Route
Sheffield to Loburn via the Wharfdale track, Lees Valley, Okuku Pass and Okuku Saddle.Day 5 Map
Distance: 112 Cumulative: 857
It’s almost 0800 hrs before Sheffield is disappearing behind. A flock of sheep slows progress briefly and a nose bleed creates a colourful splatter across face, shirt and gloves: great, I look a right sight.
The Wharfdale track is part of the Kiwi Brevet so I’m very interested in seeing what it's like. A group of three mountain bikers pass on the way up to the track, and three or four cars squeeze past. I tag along with the bikers following them through the gates and we chat on the way up the hill. They’re heading through the track and back to Oxford via the Ashley Gorge – it looks like a good round trip.
There’s at least 10 mountain bikers in various stages of preparation at the car park; this track is popular! My bikers stop while I push on, expecting to see them before too long as they are travelling light.
The single track slips into the shade beneath trees and upwards. It is mostly ridable although with touring rig there are a number of spots I choose to push, as I’m not about to kill myself to ride up everything possible. The bush is beautiful and there’s quite a few walking tracks hiving off in various directions.
After a bit of climbing, the track levels and drops through an entertaining section before resuming climbing to the saddle (750m) with a few nasty, rocky, pushy bits. One solo chap passes, I hear voices behind a couple of times and a couple of trampers and bikers come the other way, so it feels fairly populated.
There’s a bit of a grassy flat spot in the saddle but you can rest on the downhill so I continue, as the narrow track sidles and drops with a few washouts and slips to wrestle the bike through. It’s generally pretty good riding, although you have to pay attention and there is a bit of dis- and re-mounting required. There are slot drains, some of which are just a little wide for a 26 wheel; the trick is picking which ones to dismount for.
Just before the hut , I managed to smack my helmet into a fallen tree, breaking the shell and gouging out a chunk of polystyrene. Minutes after, I go over the handle bars and off the edge of the track, whacking a nice wee gash into my already tender right knee. It happens slowly enough to experience that interesting little moment in time when you realise what is going to happen and wonder how much damage you’re about to do to yourself. Should have dropped the seat height and not tried to stop instead of negotiating that drop off …
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| Why I always wear a helmet; that would have poked a hole in my head! |
The hut provides a chance to regroup out of the sun, and swear and bleed for a bit. It’s good and basic but has no rain water tank. The catchment looks pretty good so I fill up at the stream and, as I’m heading out, the three riders turn up. They ask what I think of the track, and I get the impression that at least one of them thinks it is not really an enjoyable ride. Despite the mishaps I’m relishing not being on roads, the cover of the canopy, and just being surrounded by bush.
The track pretty soon leaves the cover, and that’s it for shade for the rest of the day. I chat to a couple of hunters at the road end who are heading into the hut (clearly think we’re mental but too polite to say so), before heading out onto the flats with the other bikers. It’s pretty easy to follow the route if you've looked at the satellite images, although I lead us on a little bit of a long cut trying to follow smoother cattle tracks, rather than a bumpy section of road on a terrace on the true right of the river.
The other bikers head off for Oxford via the Ashley Gorge while I turn left up the Lees Valley. It’s hard going in the heat and most streams are dry. I stop to cool feet and wet my bandanna at one that is flowing, and sit in the Didymo at the edge of the Ashley River to cool down.
Traffic is light and disappears altogether when the road turns into a farm track and a short climb up to the Okuku Pass (630m). It feels pretty isolated now, dropping through a valley to Okuku River. I enjoy another sit in the water, which is warm from flowing across exposed river flats. Although shallow today, it could be a show stopper if you hit it after a bit of rain.
A short climb leads up to Lees Pass (570m), three motor bikes pass from the other direction and we acknowledge each other – I've noticed that when it comes to other road users (excluding cyclists), off-road motorbike tourers seem most likely to interact with you. I’ll not go into detail but you can classify road users and generalise how they will interact (this may also partially answer the question ‘what do you think about on the long straight bits?’).
About a kilometre after Lees Pass the road turns right and there’s a gate on the left. This is the access point to McDonald Downs, the route of the Kiwi Brevet and considerably shorter than the alternatives. I didn't manage to make contact with the farm beforehand, and as the Brevet is coming through soon, don’t want to take any risks around permission (although someone did suggest that there may be a paper road). There are some vehicles near a cottage so I take potluck and head past the warning sign on the gate to see if there is someone to ask permission. Nobody about, so I reluctantly head back to the Okuku Pass Road and a much longer route.
The track winds and drops and climbs through the isolated farmland with the impact of forestry becoming more apparent (Ashley Forest). My trip notes are pretty accurate though, and despite the number of side roads marked on the maps, the main route is pretty easy to follow.
Two issues start becoming problematic: with one less bottle I’m running low on water - all streams have obvious animal exposure, and there’s plenty of heat in the afternoon sun. I fill one bottle with stream water and pop in a tablet as an emergency reserve. The other worry is that a number of splits in the tyres are joining up, resulting in large sections of tread coming loose from the Kevlar canvas. It sounds like someone running down a gravel drive in jandals, and cornering at pace is becoming quite interesting. The Kevlar lining is showing scuff marks and I don’t fancy my chances of completing another 50kms of this terrain on them. As a result, instead of heading to Mt Grey, I exit over Okuku Saddle (600m) and an interesting 300m jandal-slapping descent down the gully to the plains.
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| The jandal slapper! The biggest of a number of rents on both tyres |
All this carry-on is adding even more distance to what has become an extremely long cut. Sally is in Amberly so is able to meet me at Loburn a bit after 1900 hrs, where there are sufficient accommodation options to meet my pick up ‘rules’. However, she has booked a unit in Hamner so a long commute is required.
Lees Valley and Okuku Pass isn't beautiful country; it’s all forestry and farming. It does feel very much off the beaten track though and way more interesting than the endless tarseal of yesterday.
I haven’t covered a lot of distance (and 40km of that was heading south rather than north) and feel at pretty low ebb, what with the heat, dehydration and nausea on top of the physical low point from yesterday and the additional kilometres that the tactical retreat represents. Afterwards I discover that the only photos I have from the day were a couple of unsuccessful shots of two different shaped knees.
At Hamner the motel room has no air con and is like a sauna … still, better than a tree, the hosts are really nice and you can order-in Chinese and pizza.
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