Short cycle to Karangahake Gorge

 The weather report reckoned there would be rain in the afternoon, so I gathered up all my gear and by 9am, Hennie and me were rolling out of Te Aroha, hoping to get to Karangahake before that rain. (it hasn't arrived yet, so maybe tomorrow we'll get wet!)

The surface of the rail trail was a little looser than yesterday, so I had to pay attention a little more than before.  But the scenery continued the green paddocks and milk cow theme of the past couple of days.  The wind tried to annoy me, but thankfully a lot of the farmers plant wind breaks, so a lot of the trail to Paeroa was quite sheltered.

After an easy 23km we arrived at Paeroa before midday, allowing me one more coffee!  We crossed over  the bridge spanning the Ohinemuri river, bought coffee, then headed off back over the river and onto the Rail Trail, heading off to the East Coast.

We were apprehended by Nan, asking me if I was accepting donations.  It took me a moment to realise she had seen my Great Cycle Challenge t-shirt and wanted to donate to thefundraiser.  I thanked her for the $10 and we headed off in different directions.  

Quickly it became obvious this section of the trail was quite different from the farmlands.  The Ohinemuri River was seriously rippling along, while the pathway was quite high above the river.  But it was still quite flat, which made an easy ride, especially as the wind was now assisting us along.

Before long we arrived at the bridge over the river that led straight into the tunnel.  After a bit of stuffing around I did find the Riverside Accom and although we were really early, my room was available and soon I was having a nice hot shower and luckily there was access to a washing machine and it was soon churning away too.  Bonus!  

After all that, I look a little walk down to the river and checked out the suspension bridge and the old gold mining area.  Very scenic!  but I didn't take my camera, so I used my phone instead - see those images on Instagram...