Today was a lot of downhill from Lawrence down to sea level at the Taieri plains.
Cruising down the Manuka gorge was lovely. A lot of Sycamore trees and long cruisy downhill stretches where I didn't have to pedal it all.
The cycle path follows the old railway so it was straight and smooth and there were two interesting old tunnels.
It was blessedly cool and overcast, in contrast to the heat and sun of yesterday.
There is another identical one at the other end of the road. I've asked around on the local internet groups but nobody in the area seems to know what it is. Maybe a piece of outsider art.
I continued past Milton on the cycleway which is beside the railway. Today I met 10 or 11 other cyclists out for day rides. Strangely all of them were men; I didn't meet a single woman cyclist.
Finally I rolled into Lake Waihola domain, where mum was waiting to bring me home, thankyou dear mother! I took her to a Japanese restaurant as thanks.
At Lake Waihola we met quite a few Muslim people who were having a huge barbecue. It looked like five or six families, and they were very happy when I rode past and said a cheery "As-salamu alaikum".
I don't know any other Arabic but that one phrase is very useful.
Mum went and said hello to them too, and then they gifted us delicious barbecued chicken and flat bread.
Then mum kindly ferried me the remaining few kilometers into Dunedin. I was glad to miss this final section because there is a lot of traffic and it is not very interesting.
I had a bath and finally collapsed into bed. Another terrible night followed, full of night sweating and fever again. I do not know what that is caused by, but I will monitor it closely over the coming days.
Tomorrow I do laundry and fiddle with my bicycle. I need to raise the handlebars a little to make riding more comfortable.
And the next few days will be wonderful to give my bum and legs a rest.
1 comment:
Great read Jamie. Well written and so interesting. I’m looking forward to more as you head towards us.
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