Painful death of a legend: Gentle Annie

[junkmanjoe]

today i went around the block up to Hastings over gentle Annie to Tiahape.

what i thought was the start of the gravel, turned out no to be..
...
and very soon turned to this..
...
corner after corner, is being widened and filled, the death of another great gravel road..
i had a chat with one of the engineers, and he says, by xmas, all but 5kms on the hastings side will be sealed...
had lunch at the old cable bridge, some naughty person had kicked the rails down to stop you going on to the bridge,,,,,so no one around i took advantage of the situation...
...
...
all of the gravel on the Tiahape side has been sealed..
so after a refuel at tiahape, i headed out to apiti and rode the whole range road,
man that went on and on and on...what a great road..

i made my way up to the wind mill farm, this just a great little side track..
them big ones are just great to watch..
...
the dirt track was dry

and all to my self..., couple good holes in it now..

over all, just under 700kms today..
great weather, great day for a ride.

JMJ

[gav24]

Glad I made it over "Gentle Annie" for my 1st time on the RRRR this year, when it was all still gravel.
Alot of excavation was underway back then, which made for some great "dug up gravel" tracks, and with just a bit of rain about no dust either.
Sad to think it will all soon be Tar seal...

[red mermaid]

I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't declared a State Highway soon, and becomes a tourist route populated by white camper vans.

[junkmanjoe]

there was a crap load of them on there, and this fella had a bit of trouble on one the road work sites,,,,

[.chris]

Damn, the GA was a road I had planned to do on my northward journey but had to cut it short.
Guess its too late now.

Great photos JMJ, keep them coming.

[dino3310]

i thought you were heading north this week

[junkmanjoe]

moneys to tight to go any further mate.. but we catch up end of month..

[dino3310]

lucky cause i bought an extra box, but drunk the bugga

[bart]

Another good road ruined. I've been over about 4 times in the last couple of years, and I'm amazed at the changes.

[Paladin]

Yes very sad indeed. Went over at New Year with Benjah and even then there was only 30k or so of gravel left. Must have been an awesome ride when it was all gravel.

[Shadowjack]

Well, sonofabitch, sad to see the "progress" being made on the road. Glad to have ridden it in February when there was still quite some shingle on it, albeit a fair swag of road works to overcome.

[cooneyr]

There is probably one good thing to come of this. When smaller district councils seal roads such as this, they have a tendency to just chuck a bit of base course on top of the road and seal it retaining the basic shape of the gravel road. Result is a road with heaps corners with heaps of super elevation i.e. heaps of fun to ride (for a sealed road). Route 70 between Culverden and Kaikoura is like this.

[yungatart]

There is probably one good thing to come of this. When smaller district councils seal roads such as this, they have a tendency to just chuck a bit of base course on top of the road and seal it retaining the basic shape of the gravel road. Result is a road with heaps corners with heaps of super elevation i.e. heaps of fun to ride (for a sealed road). Route 70 between Culverden and Kaikoura is like this.

You are right, of course, but a heap of this road is being done by Transit (or whatever it is called today). Hastings District and HB regional councils are only funding a very small part of it....

[junkmanjoe]

your right cooneyr.
the Tiahape end, still retains the basic old gravel road shape. with a lot of high sided corners, tight and twisty,,
its a bit uncannily felling knowing that it was once a great gravel road,
im lucky ive riden it and driven it in my MK 1 escort, and old XR500 prolink in the good ole days mate.......when it was gravel from start to finish..
never mind. ill just have to come down south and ride the great pass gravel roads before they vanish

JMJ

[red mermaid]

Oh, you are old! A Mark 1 Escort?

your right cooneyr.
the Tiahape end, still retains the basic old gravel road shape. with a lot of high sided corners, tight and twisty,,
its a bit uncannily felling knowing that it was once a great gravel road,
im lucky ive riden it and driven it in my MK 1 escort, and old XR500 prolink in the good ole days mate.......when it was gravel from start to finish..
never mind. ill just have to come down south and ride the great pass gravel roads before they vanish

JMJ