From Coast to Coast NZ, Greymouth to Christchurch Day 4
June 11th 2007 10:18
Day 4 Arthur's Pass to Springfield
We left the village at 9.30am with overcast skies overhead and light drizzle but we were very lucky with favorable winds and the mountains that kept most of the rain away.
Mountain House YHA, Arthur's Pass
Looking towards Otira
The way forward
Straight out from Arthur’s Pass village was rolling roads with a slight climb through the bush, these roads are narrow but there wasn’t much traffic around so wasn’t too much of a worry. The road then descended nicely to Klondyke corner before a gradual but not too taxing uphill climb, which was quite pleasant in the winter sun.
Through the bush
Leaving Arthur's Pass behind
Klondyke Corner (Big Sky Country)
The road ahead
We made pretty good time and with the ever present tail wind, even the long uphill straight at Cass not too much of a problem. We had lunch at Craigieburn forest park, a welcome rest of 30 mins and about halfway in 3hrs.
Lunch Stop
Castle Hill straight
Porters Pass
Onto the plains
As we still had the tail wind, the long straight at Castle Hill was soon behind us and even the climb up to the summit of Porters Pass was easy compared to the Otira, although it was very gusty in exposed places. Great descent though and my speedo showed 75km on the way down and on the final turn, I seemed to be coasting for ages at the 40-50km mark. Pretty much once we were out of the mountains and onto the plains, it was just almost coasting all the way into Springfield.
Just wonderful it was!
We had booked rooms at Smylies YHA, Springfield, arriving there about 3.30pm, this is an older building but was cosy and with character. There was a nice warm woodburner in
the kitchen/dining area and one whole wall was filled with books and magazines, so plenty to read if you get stuck there on a wet day. The tv lounge had a dvd collection and nice couches so was really good to relax after a day in the saddle. Dinner was pretty basic as since we were out of the mountains, I used up my emergency food supply.
Final day in next post
Hal
We left the village at 9.30am with overcast skies overhead and light drizzle but we were very lucky with favorable winds and the mountains that kept most of the rain away.
Mountain House YHA, Arthur's Pass
The way forward
Straight out from Arthur’s Pass village was rolling roads with a slight climb through the bush, these roads are narrow but there wasn’t much traffic around so wasn’t too much of a worry. The road then descended nicely to Klondyke corner before a gradual but not too taxing uphill climb, which was quite pleasant in the winter sun.
Leaving Arthur's Pass behind
Klondyke Corner (Big Sky Country)
The road ahead
We made pretty good time and with the ever present tail wind, even the long uphill straight at Cass not too much of a problem. We had lunch at Craigieburn forest park, a welcome rest of 30 mins and about halfway in 3hrs.
Lunch Stop
Castle Hill straight
Porters Pass
Onto the plains
As we still had the tail wind, the long straight at Castle Hill was soon behind us and even the climb up to the summit of Porters Pass was easy compared to the Otira, although it was very gusty in exposed places. Great descent though and my speedo showed 75km on the way down and on the final turn, I seemed to be coasting for ages at the 40-50km mark. Pretty much once we were out of the mountains and onto the plains, it was just almost coasting all the way into Springfield.
Just wonderful it was!
We had booked rooms at Smylies YHA, Springfield, arriving there about 3.30pm, this is an older building but was cosy and with character. There was a nice warm woodburner in
the kitchen/dining area and one whole wall was filled with books and magazines, so plenty to read if you get stuck there on a wet day. The tv lounge had a dvd collection and nice couches so was really good to relax after a day in the saddle. Dinner was pretty basic as since we were out of the mountains, I used up my emergency food supply.
Final day in next post
Hal
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Comment by charliesgirl_992000
Histeries, Mysteries and what not
Lifes little slices
Mystical Creativity
"Great fun!!" and a great way to see the world.
Tammy
Comment by kiwiauthor
Hal