Nelson to French Pass

March 14, 2025

Through Okiwi Bay.

Up early this morning and on my bike by 7:30 leaving one of my favourite camping spots on the trip; I say this probably because I spent 3 nights there but people were friendly. I left the campground and quickly came upon a coffee trailer that was open and promptly stopped for a tasty charge. Then I started to head out of Picton navigating my way first on every bike path available. Nelson has done a nice job with their cycling infrastructure. The only downside Id say is giving property to cars at every opportunity. Along the way I passed kids playing before school. Interestingly here in New Zealand the kids all wear school uniforms. Back home that’s only a thing at private schools.

It was about 8 km to get out of town and dumped onto the highway. Today I had a good attitude about the highway slog. My GPS track had me getting off it at every opportunity. I even tried to take another route unsuccessfully at Glenduan. I knew it was a gamble because it was a gravel road leading to a hiking trail. Once there I realized it was a hike up a mountain so that was no good. Oh well, only a couple extra kilometres of cycling to go back to the highway.

On the highway I had one very long climb of over 400 m elevation gain over 4 km. That means 10% grade and constant switchbacks to navigate which are tricky. You need to be seen so each time you approach a turn you look behind for vehicles and then sprint to as far as possible to give the vehicles potentially trailing the time to spot you after they round the corner. A few times when there were huge trucks I just got off and they politely waved and one gave me a honk. People were good to me today.

Eventually after getting to the top the downhill was fairly easy because the grade didn’t have me going too fast so I could hug the shoulder. Then there was a descent flat section where I got off at a picnic area for a short break. Then I pedalled to the next climb which was modest by comparison at 200 m.

Soon I turned off at about 50 km for the day and headed on a nice paved road for Okiwi Bay. There was a big 300 m climb over 3 km and then a big descent with parts of the road missing due to a storm 3 years ago. Fortunately there was almost zero traffic so this was a pleasant stretch of riding. In Okiwi I checked out the campground, got groceries, a coffee and a sugary drink and decided to head for French Pass for the night.

The riding out of Okiwi Bay and all the way to French Pass was some of the most enjoyable riding I’ve done as part of the journey (separate from the Great Trail rides). It started with a really long paved climb out of the Bay with some great views along the way. The forest was very tropical with some huge ferns hanging over the road and shaded for most of the climb. The temperature today was very nice about 20 C but never hot and always sunny.

After getting to the peak of the climb at about 350 m above sea level the road descended to below 150 m. That was a nice descent with almost no traffic and a decent road. I really enjoyed it. Once at the bottom the road turned to gravel and climbing again and back to 360 m above sea level. For whatever reason the Garmin was reporting off the peaks instead of the road so it had me climbing over 600 m. It was a nice surprise when I realized it was wrong and suddenly I’d pedal a short distance and have 100 m of climb disappear like I magically willed it to happen.

Most of the climb was shaded but occasionally there was an opening where I could see down to the water. The colour was different, still blue but less turquoise and more steel blue. Spectacular!

Once at the top of the climb the scenery took a very sharp change from green forest to open space and dry grasslands. It was a very stark contrast that was completely surprising. Originally I planned to go down into another bay but I realized that wasn’t a good idea. I mean if my goal was to climb as much as possible it was a good idea but at 350 m already and great views it made no sense. That and the fact that the road look like a driveway had me stay on the main road and continue.

I don’t know what to say about the next 10 km of riding. It was absolutely stunning scenery and I could not stop stopping for photos. Everywhere I looked was a perfect picture. And at one point it was in both directions as I was on a crest with water views on both sides of the road.

The road started to turn downhill sharply enough that I need to keep my eyes on the road rather than the scenery and I popped out at the bottom at French Pass which is essentially a campground, maybe 15 houses and a dock. It’s very scenic with a nice bay and great sounds of the ocean crashing in. It’s too bad this isn’t part of the TA route because that riding was outstanding, especially if I could take a big eraser and eliminate highway 6.

Highlights:

-bike paths in Nelson deserve a shout out

-big day climbing over 2000 m

-views at Okiwi Bay

-views out of Okiwi Bay

-the last 15 km of riding into French Pass was unreal scenery! Wow! Just wow!

Distance: 118 km and 2008 m elevation gain

Today's ride: 118 km (73 miles)
Total: 4,635 km (2,878 miles)

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