Day four: A downhill glide into Middlemarch! We awoke thinking, “This is the final day…make every moment last! Please be sunny! ” We were delivered to our bicycles which were still safely under the pine tree and cycled through the Taieri River Gorge. On the trail we scared some sheep, crossed the longest bridge on the trail and soaked in the beautiful blue sky. Downhill is definitely easier than uphill. Thank God! And of course, a headwind for the last 6 km. Perfect!
More sheep!
Coming up the trail.
Stunning landscape!
The view just never stops.
On the home stretch and the sun is shinning.
And, we're done!!
So we did it. We endured, we enjoyed and we celebrated. Well kind of, hard to find any open cafes or restaurants on a Sunday night in Middlemarch. So we got “takeaway” food at the local cafe. When we told the owner we were getting on the Taieri River Gorge train to Dunedin the next day, she offered to deliver our car there for us. She did not know we were taking the train back the next day, but the Kiwis are just like that. Love it here.
Four days, almost 170 kilometers. Lots of memories. Almost too much fun 🙂
Great pics guys. And, boy, is my butt sore just looking at them and reading your account. I loved the Royal Hotel and, of course, the tunnels and streams. This is a great way to go adventuring – bikes with homey places to stay each day. Good job.
What! You are actually among humans that don’t steal loose bikes! What a wonderful concept – civilized people.
Just noticed that, once again, the folks in NZ get the names of places all screwed up. You ended your ride in Middlemarch? Please…clearly it should be called Endmarch or Finalmarch. Maybe their brains are somewhat scrambled by living upside down on the earth’s underside. 🙂