Sunday 6th March

Sunday 6^th March – 6.40pm

What a difference a day makes,  or on this occasion a Rest Day. I woke up this morning feeling completely refreshed despite a night interrupted by frequent heavy rain and the odd earth quake tremor.

Last night as I sat watching a film with Gordon and Michelle there was a big aftershock which measured 4.8 on the richter scale and shook the house for quite a few seconds. A bookcase started swaying next to me and I considered darting under the table as it was way bigger than the 13 aftershocks that I experienced yesterday alone. When a shock hits here, the family rush to their laptops to see what the measurement and location of the shock is on a website www.canterburyquakeslive.com   ( or similar ) which shows the measurements within a few minutes of the shock itself. This 4.8’r was the biggest since the big one on the 22^nd Feb and one of the top 30 in the last couple of years ( out of around 5000). Bet you didn’t think they got that much seismic activity here did you?

Anyhow, I digress. My aim today was to head for a small village called Cheviot on the A1 around 76 miles away. I had a quick breakfast and said goodbye to my excellent hosts, Gordon, Michelle, Sam and Jamie who have really looked after me over the last two days. I then headed back onto the A1 and pointed myself north. Thankfully the first 40 miles today were flat so I flew along. It felt like someone had snuck in and replaced my legs with those of Lance Armstrong during the night as my ankle felt good and there were no aches or pains at all. Even the wind was behind me on occasions which made a nice change.

 I ate up the miles averaging well over 16mph for the first 40 but then it had to go wrong didn’t it. I came to a small range of hills at precisely the same time a storm caught up with me and within 30 minutes I was soaked through despite wearing waterproofs. There was no shelter for 15 miles and no anything for that matter so when I finally found a café I was like a drowned rat.  It continued to pour down for ages so I took shelter for an hour and changed clothes before heading back out into the rain and on to Cheviot.

The hills finally ended,  the sun came out minutes later and finally I was rewarded with some fantastic views as I swept down into the Greta Valley and onto the flat again. In no time I was in Cheviot which is small but very pretty. There are quite a few cafés and a few motels and I pulled into the first one which ended up being rather too expensive for a poor cyclist on a budget. The lady who ran it was great though and organised a room for me further up the road. She even gave me a $10 donation for the charity which I will add to my list. The people really are great here.  I now sit in a small hotel room having hand-washed all my soaked clothes wondering how the hell I am going to dry them before morning.

It seems that I now only have one more night on the South Island as tomorrow I am going to try and make Blenheim which is 120 miles away. Then it is only 25 miles to the ferry at Picton and the official half way point. Tomorrow is going to be a stretch as a mountain range called the “Hundalees” are around 20 miles north of here and the roads are steep and go on for miles. I will give it my best though as to be honest there aren’t many other places to stay. Apart from the famous whale and dolphin watching town “Kaikoura” there is very little in-between.

Today has been great though so if the weather holds tomorrow and I have a southerly wind it could be my biggest day yet and it will keep me on target. Right, I’m off for a beer and to see if there is anywhere I can upload this blog. No tinternet at this hotel !!