Day 20- Rotoroa to The Bach ( Springs Junction)

Today was another early start with us waking at 5.30 am and having breakfast at the house and being Lon the road for a long day of riding by 7.00am.

We started the ride by having a short detour to see lake Rotoroa which was delightful as you can see from the picture.

After this it was on to a long and difficult climb on a gravel road. The difficulty with this was the loose gravel which made for slow travel. I ended up walking for some extended periods of time.

After this we were on a sealed road through to Murchison which was delightful after the start!

Arrived at Murchison it was a bit like “ old home week” as we were able to reunite with the lovely cafe e visited last year on our NZ ride. It was still as busy as before and the coffee and muffins were a welcome sight!

After coffee Chris left the ride to travel by car to the Bach to attend a board meeting by zoom… so John was in charge of getting us through the remaining part of the ride!

John did a great job of looking after us !

After purchasing our lunch to have on the road it was off to tackle the Maruia Saddle. The first 20 kms was on sealed road which was great as we travelled through a lovely valley. The sealed road gave way to a gravel road which was quite flat and undulating until the climb started. We reached the start of the climb at 1.15 and had lunch being sandwiches purchased at Murchison. Then it was on to the climb up to the top of Muruia which tops out at 580 metres above sea level. We checked out Chris’s sign he erected at the peak and it was in fine shape as you can see from the pictures!

The climb up was quite good and only required me to stop to cross a couple of river ford crossings. My feet got wet at a couple of these crossings unfortunately…. All part of the ups and downs of the journey!

The climb from the base to the top took us about an hour which I thought was quite acceptable.

The ride down the hill was quite good but steep in places. I took it rather slowly as the twists and turns were frequent.

Then the gravel road was reasonably undulating until we reached the main road at the 73 km point.

I digress slightly here as I am reminded we did the ride from this turnoff to Murtchison on our NZ ride last year. To be frank the way we did it this year was better and perhaps less challenging as the climb had better grades in the Murchison side…… worth remembering if I do this again.

The ride along the main highway SH65 was to be done as quickly as possible as there was a lot of traffic. It was largely downhill which was pleasing so traveling was okay. There were instances where cars and trucks passed us with minimal room which was a little scary! The road shoulder was also quite narrow.

At the 92 km point we made the turnoff to Springs Junction. The 15 km ride to Springs Junction was Steve’s time to “let it fly” and he was off into the distance!

John and I had a great time chatting along what was a flatish gravel road which was good for me as my legs were getting tired after 90 plus kms!

At Springs Junction Steve and I had a soft drink purchased from the petrol station to get some refresh for the 7 km ride to the Bach.

We arrived at the Bach at 5.30 pm after travelling 113 kms and climbing over 1200 metres.

Although it was pleasing to finish the ride I was genuinely satisfied that a significant challenge had been met in what had been achieved.

At the Bach we met Ian and Graham Allen who were in the process of cooking up a “storm” of spaghetti bolognaise for dinner! Just the ticket after the day!

After dinner it was off to bed at 8.30 pm. Despite the itching from many sandfly bites I managed a good night of sleep knowing that tomorrow would be a day of rest!

Today’s pictures are:

Today’s route

A lovely picture of Lake Rotoroa in the early morning…. Great to see ahead of the climb ahead!

2 pictures of the scenery and road surface on the way to Murchison

At the cafe in Murchison…. Familiar territory as we have been here before!

2 pictures on the gallop the the Muruia climb and having lunch at the base of the climb

…. At the top! Inspection of Chris’s sign completed!

A photo of Steve and I after completing 1000 kms!!!! Significant milestone achieved!