our first (and possibly last) taste of touring by bike

first day on the rail trail

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If you've read the title, and seen the first picture you probably think we had a terrible time on the Central Otago Rail Trail.  But this is far from the truth.  We quite enjoyed it.  It was just a little bit too much like hard work for us.

To go back a little bit, there used to be a railway up from Dunedin on the coast to the gold fields up on the plains around Cromwell.  75% of the line was ripped up in the 1990s as there was no more golf (and not many people) to be found in these parts.  then someone had the genius idea to turn it into the Central Otago Rail Trail and the farmers wifes rubbed their hands together and saw the B&B dollar signs light up.  The idea is that you cycle along the 150km track over a few days, stopping at pubs and hostels (and hotels if you're fancy) on the way. Advantages over cycling on the roads are that railways are generally made to be magically flat.  So not too many steep hills (just long ones instead...).  The scenery was very er scenic - big skies a bit like east anglia but with mountains on all the horizons instead of, well, nothing.  we had blistering hot days - 32 degrees but the headwind kept us cool!  for the railway enthusuasta there are lots of bridges and tunnels and stations to break up the views.  dad you'd love it - if only you could ride a bike!

just thought they looked nice

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So we had a nice relaxing time, enjoyed a few ginger beers, and stayed indoors a few times (and after all our camping I can't get comfy on a mattress more than 2 cms thick, which can only be a bad sign).  We even went out for dinner twice, nice pub grub.  And the company we went with (Trail Journeys) were very helpful.  But a bit expensive, expecially for the bus ride back to our car.

The while trip made a good change to the walking/driving/kayaking /segwaying that we were doing before, but I'll still look at touring cyclists slogging uphill in the rain and wonder why they are doing it.