Day 8 - January 18, 2023

Day 8:  Thames - Cambridge

We get our "groove on" riding the smooth surface and gentle gradient of the Hauraki Rail Trail  We ride the historic railway across the Hauraki Plains then divert west all the way to Cambridge. 

Another glorious weather day for us on this, our longest ride of the trip.  At least it was for those who rode the whole thing.  I'm still struggling with comfort on the bike so took a 40 km bump in the middle.  Still a great ride, though.  The first 10 km were reversing yesterday's last 10 km.  I was last out of the motel this morning.  Not a good place for me, as I'm pretty much the slowest rider and I like riding alone but the guides are obliged to ride sweep.  I felt bad about  holding Zoe back so I tried to send her on.  We said goodbye to Thames, a town that was originally built during a gold rush which started in 1867.  I believe there is still a mine operating nearby.


 After the first 10 km we got onto the Hauraki Rail Trail for about 50 km.  Nice scenery and no hills.  The whole way we had some nice hills to our left and flat lands to our right.  

 Typical scenery to our left.......



The rail trail was in great shape.


Occasionally we passed over pretty little creeks.





Since most of the fields on both sides had cattle in them, there were wire fences on either side of the trail.  I've never seen this before - rather than put the wires around the trees they were either through the trees or fastened to the trees; I couldn't tell.



And - since the fields were full of cattle, each time we crossed a little sideroad we had to cross a miniature cattleguard.


Some historical plaques along the way..............


I got off route a bit in the town of Te Aroha, but found this interesting-looking sculpture.


To follow-up on yesterday's note about the purple and white flowers along the side of the road, here is another picture of a typical display.


We had a lovely lunch spread out for us at about 80 km.  As per plan I hopped in the van there (as did three others) and skipped the next 40 km.  It just so happened that I also missed most of the hills by doing that (aw.....).  I started riding again with about 20 km left to go (the others stayed in the van).  Glad I rode that part.  We went over a dam........



....... and was drawn in to the ice cream shop.


We're staying in our largest city yet - Cambridge.  It's population is over 20,000!.  And - we have a rest day tomorrow; woohoo!  


Stats for the day:

Distance:  99.85 km

Elevation (Garmin):  1379' up, 1152' down

Elevation (RWGPS):  n/a

Weather:  temps 14C - 32C.  It might have actually been a bit warmer than that while I was riding in the van.  It was a beautiful day, but that pesky headwind for a while.  



 

Comments

  1. Lynn CJanuary 18, 2023 at 12:35 PM

    Sue, I'm loving your pictures and your narrative! But am sorry to hear that you are still uncomfortable on your bike... Hope things change soon!

    ReplyDelete

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