Mad dogs and...

Gill's notes:

Bad cold! Am. Blue sky, warm. Cycle trail - got bikes at Clyde trail hire place - v. busy. Trail was stoney - not easy pedal. Trail flat and strait to Alexandra. Pm. Hot and sunny. No lunch places at Alexandra. v. hungry & thirsty. Relieved to get back. Stayed in motel. Cooked tea. Nose...yuk!!

The fact that Gill posted on FB that we had a 'fabulous day' is a tribute to her positivity and spirit. She was not at all well. There was a big group being kitted up when we arrived at the cycle hire place so it was late morning before we set off. Perfect timing for the short ride to Alexandra to find somewhere for lunch.

That proved trickier than we had anticipated. On Sunday everywhere in the place was closed, shops, cafes, nowhere to buy a snack at all. Even the streets seemed utterly deserted. 

Sunday closing is a thing of the past back home, apart from in the Outer Hebrides where the shadow of 'the Kirk' still benights the local culture. Driving through Otago and Southland you are struck by the number of Scottish place names - Clyde, Bannockburn, Ettrick, Roxburgh - maybe a 'wee free' influence remains around here. Anyway, whatever the reason the result was that we set-off down the train on an empty stomach and with only one small bottle of water between us.

The Otago is an alluring mixture of what in Europe would be regarded as garrigue interspersed with orchards and vineyards. 

By mid-afternoon the sly had cleared and the temperature notched up into the low thirties. The landscape waas beautiful but the trail itself somewhat monotonous, long straight sections, not steep but a series of steady somewhat exhausting inclines, made all the more challenging as the surface was loose grit. It was hard going, we reflected that our e-bikes had turned us into softies, effortless cycling is what crave these days!

The trail was well signed; we reached a waymark telling us we had travelled 7 miles from Alexandra, it had seemed further. Still, a 14 mile round trip from Alexandra, and with the hire centre five miles beyond on the outskirts of Clyde  amounted to a ride of 24 miles in total - quite enough without food, limited water, 30 degree heat and one of the party suffering from a nasty cold. We turned around.

It was good we did. About two miles from Clyde it struck me that I had not heard Gill behind me for a while. I stopped for a minute, she did not appear. I rode back-up the trail and found her half a mile behind sitting in the shade of a tree. She was not feeling at all well, somewhat faint, a thumping headache, nauseous. There was an inch of water left in the bottle in my rucksack, after sipping some and resting for a while Gill recovered slightly, but did not feel up to cycling. We walked the bikes up the trail for ten minutes or so, then she re-mounted and we made it back to the cycle hire place after  a few minutes. 

 What we needed was something to eat and drink. We drove into Clyde village centre. Like in Alexandra most places seemed to be closed on Sundays, but we found a small cafe/bar that seemed to be serving. Sadly they had finished for lunch but after we explained we had not eaten since breakfast somewhat grumpily they heated-up two elderly slices of quiche in the micro-wave. It was the only time in New Zealand we has felt less than welcome and were on the receiving end of poor service.

As soon as we got back to the hotel we cracked open two bars of chocolate, after our exertions our blood sugar levels needed urgent attention, well, that was our excuse.

We don't eat much chocolate at all these days which means when we do we only eat the best. No Cadbury's for us! One thing you can rely on in New Zealand is the quality of the food. You can get Lindt at a price, but  New Zealand's own chocolatiers  -Whittakers - is as delicious. A conversation ensued, is New Zealand the most civilised place we have ever visited? At the time, and maybe even now, we can't think of anywhere better, places yes, but not entire countries.