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 – Whiteman’s Valley

I’m getting very much behind on my blog posts. I must write up our last Folding Goldies ride, as the invitation for the next ride has already arrived in our inbox. So here goes …

On Wednesday 7 June, the Folding Goldies ride took us to Whiteman’s Valley. Alastair, the organiser, described the ride like this, on Meet Up: “Whiteman's Valley is one of the nicest rides in the Wellington region – the word 'bucolic' was invented for places like this”.

The weather had not looked promising all week, but on the day, it was OK-ish. Still overcast, but at least not raining. As the day wore on, more and more blue sky appeared, and while riding down the valley it was actually sunny. But it was COLD!

We took the train to Wallaceville from Petone. Alastair, Nigel and Colin were on the train already. Doff and Neil met us at Wallaceville. They live in Waikanae, so they drove down to meet us at the station.

Waiting for the train at Petone (photo by John)

We all met up at Wallaceville Station – from left: Nigel, Désirée, Neil, Doff, Colin, Alastair
 (photo by John)

From Wallaceville, it was straight up the hill towards Whiteman’s Valley. On our e-bikes John and I got there well before the others, so we had to wait for them to catch up.

Wallaceville Road is quite steep in places (photo by John)

All caught up (photo by John)

The valley is lovely but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had on previous occasions – mainly because it was so cold. Also, when you are talking with others, and keeping a look-out for them, you don't take quite so much notice of the surroundings, or get as much enjoyment from them.

Doff on Whiteman’s Valley Road. The sky gradually cleared from grey to a more pleasant blue
 (photo by John)

John and Neil. Note John’s two cameras, one on his handlebar, and one underneath his saddle
 (photo by Alastair Smith)

As we rode past, we got a whiff of the distinctive, somewhat sour smell emanating
from the polythene-wrapped bales of silage (photo by John)

Whiteman’s Valley Road comes to an end at the junction with Johnsons Road and Blue Mountains Road. The Short Straw Café on Johnsons Road was not open, so we hurtled down Blue Mountains Road to have lunch at the Silverstream Bakery and Café at the bottom. Riding down the hill – for about 7 km – was great, but very hard on my gammy hands, as I have to bring my thumbs around on the handlebar so I don't loose my grip on the brakes, but I can't keep that position for very long – it hurts!

At the bottom of the hill (photo by John)

Lunch at the bakery was very pleasant – as Alastair said “It’s another place to put on our Folding Goldies’ list of cafés”.

Lunch at the Silverstream Bakery and Café (photo by John)

Afterwards, Alastair and Nigel took the train back to Wellington, Doff and Neil took the train back to Wallaceville (where their car was), and Colin, John and I rode down the Hutt River Trail back to Petone, where we had parked the car. All up, we did about 38 km. Colin, however, decided he would ride home from there, all the way to Titahi Bay. Fortunately he was riding an e-bike.

It was very, very cold coming down the Hutt River Trail, as the southerly had got up. I never warmed up all day, until I had sat by the heater at home for half an hour with a hot cup of coffee in my hand.

Folding Goldies ride – Whiteman’s Valley

On Friday 6 November we went on another Folding Goldies ride. Originally the ride was to have taken place on the Wednesday, but the forecast for that day was so horrible – rain and gale force southerlies – that we decided to postpone until Friday. It was a good call.

Wednesday was truly dreadful. I felt sorry for Prince Charles and Camilla, who arrived in Wellington, in a howling southerly gale and freezing driving rain, for a week-long official visit to New Zealand. Poor Camilla, who apparently fears flying, having to land in a Wellington gale! Anyone who has ever flown into Wellington on a windy day knows what a bumpy landing that can be. And not only that, but hardly anybody was interested in their visit, as NZ was still much more preoccupied with the return of the All Blacks from their exciting Rugby World Cup win. They were being feted in a victory parade in Auckland, and most of Wellington’s general public would have been glued to their TV sets watching the All Blacks and not the royals.

By contrast, Friday was a beautiful day – sunny, mild and just a very light breeze. Perfect for a bike ride. The plan was to take the train up to Wallaceville (just before Upper Hutt) and from there, ride up Wallaceville Road into Whiteman’s Valley.

Whitemans Valley

When we rode in the Mangaroa Valley to test the eMetro bike a couple of weeks ago, we decided the area was worth exploring further, so on Thursday we went for a great ride in Whitemans Valley, in the hills to the east of Upper Hutt.

It was a beautiful day, with a dying southerly. We parked the car at the Petone foreshore, and took the e-bikes on the train from Petone to Upper Hutt.

The dying southerly still churns up the waves at Petone

From Upper Hutt we rode up Wallaceville Road, which is reasonably steep, and from where there is a good view over Upper Hutt. From the top of the road, the terrain flattens out onto a couple of delightful valleys.

View to Maidstone from Wallaceville Road (photo by John)

Whitemans Valley from the top of Wallaceville Road (photo by John)

At the end of Wallaceville Road, the road splits – the left, across the bridge, leads to the Mangaroa Valley (which is where we went a couple of weeks ago), and the right heads into Whitemans Valley.

Mangaroa Valley to the left, Whitemans Valley to the right (photo by John)

Whitemans Valley is flat and pleasantly rural, the road is virtually straight, with the occasional wriggle, and there is hardly any traffic. I think there were only two or three cars in an hour of cycling.

The silence is almost complete. At one point, when I was waiting for John to take a photo, it was so quiet, that I could hear the soft tugging sounds of the cows cropping the grass. The only other sound was a distant rooster crowing. How blissful!

The road is almost straight … (photo by John)

… and pleasantly rural (photo by John)

A brightly clad scarecrow stands guard (photo by John)

Along the way we saw a great variety of livestock: apart from several herds of cattle – Jersey dairy cows and Angus beef cattle, from what I could figure – we saw goats, donkeys, horses, sheep, and alpacas. The pair of white goats in a paddock were probably pets, as they came towards the fence, bleating in expectation of some treat. Unfortunately there was a ditch between us and the fence, and we didn’t have anything for them anyway.

Cows are lovely, intensely curious, as they stop grazing and follow you with their big brown eyes. As for the alpacas, they too came towards us, eyed us with interest, then wandered off. They are quite delightful creatures with their upright posture, beautiful eyelashes, and dainty way of walking.

After checking us out, the alpacas daintily wandered off (photo by John)

Down the road from the alpacas, we came by a shearing shed with a corrugated iron shape of an alpaca on the wall, and further down still, we were overtaken by a car with the number plate “ALPACA”.

The alpaca shearing shed (photo by John)

Lovely Whitemans Valley Road (photo by John)

After about an hour’s cycling we arrived at the turn-off to the Short Straw Café, a short distance up Johnsons Road, where we stopped for lunch. Then we returned to the Hutt Valley by the Blue Mountains Road. We were overtaken by a few cars, so we donned our hi-viz vests, in preparation for the winding downhill road.

On Blue Mountains Road we donned our hi-viz vests (photo by John)

Three kilometres of lovely downhill into Pinehaven (photo by John)

The lovely wooded downhill road took us into Pinehaven, and eventually to Silverstream. From there we rode along the main road as far as the Stokes Valley roundabout, where we joined the Hutt River Trail, and headed back to Petone.

This had been a really lovely 44 km ride. The weather was perfect, and Whitemans Valley is quite delightful. We are bound to do this ride again, perhaps using the regular folders, rather than the e-bikes. We could tackle it from the other end, and go up Mangaroa Hill Road, which is not as steep as Wallaceville Road, to get to the Mangaroa Valley, and then into Whitemans Valley.

We think it might be a suitable ride to suggest for the Folding Goldies group.