timber trail (ongarue end of trail)

  

 timber trail (ongarue  end of trail)

i had been thinking about doing at lest part of the timber trail so when my mum said she wanter to go for a walk along part of it i asked her if we could bike it as my legs don't seem to like much walking lately so mum said yes to taking the bikes so after some time looking at the guide book ( classic new Zealand cycle trails by the kennett brothers )we pick the ongarue end of the trail to start from - the plan being to head up the trail to look at the ongarue spiral ( and maybe more of the trail depending on time and weather) so after packing the car that took same time as i had to work out the best way to fit my mt bike in the back of the car - this invode taking the wheels off and turning the hander bars and seat post rack around - my mum bike rack only has room for one bike as she seems to of misplace part of the rack then it was time to get on the road to the ongarue end of the trail where i got mums bike off the rack and put my bike back together  before  heading off up the trail with the start of the trail being single track ( at the start of the trail theres  thing to keep monter bikes off the trail that i seen on a few other cycle trails around nz ) after a few? km of riding mum said her gears on her bike was not working so we stop to work out why - just needer to move the gear cable a bit to get all the gears working as i was doing that i noted the back wheel was rubbing on the V beak pads it ending up being a lose QR leaver so I look at the front wheel as well - yep that one was lose as well  so all ways cheek your bike over before riding (my mum used to ride a lot but not so much now so i been trying to get her back on the bike more slowly over time : ) back on the trail the trail heads up a valley in to the bush along an old bush tram line. about 7-8 km from the start /end of the trail is the ongarue spiral where the old bush tramline cross’s a stream before heading though a deep cutting and tunnel before going around to pass over the top of the deep cutting ( to help the bush tram up or down this part of the line ) after getting some photos of the parts of the spiral mum and I decide to keep going along the trail for a bout 5 more km? to the mangatukutuku bridge keeping an eye on the time (as this is only a day trip so will need to get back to the car before dark ) the tail seem to run along a ridge for a bit before heading up a valley where near the head? of the valley theres a big 86 m swing bridge to get across the other side of the valley where the trail keeps going - its here where mum and i decide to turn around to head back to the car so after getting some photos riding on the bridge  and of the bridge we head back only stoping a few times like just before the tunnel to get lights out to see when riding though the tunnel other then that it's a nice if some what bumper ride back to the car stoping at one point to see why mums bike front shocks was not work very well - more things to fix ( my mum don't seem to work on her bike so i tend to need to fix it when things stop working on it )  once back at the car and after i show mum the best way to get though the gate like thing at the start of the trail i take the wheels off my bike and turn the rack and handle bars around and put it in the back of the car before we put mums bike on the rack and head back to te kuiti (where my mum live’s) 

it fits (just)

at the start of  the trail

on of the many bridge's to ride over

large cutting

ongaure spiral

in the tunnel

top of spira
l

               

Just an update on what I been up to in the last few weeks

I'm typing this as i stay at at a friends place in levin as I plan where I'm heading next on the road  so what have I been up to from doing the grape ride 

Well After leaving the place I stayed the the night of the grape ride I get on the road heading along the back roads to blenheim and on to picton stoping for some food -about 7 km out of picton one of the trailer tires sweds so after some though I deside to start pushing the bike towards picton knowing even if I don't get a lift I will get there in a few hours - well the first car that stopped had no room of the bike and trailer so I keeped walking until a nice police man stopped to see if I was ok - after a bit of a chat and some work getting every thing in the police car I get I lift with then to a camp ground for the night 

The next day I start walking back into town ( with the bike and gear ) after walking most of the way in to town some one in a work van gives me a life the rest of the way into picton where after walking around town a bit I find some where to put the tent up for the night

The next day I get the ferry to Wellington and end up spending a few weeks helping some friends out at they place as I have a few issues with the bike that take some time to work out - once I get all the issues fixed I get back on the road deciding to find out if one can in fact bike out of Wellington ( in the past I have got the train north ) well after some map work using the Wellington bike maps I find a way using a mix of off road tracks, cycle lines and back roads - I stop for a day in porirua on the way out of the city before doing a day/night ride to a doc camp site near otaki ( where I spend a day reading a few books that I picked up in porirua ) then it's a short ( around 25 km ) ride to levin and on to where a friend is doing some house siting so I end up staying with then for a few days as I work out where to go next : )