North Auckland ride 10, 11, 12 June

[Crisis management]

Anyone interested in a budget weekend ride north of Auckland?

I have access to a bach at Snells beach (near Warkworth, an hour north of Auckland) and suggest the following......

Friday evening a couple of hours of gravel between Auckland and Warkworth possibly via the pub at Puhoi, depending on daylight & enthusiasm. Takeaways at Snells and bring your own sleeping bag.

Saturday towards Dargaville and onto the beach at North Kaipara (this is all a bit spur of the moment and will need refining), lots of good gravel and possibly sand ending up back at Snells, BBQ and beer drinking there. I will get food & beer in and work out a per head cost or something like that.

Sunday north on the east coast to Mangawhai and then back to Auckland via inland gravel.

Typically a rough and flexible plan the idea being to enjoy the multitude of gravel roads and scenery while imitating a KLR rider in the budget.....

Give me an indication of interest and any sugestions!

Iain

[MXNUT]

Anyone interested in a budget weekend ride north of Auckland?

I have access to a bach at Snells beach (near Warkworth, an hour north of Auckland) and suggest the following......

Friday evening a couple of hours of gravel between Auckland and Warkworth possibly via the pub at Puhoi, depending on daylight & enthusiasm. Takeaways at Snells and bring your own sleeping bag.

Saturday towards Dargaville and onto the beach at North Kaipara (this is all a bit spur of the moment and will need refining), lots of good gravel and possibly sand ending up back at Snells, BBQ and beer drinking there. I will get food & beer in and work out a per head cost or something like that.

Sunday north on the east coast to Mangawhai and then back to Auckland via inland gravel.

Typically a rough and flexible plan the idea being to enjoy the multitude of gravel roads and scenery while imitating a KLR rider in the budget.....

Give me an indication of interest and any sugestions!

Iain

Keen As Iain, count me in

[.chris]

Keen. Wintery ride going to the winter-less north, genius!

[Steelie]

Im a starter

[Crisis management]

A good start.... we can probably sleep 8 people comfortably, (well, I'll be comfortable) so if we get lots more the last ones in will have to be prepared for sleeping on the floor.
I wil start plotting some routes this week, all suggestions are welcome.

[Steelie]

Dont be afraid southern ones. Spaghetti junction is do-able

[Crisis management]

To accommodate some turning up late on Friday post work and for any locals that want to join in for either the Saturday or Sunday only, an incredibly detailed and flexible plan!
Note that all times and mileages are my usual wild guess and come with the disclaimer of “What can possibly go wrong”.

Friday:
Leaving Massey at the top of the North western motorway (Auckland) about 4 via gravel roads towards Puhoi and Warkworth aiming to be at Snells Beach around 6pm. For those coming from the south and going direct to Snells, it will be rush hour from 4 till 6 in Auckland and it’s one hour north of the central city, either come early or later, the traffic is not fun.

Saturday:
Leaving Snells about 9 heading north on the back roads past Wellsford and Kaiwaka, across SH1 then gravel to Dargaville (150kms?) lunch at Dargaville. Out to the coast at Glinks Gully then north up the beach to Baylys beach (low tide at midday) and across to the east coast by a whole lot of new gravel roads to Waipu. South down the coast through Mangawhai, Pakiri and to the first pub I can find in Matakana (180kms).
Collapse and embroider the truth.

Sunday:
Leaving 10ish? And heading across to the west coast again via the (gravel) back roads of Puhoi to Helensville, up towards South Head and onto the beach at Wilsons road via Parsons? Track. Head south down the beach to either get off at Rimmers road if we want more gravel or to Muriwai if we have had enough by then, again lots of choices (180kms?).

To Auckland early afternoon ish.

Lemme know what you think!

[unstuck]

There is a good pub at leigh with plenty of parking between pakiri and matakana. Also the ride down the beach from te-ari point to pakiri is an awesome one. Damn i wish i was coming.

[.chris]

Lemme know what you think!

Sounds pretty damn good to me.

[Crisis management]

There is a good pub at leigh with plenty of parking between pakiri and matakana. Also the ride down the beach from te-ari point to pakiri is an awesome one. Damn i wish i was coming.

Thanks for the Te Ari idea, I hadn't considered that....the Sawmill brewery / cafe at Leigh is always on my must visit list, a great micro brewery!

[MXNUT]

Sounds pretty damn good to me.

2nd that ..........

[Steelie]

Sounds pretty damn good to me.

............3rd that

[clint640]

Dont be afraid southern ones. Spaghetti junction is do-able

But it's soo scary ...all those Aucklanders in one place... can someone come down & give us some lane splitting lessons beforehand?

Could be keen on this, A midday start from Vegas on the Friday might get us through Jaffaland before the mayhem gets too out of hand. Pencil us in for a couple of beds (or patches of floor) Will check work situation Tuesday & confirm.

Cheers
Clint

[BoristheBiter]

But it's soo scary ...all those Aucklanders in one place... can someone come down & give us some lane splitting lessons beforehand?

Could be keen on this, A midday start from Vegas on the Friday might get us through Jaffaland before the mayhem gets too out of hand. Pencil us in for a couple of beds (or patches of floor) Will check work situation Tuesday & confirm.

Cheers
Clint

Long weekend, the madness starts at 7am and goes all day. Just hope it doesn't rain as that just makes it worse.

[nic]

I'm keen- ish

I REALLY wanna ride up north....but I really don't wanna sleep in a sleeping bag....

I shall ponder my dilemma further and see what I can come up with!

Is the plan to stay at Snells beach both nights??