83.5 miles, 2398’ climbing
Lodging: Pedlar’s Hotel, Paeroa
Weather: Overcast / light rain
We woke up early and had a great breakfast at our Auckland hotel, but getting out of town was stressful. We were headed directly into the sun, so our tail lights wouldn’t be visible, and there was a lot of traffic with no bike lane. Also there seem to be a lot of dump trucks, many pulling a trailer. Thankfully we turned onto a gravel trail through a park after a while, and soon we were out of town.
The Hunua Traverse route is currently closed, so we headed for the coastal alternate, only making one wrong turn. The cycling was all on pavement, humid and warm but with breezes and few climbs. We stopped for a coffee after Clevedon, then followed a short section on gravel trails thru tidal flats. In Kaiaua we had been recommended to get fish and chips, a great lunch break. As we continued onwards, it rained lightly. We followed some canals away from the coast, all paved until we got on a gravel trail for the last couple miles into Paeroa where we booked into the Pedlar’s hotel. We saw fellow brevet rider, Andy, on the main street.
It’s sometimes hard to remember we are in NZ, cycling through rural farm areas it often feels like we could be in a lot of similar places in the US.
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