Lunch in Coominya

 The sun was shining - though the wind was icy - when we headed off to the south.  As usual, the trail is a wide and wonderful path in the town but it immediately reverts to a gravelly two-wheel track, large pieces of gravel pinging out from under the tyres.   We had been thinking of getting to Lowood, but once on the rough path, I could see that the extra 12km (24km on return) would mean we would be getting back to Esk a little too late, so I decided that we would turn around at Coominya.

Going south meant that the trail generally was a slight downhill most of the way.  There was a bit a climb to get up to the top of the ridge of Mount Hallon.  But after that, I coasted most of the way into Coominya.  But I could see that there was going to be a bit of grind on the way back to Esk.

There were 4 non-bridges to cross various little creeks.  By non-bridge I mean there's the old railway bridge, but they are deemed unsafe as there is no floor over the bridges, so there's a steep track down to the creek bed and a very steep climb up the other side.  I remember really struggling with a loaded Hennie when I rode the complete length of the Trail in 2017.  So it was a little disappointing to see these bridges are still not made safe for cycling or walking.  I ditched Roxy out of her basket to lighten my load to get Hennie up the other side.  I kept thinking of all those old railway bridges I rode over on the Central Otago Rail Trail.  Maybe one day....

Roxy loves getting out onto the trail to trot along ahead of me as if she's showing me the way.  At first she gallops along, but once she starts to slow down, I stop and put her back into the basket.  Often she gets a tad cranky but today she seemed to take a lot more notice of what was happening.  

As expected, the return ride was a bit of a grind for sure, but eventually we were on top of that Mt Hallon ridge, which meant that it was basically downhill back into Esk.  It was good to actually have a good ride even though it had moments where I cursed the rough track.  I spied groups of little Red-backed wrens, which I don't see on the Island.  At one orchard the sound of rainbow lorikeets was almost deafening as they fussed in the small custard apple trees.  Of course there's the usual birds but there's always a few calls that I have no idea whose making them, nor able to see who's making them.

All in all, a fun day of being out on a bike with ya dog!