Friday, March 14
Westport to Inangahua for John and Westport to Murchison for Mike.
That's right we had to split up. John broke a spoke and tried to repair
it with some fancy spoke repair kit. However, it was not fancy enough.
Especially with the nearest bike shop almost 200 miles away. The bright
part of this news is that it happened just outside of the small junction
town of Inangahua, so the walk was only about a half a mile. Then to top
it off one of the locals, Ken Andrew, came out from his house to see why
we were walking. The first photo is Mike, Ken's son, Ken Andrew, and John at Ken's house. He then insisted that we come in for something to drink and he
would help us figure out the bus schedules. After a few minutes of
talking we found out that Ken was wired up and with style.
So after a
quick tour of our site and the exchange of email addresses we needed to
make a plan. That is when Ken's son said he was on his way to Nelson.
Perfect! Now John had a ride all the way to Nelson and probably got
there before I even got close to Murchison.
The ride today was different again. The first part followed along Buller Gorge into Inangahua. Then I had some climbing to do through Upper Buller Gorge. For scenery, lots and lots of dense forest.
One
Interesting lookout point was of a large slip in hillside. Apparently
this was due to one large earthquake years ago. I would have stopped for
a photo but the sandflys would have had me for lunch.
Riding alone definitely has its pluses and minuses, but I much prefer riding with someone. It's a shame that this had to happen, I know John is upset he had to skip part of the ride. So for the next couple of days you'll have to follow up and down the hills with just me until John and I meet up in Nelson.
One last note Ken asked me to tell all of you out there that if you ever come through Inangahua -- stop in. His family will put you up for the night and they only charge a post card, after you get home! Ken's email is sduke@xtra.co.nz
