The rest of my plan to visit family on the outskirts of Wellington involved leaving Martinborough after an early breakfast and riding to Waikanae over the Rimutakas and then the Akatarawas. From Martinborough it was flat roads for over twenty-five kilometres with a helpful wind at my back.

My route over the hills involved getting back on the Rimutaka Cycle Trail – a long established rail trail, I knew this wasn’t going to be too steep. However, the eastern side is much steeper than most railways – there was some fascinating rail history to read about trailside as the hills were not conducive to ordinary steam engines. Instead, up the steep Rimutaka Incline, Fell Engines had to be used as the gradient for three miles was one in fifteen. The Fell system was the first to use a third rail for braking or traction – wheels were pressed horizontally on either side of the centre rail when required. This steepness of the trail made it slightly harder work than a normal rail trail – but nothing compared to what I’d been riding recently, so it was nice to not be only very gradually climbing.

I wound my way up, stopping to read the interesting information panels and look out across the rugged hills lined with native bush. The day warmed and was quite humid, but the going was hardly tough. A few tunnels on the trail provided relief from the humidity and bright day – I was glad I had my light for the almost-six hundred metre long Summit Tunnel. From there it was, of course, a long gentle downhill (the Fell system wasn’t used on the western side of the Rimutakas as the gradient was easier) and as I approached the highway I began to come across a few day-trippers on foot or bikes.

After a brief spell on the highway, I was happy to see the only shop of the day & stopped for a pie and some crisps and wondered how long it would take me to get over the Akatarawas. Home of the longest running mountain-bike event in the Southern Hemisphere, the Karapoti Challenge, (which I’ve done a couple of times, before I went overseas), I knew these hills were big and demanding. But this time I was just riding the road to get to the Kapiti Coast – a skinny, twisty road that plenty of people warned me would be no fun on a bike with the traffic to deal with. As it turned out, it was a very pleasant ride – none too steep, consistently climbing, very little traffic in the middle of a sunny day and more native forest to look at and hide in the shade of.

The view from the summit wasn’t quite as spectacular as I’d been hoping.

Defying all Google predictions, I was in Waikanae within six hours of leaving Martinborough without really working that hard at all. It was fun to catch up with my aunt Trish and see her new place – she’s recently made a big move south and is now much closer to her daughters and their grandchildren. It was a little odd seeing my cousin Anna after about fifteen years, but well worth it & enjoyable. Thinking two sub-hundred kilometre bikepacking days in a row was a little poor, I rode up State Highway One and back again (not a particularly enjoyable experience – I never felt in danger, but the traffic is just so loud & unpleasant) to visit school-friend Kelly and meet her daughter – things have changed a fair bit for Josh & Kelly since I saw them in London last.

The following day, not wanting to ride noisy highway all the way back to Wellington, I caught the train back. I was surprised to be impressed by a NZ rail service – but it was new, clean, prompt & with plenty of room for bikes. Before long I was back in Karori watching the few days of clear weather disappear (I timed my little visiting cycle tour well) as the clouds, wind & rain rolled in.