Blow the wind Southerly

Tapawera to Lake Rotoroa (Gowanbridge)
62km
Douglas Adams created a character, a lorry driver who was also a rain god (but he didn't know it...). The clouds loved him and followed him everywhere. He had umpteen words to describe rain (possibly 42, but that might be a different story). I sometimes feel the same applies to me and the wind!
A quick visit to the 4Square and a half dozen yoghurts for brekkie and a couple of jumbo sossie rolls for lunch and we were off. A fresh headwind greeted us as we turned onto Tadmore Valley Road and stayed with us throughout the relentless 30km grind up the Tadmore valley toward the saddle. The valley runs roughly NE-SW, the prevailing wind is from the NW: this wasn't supposed to happen!!
To conserve Marg and her battery (expecting not to be able to charge it at a DOC 'standard' campsite tonight), for a while I was domestique to her chef d'equipe but she soon decided the small benefit of a me-sized hole in the air was not worth the stress of trying to stay on my wheel. We reverted to me riding behind to stay with her until a more significant rise had me grinding my way to the top then catching my breath while waiting for her to join me. We continued this hare and tortoise progress to the saddle summit (sadly, unmarked) where I very considerately laid out our bountiful lunchtime spread ready for Marg's arrival.
The promised 'sweeping descent' into the Hope valley proved to be the occasional freewheel followed by pedalling stoically into the wind. On joining SH6 it was more of the same, with the added frisson of 100kph traffic and a very narrow shoulder. Only one toot though, which I generously interpreted as a greeting. As Marg commented, we did not expect to be dropping gears to pedal downhill!
By this time we were not at all looking forward to the climb up to Lake Rotoroa, which on paper looked steeper than Tadmore. Then we turned the corner, crossed the bridge...and it was easy; the wind was now behind us! Yayyy! We were both happy to use power now, as Marg had only dropped 1 bar (of 5) on her battery and I'd hardly turned mine on. Fantastic views in all directions, very easy to take in at bike speed. One last little push and we passed the incongruous 50kph sign and saw the flag for the Gowan Bank Cafe and Backpackers. I swung into its driveway, primarily to check the opening time for tomorrow's breakfast, and the sign read 'OPEN'. Great, we may be able to get a feed here I thought, rather than cooking up dehydrated 'beef teriyaki' (with added sandflies) which typically consists of cardboard and salt, in this case with 'soy flavour'! 
A voice from inside confirmed that it was indeed still open. Even better the response to Marg's hopeful but unexpectant question , 'Have you had any cancellations for tonight?' was 'Yes'. What followed was described by Marg as like coming home to your mum after a tough day.
 'Here's where you can put your bikes, do you have insect repellent on? No? Get inside quick and sort yourselves out. I'll find you an extension cord to charge your batteries. What are you doing for dinner? Would you like me to put together a salad to have with that? Can I get you a meal? What would you like? What time? Is 6 o'clock OK? I'll bring it to you at 6 then.'
So, we're not camping with the sandflies tonight, we're in an ensuite studio unit with 6 beds, all to ourselves. Lovely hot shower, insect repellent applied, bikes locked, battery on charge... Marg was wondering aloud whether we could buy a soft drink to go with dinner, to which I wondered if we could buy a beer, when dinner arrived...with the offer of a complimentary beer each! When they arrived, the comment was 'it's one each but there's only three so you may as well have them all. What are you doing for breakfast? Would you like cereal or cooked? Cooked is bacon, egg, sausage, tomatoes, hash-brown...' A truly wonderful hostess (Louise) who genuinely seems to enjoy looking after her customers. If you're down this way it's well worth a small detour to visit and pay it forward. We'll certainly do so...

Comments

  1. Andy and I enjoyed a lovely coffee/lunch break here, prior to the Braeburn Saddle...and she doled out the homemade sandfly repellent (Dettol and something else!) You lucked out there!👍

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