Otago Rail Trail

Jan 19th and 20th
Cromwell.

Gary and me eating fish and chips:



Gary and I took a lazy morning getting started because it was raining quite heavily. Since I had decided against doing the cycle trail to Queenstown, Gary agreed to give me a lift to Cromwell. From there I would cycle further east to Clyde to pick up the Otago Rail Trail.

Getting started around noon, we passed a cyclist I knew from Switzerland on a recumbent. I knew he had cycled the trail I was skipping so I stopped him to find out how it was. Tough! Ok. Glad I didn't do it:)

Made a side trip, at my request, to Arrowtown, a quaint village near Queenstown. Very small. Historic western type buildings. Bicycle shindig for the kids with all kinds of bikes: big wheel old fashion bike, trike, lawn mower bike, and more.


And they had a western band and can can dancers.



Also, I tried whitebait patties, a local delicacy. Tiny slivers of fish in an egg like patty on white bread. Didn't do much for me, but I tried it.

On to Cromwell. The drive was another glorious route through picturesque valleys. Mostly downhill. Oh, I wished I'd ridden from Arrowstown. Would have been fun.

Three days riding in the car was exhausting. I'm feeling jet lag or something. My head is buzzing. I feel motion sickness and just overall worn out. Too fast. Too hard to see everything. But I was thankful for Gary taking me out there and back. And I've been laughing at his British humor for 3 days. That's probably part of the exhaustion. He's a rip of a guy. The British Archie Bunker!

So today I packed up Blaze, said goodbye to Gary and pedaled off to find this rail trail. I've had some concern about biking on this gravel surface. It's hard with a trike. But we'll give it a try.



Would someone please tell me what these dead dangling things are in the fences and why they're here? I see them all over. Look line rabbit carcasses. But why?

25 kms into the 150 km trail and I'm beat from the bouncing around and the crunching sound of gravel. I do like the lack of cars and the views! Don't know if its enough. I can only travel at 4-5 mph, half of my pedal speed. And the sun is brutal. Even with sunscreen from first thing this morning, I'm crisp. May need a different brand. The skin on the tops of my thighs and my forearms is like leather. Crazy. How much can it take? And I use an umbrella almost all day.


This is a shed for the gangers that worked on the railroad. They could store gear in here or take a smoke break.

The other day this article about this rail trail caught my eye




Yup, 80 yr old guy did this 150 km trail in a day. About 10 hours. I'm impressed!!


Oh and I have to post a picture of Gary's tent. He was so proud of this tent that he bought his daughter for Christmas. $750 and he got it for $180. Suppose to be a 2 person and you could sleep at least 8 people easily.


Goodnight,
BagLady

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