Day Three of our Rail Trail was the ride from Ohurehau to Hyde…. approximately 60 kms…. (well 58.5 but who cares about the extra 1.5km- I am sure we did extra somewhere) ….and yes, my body is feeling it today! Sitting on a push bike, pedalling away and the trail is filled with lots of bumps, grinds and ups and downs and certainly not the kind most people prefer! After today’s ride, if you wished to become intimate – I think due to soreness of the nether regions that had been bounced about and bruised, the answer that most females would give would be a definite, “NO!”

The ride was a steady one…and it was here that the rail trail climbed to its highest peak of 620m..and yes it was almost continuous up. As far as a train going up this incline, it would have had to travel extremely slow. The ‘little engine that could’ on this part of the rail trail would be puffing and panting by the time it got to the top! But we did it.  Yes…Puffing and panting as well!  The highest peak sign informed us that it was “downhill from here” …not sure whether they were talking about the effects of our age or the actual rail trail gradients but essentially, they lied. There was some easy riding across the Maniototo Plain, but there were also some rises in there as well where we had to pedal hard to keep going. Not to mention the Head wind we were battling against at times too! (By the way in Kiwi land it is pronounced “Hid Wend”…we are getting quite a handle on the change of vowels!)

Ranfurly provided us with a break and scrumptious morning tea /lunch and the all-important opportunity to complete internet-dependent and time-critical on-line work. This was the last part of the ‘work away from home’ and it was such a relief once submitted. And fortuitous that we completed it since where we are staying tonight, there is no internet connection! (Hence the delay in this blog) That would have been a dilemma! (Downside … I cannot check how my puppy is going and that concerns me!)

The ride from Ranfurly to Kokonga was quite boring … flat farmland … greener, more sheep, more lambs … but long, dusty, and tedious, plus my knees did not want to keep pedalling. However, this all changed as we headed to Tiroiti where we entered the rugged cliffs of Upper Taieri Gorge with the Price River flowing below us. That was amazing. The scenery was breathtaking!

The track in the gorge wound around and around and sometimes you simply could not see where it was leading too. Many times, we looked ahead, but it was hidden away. At one time, riding 50 metres or so in front of Marc I totally disappeared on the rail trail rounding a curve, and it was simply “where had Lyndell gone”? (Yes, he found me!). More tunnels embraced us in their darkness as we walked through them — such an interesting phase of this trail. (Marc took off his sunglasses this time- he could see so much better!)

Do you know that verges of cliffs, gorges and bridges call out to me! They beckon me to come to their edge…to lean into them and to be swept off my feet (or bike in this case) to the bottom of their crevices?? Weird I know but they do. As I ride, I get this feeling that if I go close to them and look down, I will fall. Plunging downward, deep into their depths. That edge keeps pulling me closer every time. Of course, travelling along this gorge I had to keep myself from panicking when on the edge….and swapped sides with Marc many times to put distance between me and this ridiculous feeling. Many times, I “crossed to the other side” …. not quite in the way that saying is generally used…but I did. And eventually the days ride ended with our accommodation in an old school in Hyde.

Stopping to reflect upon today’s ride it was a difficult one in terms of physical exertion. I mean 60kms is nothing to scoff about.  Hard physical work but there was also more mental downtime as we pedalled together, chatting when needed and companiable silence when not needed. It was just Marc and I and the rail trail in all its shapes, appearances, beauty, and majesty.

But now … Hot Shower – here I come!