Cycling to Carrick and sharing tales of travel

Tuesday 21 April

A quieter day after Monday’s wonderful drive along half of the Nevis Road. We chilled then got the bikes down and set off for a wee bit of exploration on the bikes. Quartzville Road continues up past Scottland and from our vantage point at the upper end of the camping paddocks we’d see many vehicles heading up along the track.

So we hopped on our bikes to see what was up there. About 500m along we stopped at the gate which opened onto the Carricktown track up to Duffers Saddle (the route we DIDN’T take yesterday) - we took one look at the first 200m or so and decided it was not going to be my kinda thing… 1:10 slope with rainwater gullies running down it and lots of rocks. So we kept on along the Quartzville Road until it ran out at two locked gates! Turned back and I walked my bike gingerly down the hill as my brakes are still a wee bit dodgy, then these guys who had been out on the private land behind the gates came down the track - their dogs were awesome and very keen for pats and scratches! Collies and huntaways and all closely related!

From here we dropped down into Bannockburn and picked up the Lake Dunstan trail round to the Carrick Winery - cycling round the Kawerau Arm of the lake for 3-4kms.

Stopped at Carrick for a late morning snack (ginger crunch for me, cheese scone for Louis) and a nosy around the winery. It's got a great aesthetic and has a whole garden out the back where they grow their own fruit, veggies and herbs. The view over the Kawerau Arm of Lake Dunstan was gorgeous, but we could not be tempted away from the lovely warm fire in the main room!

We cycled back, uphill for most of the way it seems, arriving just as Kendal & Greg got back from their hairy excursion up the Carricktown Track in their Ute… all agreed it was gnarly as hell and not to be undertaken lightly! Love the quirkiness of Bannockburn - one house has a Snoopy mailbox and their neighbours have a rusty old automobile driven by Hallowe'en skeletons on their drive! Cycling back up to Scottland the grader had been through since we left - the ruts were all gone but it was still lumpy in places... hope he will be back to smooth things out.

Spent a lovely hour or two hanging out with them in their caravan, swapping tales of our lives and our travels before they set off for Lowburn and we had a siesta.

After a delicious and somewhat over-budget dinner of pork belly bites, I set to work on finalising my photo selection from the Nevis trip and Louis worked on his Kidds Bush video before we filled a hot water bottle and went to bed - anticipating a near freezing night!