland called Cillian. He had done a big bike ride in Europe and was now doing NZ and working at fruit picking in between times. He has a website (though he only updates it occasionally) at http://cillwalk.wordpress.com. He was doing the rail trail and sticking to it. So he headed off along the old trackbed while we opted for the paralleling road. The next 27kms to Middlemarch were slow because of a powerful headwind blowing slant on from the hills to the south of us. We rolled up at Middlemarch's Blind Jimmy's Holiday Park after all the food shops had shut (just icecreams were available at a craft store). We ate pasta in Avocado and Garlic dressing with mixed veg. Tasted OK. We ate in an old railway carriage that serves as the kitchen.And then fell rapidly asleep though evidently there is some sports event on the TV because a mass of blokes were drinking and shouting encouragement to some game in the TV room.The big photo at the top is of Guy, and with a bit of trickery he appears twice (yes, it's a panorama shot comprised of, I think, three shots sewn by the camera into one photo), enjoying a sunny moment on the rail trail. Worth treasuring because a lot of the time it wasn't sunny and Guy was mending his punctures....
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Wutheringbikes Home -- New Zealand
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