Bicycle Touring
Vienna - England
New Zealand













Day 15, Otira - Darfield; March 22, 2004
Friday, 07 July 2006

So early in the morning I am getting ready for a very hard day. I have to climb to Arthur's Pass.

Weather is good for a change, not hot dry and sun is shining through light clouds.

From Otira it is all the way up the hill, and some pieces are extremely steep. Last few km I actually walk with the bike.

After about 2 hours I finally reach the top!

Up there was quite cold and windy but I did not care, I was too proud.

Now going down for few kilometres via Arthur's Pass Village, and then up and down towards Porter's Pass.

One more thing Arthur's Pass is also a border between Westland and Canterbury.

I was going down for quite a while, but I had problems. On that day I had 2 flats I started to feel tired again. Until lake Pearson things were fine, but later I hit a massive climb at Flock Hill that killed me (more mentally than physically). I managed this one, but started to realise that I will not be able to do Porter's Pass on that day. Problem was that there were no places to stay there. The nearest town - Springfield - was another 50 km away.

Somewhere around Castle Hill I managed to stop a small truck that gave me a lift to Sheffield :-) From there I had another 10 km to Darfield where I found a motel for NZ$20!

Distance - 78,35 km; Average speeds - 15,90 km/h

 

 

 

 

 
Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 July 2007 )
 
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