TA Day 29 - Queenstown to Mossburn

 72.9 miles, 8 of that on a boat, 2657’ climbing

Lodging: Mossburn Railway Lodge

Rain

It was raining as we readied ourselves in the morning. After a croissant and instant coffee in our room, we rode down to the O’Regan’s wharf in full rain gear to meet our boat with skipper Neville from Queenstown boat charters. Tony, Andy, Graham, and Peter, fellow TA riders we’ve been seeing most days, met us there to share the cost of the boat which could ferry 6 bikes. We loaded our bikes for our 30 minute cruise across the lake to Walter Peak. Neville said that the lake is natural and is 1500m deep. We were dropped at a dock in front of what appeared to be an upscale lodge. Another boat unloaded some cyclists at the same time. There are a bunch of us with a 30 day finish goal on about the same pace.

For a couple of hours the rain would lift and come down harder as we contoured around low, grassy and scrubby hills. There was one longer climb, but mostly it was easy riding until we reached a grassy plateau. There the wind was in our faces with some rain mixed in, requiring effort although the road was flat. We passed a lot of cows and sheep, some beautiful large trees, and we braved a couple of creek crossings. The rain finally relented, but it was a bit of a grind across a road with a lot of loose gravel and some washboard. We had hoped to take it easier today, but it wasn’t working out that way.

Finally we turned off onto a cycle track that was mostly a slight downhill. It followed a river somewhat, traversing around the boundaries of a number of farms. After 25km, we arrived to more rain and a double rainbow in Mossburn. The old railway hotel is a charming old brick hotel, and all our fellow cyclists on our pace are here. It has a bar and a good restaurant and a host with a lot of character.

Tomorrow will be our big day to the end of the TA though there are options if we are tired to stop early. It feels strange to be coming to the end, but we look forward to some days off the bikes.