Late the night before leaving Reefton for the trip back to Nelson and the airport, I decided that was a silly and wasteful idea when I could go riding on the Old Ghost Road again. With the weather due to close in over the weekend, Rachel was keen to make the most of a sunny Friday – so off I rode thirty kilometres north to meet near Inangahua. There may have been pies for second breakfast at the recently reopened store.
Ditching the overnight gear from my bike, for the second time in the (non-)working week I was riding up to Lyell Saddle in excellent weather. A good pace was set, it was just as well I didn’t have the need to stop all the time and take photos. There were some big groups on the trail and we chatted to many of them, especially at the first hut – where we enjoyed a long snack break in the sun gazing over the south branch of the Mokihinui.
Things looking familiar indeed, I’m unsure one could tire of these views.
Out of the trees and onto the tops, for a change there was someone on a bike to snap pictures of.
The judicious use of fencing certainly helps make some of the riding less nerve wracking.
Reaching the highpoint, the snow had cleared from earlier in the week and the trail was all rideable.
Murchison can just be seen left of centre; my route there after the descent would far more circuitous.
Yes, it’s not just my bike escaping for these trips without me.
I’ve had far worse lunch spots.
Nothing for it but two hours of downhill on the gentle gradient we’d just climbed. Much fun and I didn’t ache too much from having no suspension. While I missed riding over Maruia Saddle, which is ever so pretty, it could hardly be said that I missed out with the Ghost Road day-trip option! Now I just had to finally start making my way back home. The thirty-five kilometres to Murchison started off lumpier than I was expecting, I may have been a bit lethargic from the previous two days of singletrack.
But it flattened out and I arrived in plenty of time to restock for the ride to Nelson, have dinner, find and check-in to the wonderful Riverview Holiday Park – where I bumped into Mike the Scout, whose house near Nelson I stayed in on my Tour Aotearoa almost five years ago. Much bikepacking talk ensued before I finally went to sleep in my wee cabin thoroughly satisfied with an unexpected day. It’s hard not to love the Old Ghost Road, and it’s definitely better with company.