One of Those Days

November 24, 2023

Waipukurau To Wimbledon

To lose one cycle-touring mate in the first week of a tour, could be considered unlucky. To lose two might be described as negligent. But it wasn’t. It was in the best interest of safety.

Joel’s injured ankle wasn’t worse this morning, but his mobility isn’t good enough to tackle the next three days of relatively remote area riding. So we investigated a few options for transport of Joel and Tony from Waipukurau back to Wellington. The best one was to pay the local bike shop to dissemble, box and freight the bikes, then they’d be certain of seats on the daily bus service.

Many thanks to Chris and Wayne of Bay Motorcycles Waipukurau. And to the manager of Waipukurau Holiday Park. You all helped make a difficult situation into an easier one.

So by 12 noon, Joel and Tony had bus tickets for a 3pm bus to Wellington, and the bike shop had taken charge of their bikes. And I began cycling in worsening weather toward a hamlet called Wimbledon.

It took me over 6 hours to cover the 60+km. Rolling hills, rain squalls, wind blasts and high country scenery kept me entertained and soaked until I rolled into the tiny settlement of Wimbledon. The good news was that the pub had a cabin, and it was vacant.

Today was one of those cycle touring days verging on ‘epic’ thanks to the persistent wild weather. I was very grateful to discover that the hamlet of Wimbledon had the tavern and the cabin.

My lightweight tent would not have be a match for the gales in self described The Land of Ranges.

The Hub in Waipukurau. A combination of library, information and booking centre. The staff were very helpful when we were trying to organise a safe way for Joel and Tony, and their bikes, to return to Wellington

Roadside flooding. There’s a lot of water about.

Evidence of the previous floods caused by a cyclone in February.

An accommodation option but I decided to pedal a bit further

Plenty of these washouts on the road to Wimbledon

High country views in between rain squalls

My splendidly isolated cabin for the night. Behind Wimbledon Pub.

Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 533 km (331 miles)

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Scott AndersonA shame about your friends. Glad you made it in safe.
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11 months ago

Graham SmithTo Scott AndersonHi Scott yes it’s disappointing that Joel and Tony couldn’t ride the last few days. Fortunately they did ride the most epic part over the range. That was quite an experience.

Now that I’ve just finished that final stretch of backroad to Masterton, I’m convinced we made the right decision.

If they’d pushed on with Joel’s injury, (and Tony also had respiratory problems) we’d have turned a minor problem into a major one.
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11 months ago

Joel KrewazSpecial mention of Chris and Wayne of Bay Motorcycles Waipukurau. Taking great sympathy on my dud ankle they took Tony's and my bike, boxed them up and sent them on to Wellington with a maximum of service and a minimum of fuss. The manager of Waipukurau Holiday Park also went out of her way to provide ice and advice. The kindness to cycle tourists was crtainly a feature of the ride.
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11 months ago

Graham SmithJoel thanks for that mention of the bike shop guys. I’ll do an edit of the journal.
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11 months ago