Taihape to some where

Taihape to some where...

After a nice night at the backpackers I pack up and get on the road - first stop is McDonald's for a frozen drink then the supermarket for food for the next 4 days or so  - out side the super market is 2 touring cyclists - yep must be bike touring time of the year  : )  after getting the food (leaving me with just about no money in my bank account for the next few days (I get money each week) - luckily there's no where for me to spend any money in the next few days or so  : ) I spent a bit of time chatting with the two other touring riders (I all most need a FAQ  t-shirt or sign on the bike at times with the number of same questions I get asked in my travels  : ) then its time to head out of town over the hills towards napier /hastings  - it's a road that I been meaning to do for a number of years (it's about one of the very last main roads that I have not yet done on the bike in the north Island : )

A few km out of town a passing farmer on a 4wd farm ( motor) bike passes me and offers me lunch - so after a bit of quick thinking I say yes to that and follow the farmer back to his place just down the road.  It turns out that the farmer has done a number of bike touring trips around the world in different places so we spend time chatting about bike touring also farm/horse events suff - turns out we know of some of the same people - yep the horse world can be a small place  - I can seem to go any where in nz  and not run into people that know my friends or know me /of me   : )

After the nice chat and lunch it's time for me to get back on the road game not to worry about the time as I only have about 40 km to go or so unto i get to a camp site I know of next to a old bridge - even if a good number of those km is up hill and up steep hills at that - as I'm climbing up one of the hills I'm thinking this is harder then it should be...  I wonder if I am in fact in low gear - a quick look at the rear gearing tells me I'm about midway in my gears so after tighten the gear cable a bit I can now use all my gears again - that makes climbing that much more easier - if climbing up steep hills can ever be easier?

 Some times I'm down to 3 km/h climbing up the steeper bits - at less with the trike I don't have to worry about it falling over at slow speeds like I do with my bike Friday or my mt bike - passing a number of remote sheep stations before dropping steeply in to the valley of the rangitiket River down to the  old wooden springvale suspension bridge  (named after the near by sheep station)  built in 1925 - the newer steel bridge in use today  next to the old bridge was  built in 1970

After going for a walk across to old and the new bridges its time to set up camp for the night - doing a bit of reading before heading off to bed for the night