Ohariu Valley to Porirua

On Friday 19 January, John suggested going for a ride through Ohariu Valley, down to the end of the public road, up to the ridge on the access road that was constructed for transporting the wind turbines of Mill Creek Wind Farm, then behind Spicers landfill to Porirua and to Gear Café for lunch, and then home.

On the whole it was a pretty successful ride. We weren’t sure if the access road was open for use other than for servicing the windmills, but we gave it a go. We left from home, biking up the hill and onto Ohariu Road.

From the junction where Ohariu Road becomes Ohariu Valley Road, it was a long, winding downhill into the bottom of the valley.

Ohariu Valley Road winds down into the valley (photo by John)

Before we got to the intersection with Rifle Range Road and Takarau Gorge Road, we met Alastair Smith (of Folding Goldies fame) going the other way. We stopped to talk. It was good to see him, as he had not been able to make it to our last Folding Goldies ride in November, because he wasn’t well. Today he had come into Ohariu from the Karori end, and was biking to Johnsonville, and planning to go down the Ngauranga Gorge.

The camera (on time-lapse) on John’s bike took this photo of us talking to Alastair

At the crossroads, we turned right, and followed the valley road till the end. The valley is really pretty. The road undulates up and down, and is really quiet – only two cars passed us.

Ohariu Valley Road (photo by John)

We stopped for John to swap his time-lapse camera from the front to the back of his bike
because of the angle of the light (photo by John)

John’s T-shirt blends perfectly with the colour of the road.
He should have worn a hi-viz vest

We rode past the riding school – unfortunately the Saddleback Café is only open on weekends now – and at the end of the road, we found a big gate across the Mill Creek access road, but there was a gate designed to let cyclists and walkers through.

The Mill Creek access road

It is a very wide road which was constructed especially to transport the components of the wind turbines of the Mill Creek Wind Farm from the Porirua end. The wind farm became fully operational in November 2014. There are 26 windmills on the hills, but they are not visible from here. There is an interesting video about Mill Creek on this website. 

The access road is very steep to begin with till you get to the top of the ridge. It is sealed for the first 100 meters (presumably to stop heavy loads skidding down the hill), and then it turns to gravel, but it wasn’t too bad to ride on.

The start of the access road was very steep (photo by John)

Once we got to the top of the ridge, the road was more or less flat, winding through forest and scrub. We got views across to Granada at one point.

Once on the ridge, the road wound along more or less on the flat (photo by John)

 

A view towards Granada (photo by John)

“The long and winding road …” (photo by John)

As we got closer to the Spicers landfill, we got the occasional whiff of it on the breeze. We checked out a flat area and found that there was a narrow track coming up from below, marked with a Te Araroa signpost. (Te Araroa is the walking track that stretches the length of New Zealand, from the top of the North to the tip of the South.) 

Close to the landfill, a gate prevented access through to Trash Palace on Broken Hill Road, and we had to divert around it on a narrow grassy track, that went for quite a long way.

From here we had to divert onto the narrow grassy track on the right

The dirt track was narrow and in places could have been bikeable – if we had been mountain bikers – but mindful of a couple of recent spills on dodgy tracks, we decided on the cautious approach, and walked most of the way.

We took the careful approach and walked (photo by John)

This short stretch was wider, and we were able to bike here … (photo by John)

… but this was definitely not bikeable – not in our book anyway …

A surprise encounter with Gandalf on the crest of a hill. We don’t know what this structure was for
(photo by John)

The track didn't come out where we expected it to. Eventually we had the choice of right or left – I think left would have taken us to Elsdon, but on the right we could see houses, so we knew there would be a road there. It was Chastudon Place, at the top of Tawa/Linden. When we got to the bottom of the hill, we ended up near the roundabout to Collins Ave.

Heading back to civilisation

From there we biked to the Gear Homestead Café. Te Ara Tawa, which had been partially closed off for several months because of the construction of a bridge for the Transmission Gully highway, was now open again.

The section of a Transmission Gully bridge has been installed,
allowing Te Ara Tawa to be opened again

It’s obviously not finished, but the main beams are in place

Looking impressive (photo by John)

From Te Ara Tawa, we went under the Porirua station and the motorway, and found that there is a new track into Aotea from there, so we rode up it, and rode around new streets – as yet unbuilt up – and then down to Gear Homestead.

There are some great murals in the Porirua station underpass (photo by John)

The newest streets in the Aotea subdivision (photo by John)

We had a pleasant lunch at the Gear Café, under a brolly on the path side of the building.

Lunch under the umbrella (photo by John)

We watched a wedding party taking photos in the grounds. They all looked gorgeous, the attendants in long deep red dresses, the groomsmen in smart suits. When they got ready to leave, four fancy big American classic cars, with bridal ribbons on, drove up. Very nice.

A wedding party was moving around the gardens to take photos (photo by John)

The wedding party prepares to leave in classic American cars (photo by John)

For the ride home, to get from Tawa to Churton Park, we had to bike down Middleton Road. Normally, when we bike Te Ara Tawa, we park at Takapu Road station, to avoid having to bike on Middleton Road. But it was OK, as going south, that side has a shoulder of sorts most of the way. It did add an extra 5.5 km to our ride.

There is a reasonable shoulder heading south on Middleton Road (photo by John)

Our total for the day was 35.5 km. It was a good ride, and it was nice to explore somewhere new.

My sister gets an e-bike

A few weeks ago, my sister Aimée and her husband Neil took the plunge and bought folding e-bikes. With Neil planning to retire in the next year or so, they are hoping it will be as enjoyable a retirement activity as it has been for us. The four of us had a wonderful cycling holiday a couple of years ago – is it really that long ago? – when we went on a supported tour of the Mackenzie Country with Pure Trails. You can read about that trip here and here. 

The day they bought their bikes from Wellington Electric Bikes in Petone, they dropped by to show off their purchases. Neil bought a SmartMotion e20 like ours, but Aimée decided that she wanted the SmartMotion Vista, because it is lighter. She wants to be able to lift it in and out of the car herself (as her weekday rides, if any, will be mainly without Neil, until he retires). The fact that it has only three gears does not worry her. She’s not planning on doing any heroic hill rides, she says. (Anyway, John reckons they give her more or less the same range as our gears on the e20 give us.)

Neil’s e20 and Aimée’s Vista (photo by John)

So, on a sunny day in January Aimée, John and I set off on her inaugural ride on her new bike. We met at the Takapu end of Te Ara Tawa, intending to ride to the Gear Homestead Café and back.

Aimée sets off on her inaugural ride (photo by John)

We duly set off – past the Bucket Tree Motels, down towards the bridge over the Porirua Stream, back up a little rise onto Te Ara Tawa. We hadn’t gone more than 500 metres, when Aimée’s bike suddenly keeled over and she fell off her bike. I was behind her and of course stopped to help her. John, who was ahead, hadn’t noticed, so I called out to him to come back.

Poor Aimée, her right elbow had suffered a bad graze and understandably, she was feeling quite shaky. We were all a bit mystified as to what had happened. Aimée said her handlebar had suddenly swivelled, and that’s when she’d lost control. So while I patched up Aimée’s elbow (luckily I always carry a small first-aid kit), John tightened up the handlebar and checked that everything else was as it should be.

After a little while we were up on our bikes again. As with a fall off a horse, it is best to get straight back into the saddle again. John’s rear-mounted camera took several photos of us as we were riding along.

On the shared walking/cycling path on Beauchamp Street (photo by John)

On the relatively new track between Kenepuru and Porirua (photo by John)

The steep drive up to the Gear Homestead Café did not present any problem (photo by John)

We enjoyed lunch in the garden of the café. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, John took the opportunity to photograph Aimée’s bike from all angles, as he wanted to write a review of the bike for his website. Her bike, the Vista, is a folding version of the SmartMotion eMetro that he has reviewed before, so this was to be an update. 

Lunch in the garden (photo by John)

The controller is different from the e20 … (photo by John)

… and the motor is in the front wheel (photo by John)

Ready for the return ride (photo by John)

When we got back to our cars, John asked if he could take Aimée’s bike for a short ride up the track – all in the interests of his review.

I think it was an enjoyable ride, and I hope Aimée thought so too, despite her fall. But she did report that the following few days she was feeling quite bruised and sore all over. Poor thing …

Churton Park to Gear Homestead

It’s a month since I last posted anything on this blog. It’s not that we haven’t been biking, but it’s mostly been little short rides that have not been blog-worthy. I have also been busy with other things.

On Thursday 7 July, while I was otherwise occupied, John took a ride on his own, partly to bike along Middleton Road, which is a place where I am reluctant to cycle, and partly because he wanted to hit the 4,000 km milestone on his e-bike.

With his camera fixed on his handlebar, and set on a three-minute automatic time-lapse, he took the route we usually take to get to the local café (Café Thyme), but then continued on Middleton Road towards Tawa.

Folding Goldies ride – Te Ara Tawa and Whitby

On Wednesday 15 June, a few days after we returned from our travels to the Waikato, we went on a Folding Goldies ride. 

The plan was to meet at Takapu Road station in Tawa, ride to Porirua on Te Ara Tawa, through Whitby to Pauatahanui, stop for lunch, bike to Mana via Ara Piko and the Camborne Walkway, and train home from Mana.

Alastair, the organiser, kindly provided a map of the ride, which is here. John and I parked near Takapu Road Station, as did Sue, our neighbour. We waited at the station for the other members of the group to arrive on the train from Wellington. We ended up with seven people for this ride.

A pre-departure photo. From left: Alastair, Gottfried, Carole, Désirée, Sue, Frank (photo by John)

Two short rides – Pauatahanui and Gear Homestead

As I am writing this it is raining hard out there, and getting colder, but we managed to get in a bike ride this morning (Sunday, 22 May), before the rain set in.

After a wonderful, long, hot summer, and a very pleasantly warm Indian summer in what ought to have been autumn, we are finally getting to the nitty-gritty of autumn. It looks like the party is over. We’ve been having rain, wind and cold for the last few weeks now. No more bike rides in short-sleeved T-shirts for the next few months.

We managed to go for a couple of shortish rides in the past week, though. Last Thursday, 19 May, we biked from Mana, where we parked the car in the Ngatitoa Domain, to Pauatahanui and back. Just 15 km, but at least we were outside enjoying some sunshine and fresh air.

On Te Ara Piko, alongside Grays Road (photo by John)

Tawa to Gear Homestead

On Sunday 20 March, we went for a gentle ride to investigate whether the Kenepuru to Porirua section of Te Ara Tawa was open for use yet. I was still coming right from what was ailing me the previous week, so didn’t want to do anthing too energetic. But I figured I could “cope” with lunch at the Gear Homestead Café!

We parked at the Takapu Road station carpark, which is the beginning of Te Ara Tawa, and pedalled off towards Kenepuru. We were disappointed to find the path along the railway line to Porirua still blocked. (PS - We went there again a week later, on Easter Sunday, but still no luck. Celia Wade-Brown, Wellington mayor, stated on Facebook that it will be officially opened at 3pm on 7 April.)

At Kenepuru, the new track to Porirua was still fenced off (photo by John)