Day 11: Coromandel to Hauraki Rail Trail
March 8th 2014
Distance cycled: 80 km
Total distance to date: 610 km
Today started out with me talking to a cow as I packed up camp.
She was quite cute and curious, and very affraid of the rain fly. If I touched it she'd back up hurriedly as if I was going to throw it at her or something. The electric fence kept us both at bay from each other, although I did accidentally back into it and got a (very mild) shock. I'm pretty bad at not running into stuff, it seems. Good thing I'm better at cycling than I am at walking.
After a coffee in the Coromandel Township, I headed south on highway 25 and found the best name for a shop selling salt:
And more of those little filing cabinet box things:
And nice views of the bay:
But most of the day, my view was this:
The highway was right next to the coast for most of the way down the peninsula. So the bay was to my right as I rode a fantastic ride southbound. It was fairly flat, save for a few major, major hills at the beginning of the day. But the payoff came in the form of excellent views!
I stopped at a scenic reserve by the water for a picnic lunch and a swim and some topless sunbathing. Not sure if that last one's allowed but hardly anyone was around to witness it and no one said anything.
When I got to Thames I decided to keep going on to start the Hauraki Rail Trail. This trail was just opened in 2012 and follows a historic train line. I'd been looking forward to it, expecting something like the Burke Gilman, away from cars and fully paved.
Well, it's alright so far. But it runs parallel to the highway, so it's not as far removed from traffic as I would wish. Plus, it's a gravel path, which I can ride but only in the firmly packed part where others have ridden, which is narrow. So anytime I look up to see the scenery or adjust my helmet or anything, I stray to the loose gravel and lose my footing and sometimes nearly fall over. So I have to concentrate harder than I do riding on the sealed roads. Oh, and cow grates seem to pop up every 500m or so, making it slower going than I would wish. But it's 100% flat and the scenery is nice, even if it is mostly cattle.
The sun is setting sooner nowadays than I expected! By 7pm this evening the sun was hanging low in the sky and I realized I needed to find a place to camp, because it would be dark by 8. The rail trail is fenced in and it's hard to find a place off the trail. I took the next road and found myself a spot that looks to be someone's paddock.
I could have camped at a number of official sites in Thames, but I decided to press on. Silly me. Oh well, tomorrow is Sunday so hopefully everyone sleeps in and no one bothers me. As for me, since I'm in camping mode, I go to bed when the sun does.
Ideally, I ride when the sun rises - but nowadays I get up between 7-8am. It's the best you can ask of a chronic night owl.
posted by Kyla @ 13:47
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