Raglan to Port Waikato, gravel all the way. Jan 8

[Eddieb]

As part of my Kawhia to Raglan ride Jan 7 I'd intended going all the way through to Port Waikato however time didn't allow that so I did the 2nd half the next day.

As with the first half I'd planned a route that should take me all the way there on gravel roads and apart from the first 30 km or so I managed to get all the way there.

1) The waikato hosts some of the finest riding roads in NZ. This is Ohautira Road not far north of the SH23 junction.

Left onto Ruakiwi road and left again onto Mangiti took me to Rothery Road which ends at Kauri Flat. There I turned left onto...

2) Te Akau Wharf Road, this is the view as soon as you turn left

3) There's a lot of scenery to be seen out this way.

4) After about 6km's you end up at Te Akau wharf which is directly across the Harbour from Raglan.

5 & 6) More scenery. I had wanted a ride to get away from things and this delivered. Lots of nothing but rolling rugged farmland to be seen.

[Eddieb]

This is going to be one of those boring 'someone else's holiday photo's' type threads but I just loved the scenery so tough. After living in Wellington being able to see several valleys over is a novelty, ok?

Retracing back to Kauri Flat I headed onto Te Akau South road for ages, till that met Te Akau Road at a T Junction.

1) More scenery

2) You can see the road ahead in the valley below. The gray area to the left was a huge sand dune.

3) And the road behind in the valley below

Left there and another long stint to another T where it was left onto Matira Extn Road and another left at Pukerewa Road for another long stint.

I think the bike was starting to think I only turned one way as it was left again onto Port Waikato-Waikaretu Road which after ages and ages takes you all the way to Port Waikato.

The last section of road also has some stunning views out over the ocean, and at places where there are gaps you can see the waves rolling onto beaches at the edge of farmland. No pics though.

4 & 5) At Port Waikato I ignored the 'No trail bikes or we'll dob you in' sign and had a short play on the beach before heading on.

I haven't worked it out exactly yet but by this point I'd done something in the region of 140-150km of non-stop gravel.

From Port Waikato I hit the tar again and took SH22 south. After all the hype here on KB I thought it was going to be a road riding revelation but for me it didn't live up to the hype. Sure it was a nice road but no better and worse in a few ways than other local backroads I've ridden.

I actually got bored with SH22 and took a random turn off just south of Naike which was Hetherington Road. This however was tar heaven, great scenery, perfect seal and road marking, sweeping corners etc.
Heatherington road leads from SH22 to the Huntly which is then just a short run down an old favorite, Huntly West Road, to meet friends at their place in Ngaruawahia.

To end the day, just as I was about to leave my friends I discovered one side of my Ventura rack had completely sheared off and the other side wasn't looking much better. Fortunately a weilder was handy and it was swiftly dealt to and better than new.

[bart]

Nice one. That old beemer seems to be getting a thrashing.:msn-wink:

[Crisis management]

Great roads aren't they, thats where I'm heading tomorrow morning!
Bye the way, you can do Raglan to Port Waikato and back using different gravel roads each way and almost touch no sealed surfaces....the bastards managed to seal some bits which you can't avoid.

Klondyke road, memorise that one.



Rushes out to get bike ready, gloating......

[theblacksmith]

I rode the Te Akau -Port Waikato road the other day on my VL250 cruiser which boogied a bit on the gravel - but a lovely ride - came back down through Naike and out at Ngaruwahia - heaps of nice twisties.
Another good ride is from Waitomo caves to Te Anga and then head right onto the road that goes up to Te Waitere and Kinohaku.It goes thro to the Kawhia road.