E-bike group ride to Te Marua

It’s a long time since I wrote up any blogs. Apart from two rides in March, which I have yet to write up, we haven’t done any substantial rides. We have had our grandchildren to stay during the school holidays, and John has been under the weather. I have had other activities to deal with, so now that’s done, I am at a bit of a loose end, so I will write up the two March rides.

On Sunday 11 March, our neighbour Sue had suggested an e-bike group ride to Te Marua. The plan was to bike from the Seaview end of the Hutt River trail, all the way to Te Marua for Devonshire tea and scones at Stonestead. Along the way we would stop for lunch in Heretaunga. Sixty kilometres all up.

When Sue first suggested this ride, two weeks earlier, I didn’t feel like doing all that as I wasn’t feeling very well. I thought that 60 km was too far. I was saved by the weather, as on the day it was planned for, the forecast was for gale-force winds, so it was postponed.

This time round, I felt OK, but still thought that 60 km was a bit much and I suggested to John that we could take the train back from Upper Hutt, but he didn’t agree.

As it was a beautiful day, we ended up with quite a big group of ten.

The group before departing from Seaview, one more person turned up a bit later (photo by John)

Near Avalon, we had a bit of a mishap. Gordon and Kathryn had collided and Kathryn came off her bike, leaving a bit of skin on the tarmac. After patching her up, we resumed the ride.

All patched up and ready to resume the ride (photo by John)

The lunch stop at the Fig Leaf Café in Heretaunga was very pleasant, but it was very busy and the food took a long time to arrive.

Lunch at The Fig Leaf Café in Heretaunga (photo by John)

On our way towards Te Marua, after Harcourt Park, we went on a couple of scary narrow winding tracks down to the river, that neither John nor I were very happy with. So before the next track we decided to take to the road.

We didn’t like the narrow, winding tracks by the river … (photo by John)

… so we took the road for the last bit (photo by John)

The road got us to Stonestead more quickly than the track would have, so we got there before the others. We ordered our tea/coffee and scones, but it took quite a while, because there were three people ahead of us. Kevin’s kitchen is quite inefficient as he has to walk back and forth between oven, fridge, hot water dispenser, and counter. And he is very relaxed and in no hurry at all.

By the time the others arrived, none of them could be bothered with the tea and scones, and some of them went back right away. Sue, Gordon and Kathryn sat with us while we had our scones, which was quite pleasant, but we really hadn't needed the scones. I could easily have done without the Stonestead stop.

On our way back we avoided the hairy track and stayed on the road, and met up with the others a bit further along. Then we rode back from Harcourt Park, by going across the footbridge, and continuing on top of the stopbank on the other side of the Hutt River, till the Totora Park bridge.

On the footbridge at Harcourt Park (photo by John)

Along the Hutt River (photo by John)

It was a very long ride, and a very long day. It was 5:45 by the time we got back to our car, having done 65 km. My feeling was that the whole trip had been rather too ambitious. Though with e-bikes we can go further, this was just a bit too much. It might have been better to turn around after lunch, or even at Harcourt Park.

Still, it was an enjoyable ride – apart from the hairy bits of track.

Whiteman’s Valley

On Tuesday 3 October, it was a lovely day, so we decided to take the train to Upper Hutt, and ride down Whiteman’s Valley. We missed the 10:45 train by a couple of minutes, so since we had at least 25 minutes in hand before the next train, we went to explore for a bit. We used the footbridge to cross over SH2, and ended up at the bottom of Korokoro Road.

A track led of towards the north, and about a kilometre on, we arrived at a very pleasant park. After a bit, I figured that this must be Percy’s Reserve, which was confirmed by a passing gentleman walking his dog. It was decades since we had been here with our children. I seem to remember there was a pond here, and my main memory of the place was “too much duck poo!”. But we didn’t see any evidence of that this time. It did seem like a nice place to explore further, but we had to get back to catch our train. It will keep for another day.

On the boardwalk at Percy’s Reserve (photo by Jo

We duly made our way to Upper Hutt, from where we headed up Wallaceville Road and into Whiteman’s Valley. Soon after the turn-off into Whiteman’s Valley Road there is a pretty little church in a lovely setting – Wallaceville Church. From the notice by the gate, it looks like regular services are no longer held, but it is available for weddings and other special occasions.

Wallaceville Church (photo by John)

Only a few gates further down the road we found this quirky arrangement of creatures by the letterbox. Of course that warranted a photo stop.

A colourful menagerie guards the gate of a Whiteman’s Valley property (photo by John)

The road is nice and flat, and very quiet. Only a few cars passed us. Very different from the impression given on social media of angry residents complaining about cyclists riding in bunches and obstructing traffic. What traffic? However, I believe the road is very popular with road cycling training squads on weekends. But this was a weekday.

For the first time this spring, it was warm enough to ride in short sleeves (photo by John)

We have biked in this valley with the Folding Goldies a couple of times, but in a way, I prefer riding with just the two of us. The solitude of rural quiet allows me to observe and hear what is around me – cattle in their paddocks following us with their stares, the towering sound of a skylark somewhere high above us, the high pitched bleats of lambs, and the deep-throated ba-a-a’s of their mums, the blossoming trees alongside the road, a paddock full of alpacas, the rumble of a ride-on mower and the smell of freshly-mown grass. And the pungent fragrance of onion weed which always reminds me of times when spring and the first of the warm weather meant having to swot for university exams – way back when …

Cattle could be crossing here

Flowering cherry trees by the road side (photo by John)

Lambs and their mums

The alpacas were not interested in checking us out

Old sheds are always very photo-worthy (photo by John)

After a lovely flat ride, we turned into Blue Mountains Road for the descent back down to Silverstream. We stopped at a corner to take a photo of the valley below. I wondered what the large complex of buildings below us was. It turns out it was Rimutaka Prison.

Upper Hutt, with Rimutaka Prison in the foreground (photo by John)

We stopped at the Silverstream Bakery for lunch, then biked down the road for a short distance, before crossing Fergusson Drive to get to the Hutt River Trail.

The willows alongside the Hutt River are all greened up (photo by John)

The Hutt River near Stokes Valley (photo by John)

By the time we got back to Petone, where we had parked the car before taking the train, we had biked 48 km. It had been a most enjoyable day.

A last photo on the Petone foreshore (photo by John)

Folding Goldies ride to Te Marua

We were supposed to go for a Folding Goldies ride on Thursday 17 August, but the Met Service had put out a strong wind warning, saying “northerlies expected to rise to severe gale gusting 130 km/hr in exposed places during Thursday”. I didn’t much fancy that, so I emailed Alastair, the leader of the Folding Goldies, suggesting Friday might be a better option. His witty reply on Meet-up was “Given the official advice to tie down trampolines, wheelie bins, and old age pensioners on bikes, we'll change to Friday”. 

The plan was to take the train to Upper Hutt, then bike into the Mangaroa Valley, to Tunnel Gully, and to the Stonestead Devonshire Tea place in Te Marua for tea and scones. Then we would bike back along the Hutt River Trail to Upper Hutt for the train back. Here is the map. 

Sue (our neighbour), John, and I boarded the train in Petone, the others had all boarded in Wellington. There were nine of us, including two new guys, Gordon and George.

Meeting up at Upper Hutt Station (photo by John)

The ride into the Mangaroa Valley was quite steep. Five of us were riding e-bikes and we steamed up the hill OK, but a couple of the others ended up having to get off and walk. 

George and Alastair made it to the top without having to walk (photo by John)

Everyone has caught up (photo by John)

The road down the Mangaroa Valley was pleasantly flat or slightly undulating. At the junction with Maymorn Road, Alastair gave us the choice between staying on the road or going for Tunnel Gully, which was a bit more of a challenge. We opted for the latter.

Maymorn Road or Tunnel Gully? (photo by John)

Near the entrance to the Gully area, there was a very steep gravelly track through bush, which was so steep that even those with e-bikes had to get off and walk.

This bit of track was too steep even for the e-bike riders (photo by John)

We rode on a bush track for a while, and met an amazing sight – some some guys walking a huge number of dogs. I was surprised that not all were on a leash, but they were all very well behaved.

I counted at least 18 dogs! (photo by John)

Traffic jam! (photo by John)

The tunnel was not too long, and John coped OK, though he did have to walk (darkness messes with his balance). At the wrong moment he found that the front light on his bike wasn't working. But the tunnel is short enough to be able to see light at the end of it.

The tunnel (photo by John)

A nice bit of track amongst tall trees

Tunnel Gully Recreation Area (photo by John)

After that, there was a bit more steep, but sealed, road, but then a lovely descent on a good (and quiet) road down to Stonestead at Te Marua, where Kevin Bold runs a great Devonshire Tea house. He has a large selection of teas, a choice of great big sultana, cheese or plain scones, accompanied by cream and a choice of jams (raspberry, apricot or strawberry), or mustard or relish (for the cheese scones). He even caters for the coffee drinkers.

We had our scones and tea at the tables outside. Except Gordon and I had coffee in plungers, and when I went to lift my tray off the counter, I managed to disgrace myself by knocking over Gordon’s plunger. Aargh! Coffee everywhere. Kevin didn't seem to be too fazed, thankfully – he just mopped it up and made another coffee for Gordon.

Tea, coffee and scones at Stonestead (photo by John)

Kevin took this group photo before we continued on our ride

After a pleasant interlude, we biked along the Hutt River Trail to Upper Hutt. There is a section of the track that is being rebuilt, after several floods washed out some of the bank over the last year.

Reconstruction of the river bank track

Before we got to Harcourt Park, we rode past a paddock where a beautiful brown alpaca came bounding over to the fence to say hello. A big sign said “Say hello to Peppy, our friendly alpaca”.

Peppy, the friendly alpaca

After Harcourt Park, three people went off to Upper Hutt station to take the train back to Wellington, and the other six decided to bike back to Petone. Colin and George sped off, and we didn't see them again. Sue and Gottfried, and John and I stayed together.

Near Heretaunga we watched a group of young people involved in a river crossing exercise. And near Lower Hutt, we diverted to Janus Bakkerij for another coffee and scone.

Teamwork to cross the river

For the last stretch back to Petone, Sue, who had been trying to convince Gottfried that he should get an e-bike, got him to swap bikes with her, so he could try an e-bike. A bit of a hassle, as Gottfried’s seat was too high and couldn’t be adjusted down far enough for Sue. So in the end, Gottfried rode Sue’s (full-size) e-bike, Sue rode John’s e-bike, and John rode Gottfried’s bike.

It was quite late by the time we got back to Petone, nearly 5 pm, and we had done 51 km. I was feeling quite tired, so we picked up some fish ’n chips for dinner on the way home.

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Now, the sad story about my “huga huga” bike horn.

On occasion I have said that I would love to have a loud horn on my bike – one of those that goes "huga, huga!" – to warn people walking on the track who don't hear my warning bell when I want to pass, because they have their ear phones plugged in. A nice loud one, that would scare the bejeezus out of them!

Well, I had recently had a birthday, and my daughter had given me a fantastic bike horn – it was gorgeous, with skulls and roses on it. I was utterly delighted.

My beautiful bike horn

John installed it on my handlebar. There wasn’t a lot of room for it, what with the throttle control, the bell, the bike computer, and the front bag. But it looked great, and sounded good. Not quite the “huga, huga!” that I had talked about – more like a “Beep, beep”, but that was OK.

Installed on my bike – there wasn’t a lot of room for it

This ride was its first outing. I showed it off at the station and gave it a few beeps. Then later on, when we had walked up the steep bit before the tunnel, and were regaining our breath, Gottfried gave the bulb a squeeze, and no sound came out! It appeared that the noise maker thingy had fallen out of the trumpet, and was rolling around inside the bulb.

When we got to Stonestead I mentioned it to John, and suggested he take it off, and fix it when we got home. As it happened, he didn't take it off there, which sadly spelled the end of it. Because when I next looked for it, the bulb had fallen off altogether. I think it just got knocked off somewhere along the way, as every time I got on or off the bike, my jacket brushed against the bulb.

What a disappointment! And I hadn’t even been able to frighten one single person with it!

Hutt River Trail

Saturday 4 February was a nice day, though quite windy. Still! Again! We are getting so sick of this wind! But we’ve got to make the most of the few fine days we are getting, so we went for a bike ride up the Hutt River trail. I hoped that it would be rideable, as there had been flooding following the rains on the Thursday.

We parked at Seaview and were amazed at how hard it was blowing. I was concerned for John, but he had his eyepatch on, and sunglasses, and eye ointment, so he said he’d be OK. Because of the fierce headwind, we set the e-assist at level 4.

As we were setting off, we talked briefly to a cyclist who had just come back from doing the track, and asked if the track was clear, in view of the recent flooding. He said that it was OK, though there were a few muddy patches.

After the first rail bridge, there was first an area of deepish sand, and later an area where there was quite a lot of deep gravel, so we had to get off and walk our bikes across these patches.

A large amount of gravel had been washed onto the track

At the Riverside Carpark, the damage was quite severe – whole slabs of tarmac had been dislodged by the floodwaters and dumped meters away.

The floodwaters had washed away slabs of tarmac … (photo by John)

… and deposited them dozens of meters further downstream (photo by John)

A large slab was left on the cycle path

Some chunks of seal and other debris became wedged against these posts

The regular Saturday market was in progress, and with the cycle track damaged at this point, we had to get off and walk through the carpark. The parking area was full up, cars were cruising looking for a park, and people were walking everywhere. Once into the market area, we diverted back onto the track, which from here was surprisingly clear of debris (though not of people). We were quite impressed that the council had cleaned up the track so quickly, as the mess must have been considerable.

As we rode along beyond the market, it was amazing to see how far up the flood had been. The tall grass to the left of us, between the track and the river, was all flattened by the force of the water, and to the right of us, debris had been left many meters away from the riverbank. Whole pieces of tree trunk were stranded against other trees and fence posts. Amongst the trees, some had been bowled over and got jammed against others. Large clumps of vegetation were left hanging in wire barriers in many places.

Vegetation was left hanging in wire barriers … (photo by John)

… and against fence posts (photo by John)

We came across just one quite muddy area, with a large puddle on the track, and a small “lake” beside the track and a boggy area on the other side. Bike tracks on the grass showed where cyclists had tried to avoid the mire. The wind must have dried things up quite a bit, because we were able to stay on the edge of the track – just – without getting slipping or getting stuck.

The boggy bit (photo by John)

We went off to Janus Bakkerij for lunch. We sat outside, near the bikes at first – we like to keep an eye on them – but it was so windy, we moved into the relative shelter of the other outside area. But it wasn't very much better. I had to hold onto the number flag all the time. I made the mistake of standing my glass of water on the base of the flag to stop it blowing over, only for the whole thing to be blown down and the water spilt all over the table. Luckily, the wind dried the water quite quickly, even before our coffees arrived.

We had only done 6.5 km by this time, so I suggested we go bit further until the tarmac ran out. We carried on until the end of the seal, seeing still other areas affected by the flood, and then we turned around, and had a lovely tailwind to take us back to our car again. We did 20 km, not a long ride in my book really, but John had found the headwind quite a trial and was very tired.

On our way back we came across a large flock of Canada geese next to the track (photo by John)

Before heading home, we called in on Wellington Electric Bikes in Petone. John likes to check in every so often to see what is new on the electric cycling scene. Cliff Randall started his venture in a small shop in Cuba Street in 2015, but by the end of last year, he had moved to much larger premises further up the road (55 Cuba Street), with room for dozens of bikes and a workshop. There is now a huge variety of different kinds of e-bikes. They are certainly becoming very popular.

As we were leaving, we met someone with a SmartMotion e20, like ours, and we chatted briefly. He said he was very happy with his bike, and then asked "Are you the couple who write about these online?". Yep, guilty as charged. He said he'd bought his bike on the strength of John's reviews. Yay! We get such a buzz from comments like these. It is so nice to know that people read and enjoy what we write.

Folding Goldies ride to Te Marua

Happy New Year! A bit late in the piece with January three-quarters gone, but oh well, better late than never.

I’ve been very remiss in blogging our rides in the last couple of months. I have four rides to write up – worthwhile ones, that is – and I’ll try to get them written and posted in the next few days. Other short local or repeat rides are not worth writing up.

As I have mentioned before, we’d been limited in our rides by the renovations to our house, and the need for one of us to be around for the tradesmen. I am pleased to be able to say that it was all done, completed, finished with, just over a week before Christmas, and we are very happy with the results. But we are so glad it’s finished at long last, and we have our house back to ourselves.

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On 15 December, we went for a Folding Goldies ride to Te Marua, to sample Kevin Bold’s famous scones at Stonestead Devonshire Teas. The plan was to take the train to Upper Hutt, bike up into the Mangaroa Valley to Tunnel Gully, then over to Te Marua for the scones, and return to Upper (or Lower!) Hutt on the River Trail. Here is the map Alastair provided.

There were only four of us. Since the weather was not looking very promising, several people who had said they would go, piked out. Others were too busy – it was the lead-up to Christmas after all.

I had reservations about the weather too, but we went anyway. To begin with it wasn’t too bad, the rain was just a persistent drizzle, and the wind was not too strong.

So up the hill to the Mangaroa Valley we rode. The road up into the valley is quite a climb, but our e-bikes made it easy. Alastair was also riding his e-bike, but Frank was using just good old-fashioned leg power, and Alastair stayed with him. So when we got to the top, we had to wait for them to catch up.

Waiting for Alastair and Frank (photo by John)

As we pedalled along the valley, I was just starting to think that the weather wasn’t really too terrible, when all of a sudden the rain came down in sheets, and the wind tried to push us sideways. The rain was so bad, I had water streaming into my eyes (not wearing my glasses of course) and I had to keep rubbing my eyes so I could see where I was going.

Grim-faced into the wind … (photo by John)

… and rain (photo by John)

When we got to the crossroads where we would have turned off towards Tunnel Gully, Alastair gave us a choice: “20 minutes, on gravel, through the tunnel to the scones, or stay on the road, skip the tunnel and just 10 minutes to the scones?”. Not a hard decision. Of course we chose to skip the tunnel (John doesn’t like tunnels anyway), and get to shelter from the rain more quickly. By the time we got to Stonestead, we were soaked through.

We had heard from Alastair and other cyclists about this Devonshire Tea House. The scones were a destination in themselves, they said. Kevin, the owner, provides Devonshire teas with scones, jam and cream. No other fare. And he has quite a ritual. Every customer gets their own tray, teapot, cup and saucer, milk jug, a plate with a huge scone and two little dishes for clotted cream and jam.

There was a choice of scones – plain, date, raisin, or cheese – and a selection of home-made jams – strawberry, blackberry or apricot. Or you could choose to have mustard or home-made relish with a cheese scone. Then there was an array of about eight different kinds of tea. When it was my turn, I had to ask what sort of tea he would recommend, as I am not a tea drinker – my usual beverage is coffee – so Kevin said he could make me some plunger coffee. Excellent. The cheese scone and relish went down very nicely too.

Despite the weather, the tearoom was pretty full, so we had to carry our trays upstairs to find a table. What an interesting place! There were several cabinets with displays of fine china tea-sets, as well as, bizarrely, a collection of garden gnomes in two of the wall cabinets.

We each had our own individual trays (photo by John)

Displays of fancy china tea-sets (photo by John)

The wall cabinets had slanted mirrors in them so that you could see the top of the china

A cabinet full of garden gnomes

Having more or less dried out during lunch, we were pleased to find, when we were ready to leave, that the rain had stopped and the sun was making feeble attempts to pierce through the cloud cover.

It had stopped raining when we were ready to resume our ride

We left Te Marua and headed to the River Trail. The section between there and Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt is gravel and quite narrow in places, and it caused John a bit of strife. The track has a drop to the river on the right, and since John now has to wear a patch over his right eye, he has no peripheral vision on that side, which made things a bit more hazardous for him. He had to get off and walk a few times.

Frank and John on the track near Birchville (photo by Alastair Smith)

From Harcourt Park we were on familiar territory, and it was more enjoyable now that the weather was improving.

A dramatic sky, as we cycle towards Silverstream (photo by John)

As we were riding past Riverstone Terraces, John was interested in the slips that had occurred from the terraces above the river. We are not sure if these are the result of the 14 November earthquake, or of the torrential rains the region suffered just two days later. One would hope that houses have not been built too close to the edge of the cliff.

Slips near Riverstone Terraces (photo by John)

We carried on past Upper Hutt to Silverstream to take the train from there. When we got back to our car, parked on the foreshore at Petone, the wind was so strong that I had to hold on to the boot lid with one hand to stop it flapping about, and hold onto one of the bikes with the other hand to stop it blowing over, while John loaded the other bike. Wellington breezes sure pack a punch!

Despite the less than perfect weather, it had been an enjoyable ride. We rode about 28 km.