There
is two sounds that frighten every cycle tourist when they awake; the first is
the sound of rain falling on whatever shelter you have taken for the night; and
the second is the gusting of wind against that same shelter. This morning we
awoke to the gusting wind pushing the down pour of rain against the
motel/backpackers that we had spent the night in… With this being our only
potential rain day so far, excluding the bus journey, we knew that we could not
avoid this day by bus and our 102km to Blenheim would have to be covered.
Hoping that the wind and rain might die down, we slowly packed up the bikes and
ate breakfast. Unfortunately for us the rain showed no immediate sign of
stopping, so we bagged all our gear in garbage bags to keep out the rain. Looking
evermore the homeless drifters we are, we set off into the wind and rain in
search of the Wairu Valley and blue skies.
Climbing
out of St.Arnaud the rain was doing its best to break our spirits but we could
see he valley and wind, despite getting us quite wet, was at our bikes. The
ride today had only drops in elevation no more climbs so we kept our mind
focused on the positive and pushed on. In what felt like no time at all we were
suddenly speeding through a tightly woven road down out of the Nelson Lakes
Valley and into the broad, and shallow Wairu Valley. Bursting out on the plain
the rain was letting up but our speed was keeping. It is lovely feeling rolling
down a road that is seemingly flat but keeping in the highest gear and barely
having to pedal. We continued along the winding valley road with tremendous
speed, smiling and talking about the great time we were having; hesitant to
stop in the case the magical force pushing us along would suddenly disappear.
As we had started to talk about how we were closing in our 1000km milestone we
came to the topic of punctures an how fortunate we were to avoided them all
trip. Well as they say, “Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” A quick dodge
of a pothole and there he was, I could immediately feel my tire begin to
deflate. Hoping that it as just some freak valve release, I attempted to pump
it back up and although it did hold air for some time, I soon found myself at
the side of the road removing the front tire. Surprising myself at my ability
to still change a tire with speed and ease, we quickly found ourselves back on
the road eager to finish our long day.
As we
passed through the small town of Wairu Valley we had ran out of backing winds
and were now standing to face head winds. By the time we had made it to the
other side of town, a short two minutes, the wind was gusting enough to keep us
at a basic stand still. Knowing no other option we continued to peddle through
hoping for any let up. 5km I to our cycling version of hell we happened on a
miracle. Our friend who was working her last day at a nearby winery was on her
way to town to pick up groceries for a last cook out; spotting our adventure
and known we were coming through that way today she pulled over and offered us
a ride. Eager to escape the gale force winds we accepted and loaded the bikes
into the truck. Natalie was kind enough to take us right to our overnight stay
at another Warmshowers. Saying our goodbyes and knowing we would see her
tomorrow on the ferry to Wellington we departed ways.
The
hosts we had tonight, Dennis and Sue were absolutely amazing, they cooked us a
beautiful dinner and we each had our own bedroom with one of the most
comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on. It was Canadian Thanksgiving back home and
being able to have a sit down dinner and great conversation was a pleasant
change from the last few nights. It certainly was a great night and a good way
to keep our minds off the homesickness around these holidays. Day 12 102km
down… 30km by truck.
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