STJim
21st October 2008, 08:25
First Card
For some years I have been looking to do the Manawatu Ulysses 4 Points of the Compass. This year the opportunity presented itself. I had my entry in nice and early. On the weekend 17th-19th October 2008 seemed appropriate to collect the first card from Houhora. I managed to leave work just before 5.00pm. I had an arrangement to meet with David Coy at Huntly. The opportunity arose to call on a client in Dargaville, some documents needed to be signed, and we were able to stay with them on the Friday night.
We had an easy run up, stopped at the Autobarn Café for dinner at Silverdale. A petrol stop at Wellsford, by then it was dark, turned left at Brynderwyn. There was a surprising amount of road works from Brynderwyn to Ruawai, slightly disconcerting at night. We arrived at Dargaville just after 9.00pm. Next morning after a good night’s sleep and breakfast, we left at 8.00am, topped up with petrol and then headed north through the forest. At Kaihu (at least that’s where I think it was), stopped under the pub verandah and put on wet-weather gear. A wet road through the Waipoua forest. Some caution was needed. We were at Rawene for 10.00am, time for a coffee before the 10.30 ferry at the picturesque Boat House café. From the other side of the Hokianga we followed through the alternative route to Kaitaia through Broadwood and Herekino. A very nice piece of road, turns and twists everywhere, evidence of some recent bad weather in a number of slumps and washouts. In once instance a freshly downed tree covered part of the road.
Through Kaitaia without incident and to Houhora Tavern for lunch. It was there that we discovered what we were supposed to do with our yellow ribbons. Two from Thames Valley branch arrived shortly after us and their ribbons were tied to the back of their bikes. We did the same. Collected our cards – I’m in luck so far, first card is the King of Clubs. It was then back to Kaitaia for petrol and David headed off to spend the night in a motor camp at Karikari Peninsular and I set off south, needed to be back in Hamilton for Saturday evening as I was runs leader for the following Sunday afternoon ride. I maintained a steady consistent pace, stopped off to see some friends in Whangarei for an hour. It was then I noticed that I appeared to have no working rear brake. Lo and behold the brake fluid reservoir was empty and leaking brake fluid from the rear master cylinder. Fortunately, David had some brake fluid of the right type, topped it up and then being someone more mechanically minded than me knew how to bleed to brakes. I was off again with a working rear brake. Arrived home to Hamilton shortly after 9.00pm.
For some years I have been looking to do the Manawatu Ulysses 4 Points of the Compass. This year the opportunity presented itself. I had my entry in nice and early. On the weekend 17th-19th October 2008 seemed appropriate to collect the first card from Houhora. I managed to leave work just before 5.00pm. I had an arrangement to meet with David Coy at Huntly. The opportunity arose to call on a client in Dargaville, some documents needed to be signed, and we were able to stay with them on the Friday night.
We had an easy run up, stopped at the Autobarn Café for dinner at Silverdale. A petrol stop at Wellsford, by then it was dark, turned left at Brynderwyn. There was a surprising amount of road works from Brynderwyn to Ruawai, slightly disconcerting at night. We arrived at Dargaville just after 9.00pm. Next morning after a good night’s sleep and breakfast, we left at 8.00am, topped up with petrol and then headed north through the forest. At Kaihu (at least that’s where I think it was), stopped under the pub verandah and put on wet-weather gear. A wet road through the Waipoua forest. Some caution was needed. We were at Rawene for 10.00am, time for a coffee before the 10.30 ferry at the picturesque Boat House café. From the other side of the Hokianga we followed through the alternative route to Kaitaia through Broadwood and Herekino. A very nice piece of road, turns and twists everywhere, evidence of some recent bad weather in a number of slumps and washouts. In once instance a freshly downed tree covered part of the road.
Through Kaitaia without incident and to Houhora Tavern for lunch. It was there that we discovered what we were supposed to do with our yellow ribbons. Two from Thames Valley branch arrived shortly after us and their ribbons were tied to the back of their bikes. We did the same. Collected our cards – I’m in luck so far, first card is the King of Clubs. It was then back to Kaitaia for petrol and David headed off to spend the night in a motor camp at Karikari Peninsular and I set off south, needed to be back in Hamilton for Saturday evening as I was runs leader for the following Sunday afternoon ride. I maintained a steady consistent pace, stopped off to see some friends in Whangarei for an hour. It was then I noticed that I appeared to have no working rear brake. Lo and behold the brake fluid reservoir was empty and leaking brake fluid from the rear master cylinder. Fortunately, David had some brake fluid of the right type, topped it up and then being someone more mechanically minded than me knew how to bleed to brakes. I was off again with a working rear brake. Arrived home to Hamilton shortly after 9.00pm.