Lost in Mangaweka. Below: Snoozing on the Gentle Annie
JANUARY 10 A good, solid, picturesque and uneventful ride to Picton, onto the ferry and a smooth crossing to meet up with my companion rider, Lance Roskilly, who rode down the North Island west coast to meet me. We had plans to do some exploring all the way up the east coast with side journeys, averaging 400km a day. That evening we stayed with a fabulous French couple Marc and Isobel, and ate and drank like kings. Lance was riding his recent acquisition, a silver 15-year-old fully-faired BMW K1200. Lance was head mechanic for BMW for many years so he can make anything work.
sheep to be transferred, but the weather was good and 40 winks in the long grass at the side of the road was quite welcome. After that, the Gentle Annie was empty, fast and flowing, living up to the hype as we sped along over the Kawekas,‘ til we reached the point at which Lance thought he was originally going to camp for the night. With nothing there but camp ground, we pushed on to a campsite
JANUARY 11 Waving goodbye to our wonderful hosts, Marc and Isobel, we had an exceptional run on back roads all the way from Wellies over the Remutakas, in and out of little towns, Ashurst and Kimbolton and Rangiwahia, and on through fantastic gorges and limestone cliffs, with not a soul on the roads. Playing on those back roads behind Mangaweka, we laughed at the sheer fun of finding such superb riding, unbelievably fun places- almost lost … and loving it. We made it to Taihape for coffee, happy and tired, before spinning onto the Gentle Annie. We were held up for an hour, waiting for some
KIWI RIDER 97