Road bikes masquerade as mountain bikes

No post yesterday as on an unusual day of sunshine we were trapped in the car driving 500km from Ashburton to Nelson, with 2 hours added to the time as the main coast road is still closed after November's earthquake. It was slow and tedious, despite the scenery and doubly frustrating due to a rare weather window.  We arrived in Nelson at around 4.00pm after 8 hours on the road and then headed straight out to the Tourist Office for information on bike trails etc, followed by the supermarket. We fitted in a walk by the sea, but of course by the time we had arrived here it had clouded up. The accommodation is very smart, and spacious - so staying for three nights will be no hardship. Just as an aside, before I get on to today, I like the way Kiwis get straight to the point. In the UK we see signs for well rotted manure, or horse manure - here you see signs for 'Horse Poo', so no messing around.

Today we woke to warmth but grey skies (just for a change), but light winds for a change. After 2 early starts we had a bit of a lie in and didn't actually leave here until after 10.00am. Our plan was to cycle part of the 'Taste Trail' and call in at one or two of the 25 wineries here (as opposed to the cheeserys, cideries or breweries). As often happens with us things went slightly awry!  We followed the off-road bike path 6 miles to Richmond where we wanted to go to a cycle shop to pump up the tyres to full pressure, also to check the balance on our currency cards - the latter seeming to have about the same  amount of NZDs on them as over a week ago - which given we have used them for all our accommodation and much of our food is a bit puzzling. I was tempted to withdraw it all and disappear!

Anyway I digress (again). We decided we might as well have coffee and cake while we were there, so it was late morning before we were back on the road - which was busier than anticipated so we diverted back on to the Taste Trail, which was no longer Tarmac but mixed gravel, boardwalks, swing bridges and sand. Quite a test for the road bikes and having gone a mere 16 miles we found we either had to get a ferry across one of the many inlets or return the way we had come. Not fancying a second helping of soft sand and tree stumps, we took the ferry (bikes and people only) across to Mapua and reckoned we could make our way back on quiet roads. To be honest it is a miracle we arrived back in Nelson at all - none of our various maps showed all the roads and we had to double back several times, plus ask slightly amused locals where we should go. Let's just say it took us 16 miles to get to Mapua and 30 miles to get back..........Luckily we found a little shop in the middle of nowhere that was able to provide us with our daily fix of ice cream (Tip Top hokey pokey for Jeff's benefit!)

Trying to scrub the dust, sand and flies off my heavily sun creamed legs this evening was a struggle and we still haven't made it to a winery.........Good news is that our motel is situated near to a 'Wellbeing Hub' where some crystal therapy should soon see me right.  Tomorrow we try the wine tour again and will hopefully find out what an 'organic biodynamic grape' might be.

Finally in the ongoing saga of the stroppy car I can report that over the last couple of days one of the ba k doors has refused to stay open and practically took my arm off closing itself on me, while on the other side it has been spontaneously putting the child lock on so that you can't open it from outside.