Day 41: Havelock to Picton

After relatively quiet night we woke a little bit early. Breakfast and packing up went as usual and we were off. Right out of Havelock was a gentle climb for the first 4km to a view point at the top. However the trees have grown over the years leaving the viewpoint much less panoramic that it used to be.

The sounds we were traveling along were forest covered from top to bottom where they dipped in to teal blue water. It was a very nice quiet ride after the large highway from yesterday. While descending the other side it was a very slight downhill it at 1-2% grades the whole way. We passed by another set of tourists but didn’t get to chat.

Then there was a nice period of flat with a strong tailwind blowing us along before we ended up back in the sounds climbing around each one and descending in to the bays on the other side. It was a very nice ride, but a little bittersweet as each km brought us closer to finishing.

Finally we hit the last big climb up and started descending towards Shakespeare Bay, around it, and then paused for lunch at a viewpoint near the Picton Port. We saw the Inter Islander Ferry pull in and watched it load up, it is a giant boat, the semi-trucks just drive right on to it. After lunch and a brief climb we made it in to Picton.

We pedaled around a bit trying to find accomodations as several were full but we finally made it to a motel where someone had just canceled so we filled the spot. We got checked in, showered, and went out.

Walking around Picton we paused for a snack from the local ice cream shop. We had a policeman’s dream sundae, it was a scoop of ice cream, 6 fresh made doughnut holes, whipped cream, and fruit sauce drizzled over it. Yum. A bit of shopping for trinkets and walking around before we settled down for the night.

Tomorrow we will ride to the train station and head back to Christchurch then ride to our hosts house for two nights before flying back.

Distance: 37.78km

Time: 2:41

Average: 14.06kmh

Max: 43.38kmh

Climb: 548m