Napier weekend jaunt
All of the recent poxy weather had made us stir crazy, so with a half-pie decent forecast for the weekend in store, I cut work early, dragged Mrs H out of the garden, chucked some kit in the luggage and hit the road about 4:00pm on Friday afternoon.
What a great afternoon for riding! Unfortunately some oldies returning to Wellington from a funeral in Wanganui decided to cross the centre line on the “killer highway” and did themselves in on the front of a bull-bar-wearing Hilux going in the opposite direction.
Now fellow bikers, the propensity for said stretch of bitumen to consume human life remains an utter mystery to me. A great surface – one of the best in the region – no blind or off-camber corners, no passing for a gazillion km… So what gives? My angst was raised when I heard some traffic safety nong suggesting a cheese-cutter median “barrier” would do the trick. If this is mooted as a serious proposition, then yay verily and forsooth, there shall be a mobilisation of bikers to protest such until the ends of the earth!!
Enough already. Needless to say that having reached Pukerua Bay, we U-turned and retraced our path to Paramata, cut around Grays Ave, over the Paekak Hill Road, eventually reaching Palmerston North about 7:00pm. A perfect night for riding. No wind, bugger all traffic and not many flying insects.
Saturday was another pearler day, despite some light early showers in Palmerston North. So off we went to Napier via Tikokino. That sure got the cobwebs out of the system! A great spring day – lots of daffodils and lambs, and lush green rolling hills.
We arrived in Napier about midday, so had time for a bite of lunch in town before heading out to do a bit of sightseeing. We went for a quick fang up to Tutira and back, then down to Sileni vineyard for a coffee, only to discover that they don’t do that after 3:00pm in the off season. So off to Hastings and a coffee at the Corn Exchange before returning to Napier up the coast on dusk. A great day’s ride.
Today dawned magnificently in the Bay, with a bit of a nor’wester building. Mrs H had to get back to Wellington to start work by 5:00pm (boo, hiss) but not before we had a bite of brunch at Clifford Bay and carved our way to Waipawa via Havelock North, Elsthorp and Patangata.
The wind wasn’t so bad around the back roads, but we hit it big time once back on the main road at Waipawa. A massive headwind became a massive crosswind from the “bend in the road” about halfway between Waipukurau and Norsewood.
The forecast for the west coast wasn’t that flash, so we opted to stay in the fine and the gale on the Wairarapa side. The sky to the south at Pahiatua looked black and brooding, so we stopped and covered the luggage as a precaution. This proved a worthy effort, as we hit a heavy shower climbing up to the Mt Bruce summit.
The wind dropped off a bit from the run down around the Masterton by-pass to Featherston. In typical Featherston fashion it was blowing a screamer. We were gassing up at the Mobil station and I thought both bikes could get blown off their sidestands at any moment. The run from Featherston to the two bridges was, quite frankly, terrifying. But from then on the road was reasonably sheltered – almost dead calm on the run up to the Rimutaka summit, and a bit gusty on the descent but nothing too scary.
We hit rain at Melling which eased again by Ngauranga. Bikes on the deck at home and under their covers by 4:00pm and Mrs H safety in the arms of her beloved employer by 5:00pm.
More saddle miles required before The Grand Challenge…
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Originally Posted by Posh Tourer :P
We are at the bottom of the Devils elbow on the Napier side. No ride for me this W/end due to work. Going to be the same for the next 3 weeks then look out. Drop me a line privately next time you are up and we will make you a cup of tea. 
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