Length of the South - Day Six

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Route

Loburn to southern entry to St James cycle way

Day 6 Map

Distance: 127    Cumulative: 984


With a bit of bike work required and the long commute it is 1000 hrs before we’re back in Loburn. I have taken the pragmatic course and, apart from a few gravel back country short cuts from Loburn to Amberly, elect to just plug on up the main highways and wash the Canterbury dust from my cycle shoes as soon as possible.

Elegant departure from Loburn

Things go ok until Amberly (25km) where the wind changes to a strengthening headwind. Turning northwest up SH 7 at Waipara (36km) it gets worse and turns into a battle all the way through the low Weka Pass (260m) to Waikari (50km) so a good excuse to stop for a filled roll and ginger beer at the pie shop. Not too long later though it swings to the west and it is a fairly quick trip up to Culverden (76km) arriving around 1400 hrs for an ice cream and cold water. The road is busy with returning holiday makers and it is another scorcher. Last time I came through Culverden on a bike was 26 years ago, but that’s another story.

The final stretch to Hanmer turns more into the wind, but a bit of overcast develops and it cools so is not so bad. The landscape becomes more interesting and just after the turn off SH 7 the Waiau Ferry Bridge provides views up the river and across the Hanmer plains. I’m cruising into Hanmer around 1640 hrs (112km) with the short day having revived energy levels somewhat. After a break it’s a quick scoot over Jacks Pass to the bottom end of the St James, where there is a DoC cottage I have crashed in before (I couldn’t find any references on the DoC website to this as accommodation but there weren’t any signs saying you couldn’t sleep there).

Jacks Pass with Hanmer hidden around the ridge on the left

Sally does a pickup at 1900 hrs, and we return to the more comfortable digs in Hanmer where the operators have relocated us to a cooler room on the ground floor. There’s plenty of time to marinate in the hot pools before a late dinner.

Options

The Okuku Pass options are key determinants on route choice at this point. The obvious option to skip a large section of main road is McDonald Downs and Hawarden however once on the long route out of Okuku Pass, the main road is easiest. I suspect there are some forestry or farm access options that I didn’t identify and the other possibility is to head out to Lake Sumner and hike/bike through to the Lewis Pass Road. It seemed a bit of a risk though (i.e. could be a long bike wrestle) so caution and the main roads won. Worth getting some intelligence on that option though.

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