Te Awa River Ride – Hamilton to Horotiu

After Queen’s Birthday Weekend, during which I attended a Scottish Country Dancing weekend school in Cambridge, John and I biked a couple of sections of the Te Awa River Ride. 

On the Tuesday, we biked the section from Cambridge to Karapiro, which you can read about here. 

The next day, Wednesday 8 June, we biked the other easy section of this track – from central Hamilton to Horotiu. I understand that the planned extension of the track to Ngaruawahia is expected to be completed later in 2016.

We drove into Hamilton, expecting to park in Bader Street, as indicated on a leaflet we picked up at the i-Site. However, it was a very isolated spot, and there were no other cars parked there, so we opted to park in the nearby Hamilton Gardens carpark instead.

This was on the opposite side of the Waikato River from where we wanted to be, so we first had to cross on the Cobham Drive Bridge.

Cobham Drive Bridge – not the most attractive of bridges (photo by John)

Te Awa River Ride – Cambridge to Karapiro

After Queen’s Birthday Weekend, during which I attended a Scottish Country Dancing weekend school in Cambridge, John and I biked a couple of sections of the Te Awa River Ride.

On the Tuesday, 7 June, we rode from our accommodation off Kaipaki Road, just outside Cambridge, towards Lake Karapiro. Officially, this section of Te Awa River Ride starts at the Avantidrome, goes through Cambridge, and eventually joins the cycle track alongside Maungatautari Road. However, we didn’t ride through Cambridge, but joined Maungatautari Road from Lamb Street, having come from Kaipaki Road.

It was a chilly day, so we didn’t set out until late morning. Only 4 km from our cottage, we stopped at the Lilypad Café for coffee and a muffin. Next to this café is the Garden Art Studio, which features a garden full of quirky and colourful ceramic garden decorations – birds, flowers, toadstools, totem poles, and the like.

The Lilypad Café and Garden Art Studio’s display garden (photo by John)

Cycling in the Waikato

I have a bit of catching up to do. No blogs for four weeks. But that doesn’t mean we have been idle. Not completely, anyway.

A few weekends ago, on Queen’s Birthday Weekend, 3 to 6 June, we travelled to Cambridge for a "dancing-cum-biking" holiday. While I attended a Scottish Country Dancing weekend school, John did some biking around the area. After the weekend school, we stayed a few more days so that we could both bike some sections of the Te Awa River Ride, alongside the Waikato River. I'll write up this trip in several separate posts.

It was a beautiful day when we drove up to Cambridge, and from the Desert Road the views of Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe were fabulous, as there had been recent snowfalls.

Mount Ruapehu