Day 9 – Roxburgh Gorge Trail – Clyde to Roxburgh Village

 

The Ladder

I had an early start this day due to a need to replace a  tyre for the bike and see if they could do some quick adjustments to the gearing.  The previous day, I had managed to talk with a bloke at Cycle Surgery in the Clyde township about getting the bike fixed . Fortunately he said he could do it but asked that I be there at 7:30am. 

 

Rain was forecast for the day and sure enough it was raining when I ventured out into the gloom of the day.  The bike mechanic managed to find a tyre for the bike and then quickly put it on and  made a few adjustments to the derailleur.  He said it was a bit of temporary fix so it might not work brilliantly.  As it turned out I had problems with the gears all day especially when needing to change them quickly.

 

We had to be at a location by 1pm called Doctors Point about ten kilometres into the gorge so I worked out what time we had to leave to get there with a bit of time to spare but not so much that we would be standing around in the rain.  ( Doctor’s Point was so called we found out after a fellow who set himself up to supply alcohol to the workers in bygone days).

 

Our supplied breakfasts were not that great at the CDB studios so we thought we would treat ourselves to breakfast at a cafe.  We had spied a nice one where they had good coffee but it was not open, due, we think, to filming next door for the “Under the Vines” second TV series.  Instead we had a reasonable breakfast across the road at Olivers Café.

 

Getting ready to film

We first detoured to the car to leave my backpack there as we no longer needed it.  We then headed along the River Trail which was a delight to ride.  You can go quite fast but it is varied in terrain and really interesting.  Bev was on steroids doing it and I could barely keep up with her.  As she said this was her sort of terrain that she enjoyed the most. 

 

Along the River Trail

Then it was on to the Roxburgh Gorge trail.  It was a nice wide trail for the most part but there was a significant amount of climbing.  Nothing like the Dunstan Trail yesterday, but significant all the same.  The rain that we endured, which was non-stop, did not help as it made the track quite slushy. Consequently it was probably more work to cycle than when it is dry.  There were some narrow bits as well.  It was a wonderful challenge especially in the wet. 

At the beginning of the Roxburgh Gorge Trail - a bit damp

 

One of the switchback climbs

We arrived at the boat jetty (Doctor’s Point) with about 10 minutes to spare.  However, the jetboat was a little late so we waited in the very cool rain and chatted with a fellow cyclist  (about the only one on the trail today other that two young men who looked like they were doing some serious biking and in a different league to us). She coincidentally was a Brit also living in Wellington.  She had cycled the Old Ghost Trail, which is an advanced grade,  so clearly she had strong legs and good endurance.

 

The boat arrived and our driver treated us to a history of the gorge and pointed out the huts the gold miners had built in the 1800s made out of an abundance of schist rock found in the area.  What a very tough life it must have been pursuing gold.  With the rain and sitting around it became very cold and we were pleased to be deposited at Shingles Creek from where we resumed our ride.  The reason for the gap in the trail is because one very grumpy farmer believed that riders would disturb his stock if allowed to do so, and therefore  failed to grant consent to cross his land.  Consent however may be given in the future though because there is a tenure review about to happen.  Nonetheless the jetboat ride was a great experience providing history about the area that we would otherwise not have known.

An abandoned house from the gold rush days.  It was tiny!

Being friendly

Our ride down the river

From Shingle Creek we headed along the shore of the lake for a kilometre or so and then we started climbing.  It felt like we continued to do so for much of the latter part of the ride.  We would ride a kilometre or so of relatively flat trail and then there was more climbing.  There is a part of the trail called The Ladder which is series of switch backs that looked a bit daunting from the distance but it was a relief to find that the gradient was  gentle and the corners reasonably wide.  Then all of a sudden we were at the top and the end of the trail. 

 

We were heading that way mostly along the top

I didn't quite capture the colours

More of the track.

Our accommodation was in Roxburgh Village, the old village that was built for the workers on the Roxburgh Hydro project.  It was all downhill from there to our destination and as we went down the road we both commented that it would be a nasty start to the next day to have to ride back up again. 

 

We  arrived looking very bedraggled and were greeted by our host who provided us with a very comfortable room.  Before settling in,  we hosed ourselves and the bikes down as they were covered in grit and mud from the surface of the trail. 

 

We had a very nice simple but tasty meal at the lodge. 

 

I was quite tired by the end of that ride, more so than the Dunstan trail. 

 

Distance ridden: 45 kms