As you know, we are passionate cyclists, and cycling was one of the first thing we built into this trip, and, three weeks into our trip we finally arrived at the big moment.
The Otago Rail Trail is a 152-kilometer-long abandoned gold mining railway. Beginning (or ending, depending on the way your ride the trail) in Clyde and stretching to Middlemarch, it is a four-day riding adventure. Highlighted by trestles and tunnels, it is a self-guided trip with a smooth, wide gravel covered surface and grades of no more than about 3 percent.
The landscape of the Otago Valley is very much like the Thompson-Okanagan area of British Colombia and shares many of the same features: The topography is a schist rock based broad dry valley covered with shallow top soils, light, clay-based subsoils and brown, dry grasses. The days are warm and the nights are cool. Smaller streams and rivers wind through the landscape forming canyons, and large rock out crops create barriers to passage. In the 1880’s and 90’s, when gold was found in the area, it was a formidable landscape to build the railway line through.
Day 1 – Ken
The bike outfitters are right across the lane from the Oliver Hotel we described in our last post. So, after a hearty breakfast at Oliver’s we carried our suitcases to the shop. Leaving the car on the street, the bike shop staff put our suitcases in the back to hold for our return.
After receiving our trail package of maps, various promotional materials, the vouchers for our accommodations, and official Rail Trail Passports, we were off.
Rather than take the start of the trail, the company representative suggested we take the sixteen-kilometer path along the river to the first town we passed through – Alexandra.
In places the path was little more than a single track through the forest. As we passed through the area, we started to notice that clouds were rolling in and the wind was beginning to pick up. It was lucky that we packed our rain coats in our panniers as it began to drizzle. Fortunately, the drizzle didn’t last and by the time we reached our “official” start of the rail trail we were packing the raincoats away again. However, you can’t dress for wind, and although the drizzle subsided, the wind remained.
Hitting the open path past the trees of Alexandra, the wind became a constant force, cutting our speed by up to 5 km/hr. When you were only doing 17 km/hr to start with, it is a significant change.
About 17 km from Alexandra, we arrived at our first important stop – the Chatto Creek Tavern. With a warm sun we sat outside (in the wind) and enjoyed the first trail beer.
With a beer in our bellies the 12 km ride to our first overnight stop at The Station B&B in Omakau seemed much easier.
The B&B sits right along the rail trail and was designed to look like an old railway station complete with a front platform and railway accoutrements.
In checking in, our hostess let us know we were the only ones booked into the station that night, so we had a large bedroom as well as a big sitting area all to ourselves. Thankfully, our package included a dinner at Black’s Hotel, a short car ride away, and they picked us up, because, after fighting the wind all day, I am sure I could not have made it to dinner if I had to get back on my bike as my knees were starting to stiffen up.
Phyllis’s lamb was done to perfection and my fish and chips of fresh cod was very tasty. Getting back to the B&B, it wasn’t long before we were in bed sleeping.
Day 2 – Phyllis
We covered the least distance on Day 2, only 30 kms, but I think this was the most interesting section. My battery did not charge properly overnight, so I used my extra power a bit more judiciously than on the first day. I was also stuffed up due to the scented oils used in the B&B.
Throughout the day we were still climbing and passing stations and Ganger huts in between two tunnels, a smaller bridge and a high viaduct. A Ganger hut is a small building used by the workers, or gangs, to sit in to wait for the next train or to get out of inclement weather. Now, they house posters covering the history of the local area, information on the natural flora and fauna, the transition to farming and a list of upcoming sites on the trail.
The central focus of this leg, and the stretch that necessitated bridges and tunnels on the rail line, is Poolburn Gorge. Much of this work was done by up to 300 workers over three years in the early 1900s. The Manuherikia River runs through the bottom of the schist rock bluffs and is lined by trees. The land above is much dryer and was covered in brown grass and some scrubby bushes. The tunnels are small, dark and the tops domed with brick. I read that a wooden form was used to hold the bricks in place and the spaces above were then back filled with dirt and rock.
(Click on the Arrows at the Sides to See Additional Pictures)
Just past mid-day we rode up to the Oturehua Railway Hotel and Tavern and stopped in for a light lunch of ham and cheese croissants and a beer. I’m not sure how much of a hotel it really was but there was a dining room, outside eating areas and a children’s play area. We were getting ready to get back on the trail when we realized that we were only 700 metres from our B&B and were to return to the Tavern for dinner that evening. I can’t imagine cooking in the small, shed like area, but we had a tasty, rare rib eye and roast potatoes a few hours later.
There was a small, Heritage Park like museum showcasing the Hayes family just outside Oturehua. The family raised nine children in a small hut until the adult children built a larger Victorian style house for their parents and younger siblings. They farmed, had a small dairy, stables, water tower and large work shop and forge.
The core of their business was designing and manufacturing useful implements to support the local farmers and businesses. One item that is still in use today is a strainer, not for the kitchen, but for tightening the wires in fences. The workshop would have been a noisy, smelly hot place to work but Hayes Engineering lasted through three generations before it was moved to a larger town. One of the more interesting stories about the Hayes family is that the mother participated in the business by riding her bicycle around the area selling their products, and she did this in addition to taking care of the house and the kids!
We were in a purpose-built Bed and Breakfast that evening. It was a lovely bungalow style building up on a hill with great views down the valley. Our host that night had traveled to Canada for work purposes, most notably spending time in Peterborough. Ken went out late in the evening to view the stars, but the Gibbous moon was too bright to get a good look. However, he remarked that it was unusual to not see a single human generated light anywhere.
Riders end up leapfrogging past each other as they stop to look at the sites and take pictures. Inevitably you end up chatting along the way. We met a foursome from Queensland, Australia that ended up in the same accommodation with us on night 2, shared dinner with us that night and then rode back to the start with us on Day 4.
On the first morning we shared a breakfast table at Oliver’s Hotel in Clyde with a retired Auckland transplant surgeon, and his wife, who spent three months at Foothills Hospital in Calgary in 1980 early in his career.
We met them several times along the trail and shared accommodations and dinner with them on Day 3.
Earlier I said that I had been judicious with my battery all day. I finished with two of five bars of power remaining and sore knees.