Day 19 – A Hard Day to Wakefield

The rain arrived right on schedule at 6 am and stuck around until about 1 pm.

At breakfast in Murchison there were a few cyclists debating whether to ride or sit the day out.

We didn’t have that luxury.

The first 75 km were tough.

Cold, wet, and hilly, with constant climbing and not enough descending. Add in roadworks, roads with no verge, poor visibility and a steady stream of logging trucks moving far too quickly for the conditions, and it was a matter of head down, stay left, and just get through it.

No photos. No sightseeing. Just riding.

We were happy to come out the other side in one piece.

A lunch stop around the 75 km mark turned things around. A ham and cheese toastie and maybe the best chips of the trip lifted the mood considerably — and, as if on cue, the weather began to clear.

Only 25 km to Wakefield.

From there we joined the rail trail and rode through the Spooners Tunnel — about 1.4 km long, built in the late 1800s.

It’s quite something riding through a tunnel of that length, and according to the sign it’s the fifth longest cycling tunnel in the world.

Interestingly, it wasn’t bored in the traditional sense — the route was excavated, lined, and then backfilled over the top.

From the far side it’s mostly downhill all the way into Wakefield.

The trail shares sections of road with logging trucks, and there were marshals controlling traffic at either end. One seemed surprised to see cyclists out in those conditions.

Fair enough.

They breed them tough in South Australia.

We rolled into Wakefield just as the rain started again, right on cue at about 3 pm.

Despite the conditions, we’re both feeling pretty strong. On a dry day we’d have pushed on to Nelson, but today was more than enough.

With rain continuing all night and tomorrow, tonight we’re treating ourselves to our first night indoors in about three weeks — at the Wakefield pub.

Small things.

Happy hour runs from 4 to 6 pm, so I’ll keep this brief.

We’ve also found a local beer we quite like — Monteith’s West Coast Hazy. Not quite a Coopers Sparkling, but it does the job.

One thing New Zealand is missing though:

No chicken schnitzel on the menu.

They don’t know what they’re missing.

Tomorrow is a short ride into Nelson — about 25 km on the rail trail — to catch up with an old friend.

Day Summary

Route: Murchison → Wakefield
Distance: 100 km
Riding Time: 6 hr 6 min
Climbing: 800 m
Weather: Heavy rain early, clearing midday, rain again late
Best moment: Reaching the tunnel and knowing the worst was over

Ride Links

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/22300925686
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/22301528903

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