BP = birthday party/bikepacking/me – take your pick. I needed a tag anyway for over a week of leisurely touring up the West Coast’s long mountain bike trails – Paparoa, Old Ghost Road and Heaphy – so that will do. Lucking out with grand late-winter weather meant that Pete’s plan came off well and all … Continue reading Almost 40 BP Trip
Our hut-buddy kept Perry Saddle hut insanely warm all night, nice to get up to a not-freezing hut on a grey morning. It looked I might have to don my raincoat for the second day of the trip – but the rain abated just enough to start climbing to the high point of the track … Continue reading A40BPT8 – Perry Saddle to Rameka
Twenty-three kilometres! Easily my shortest day of bikepacking yet. It was utterly fantastic; such a luxury to take our sweet time through the deserted Heaphy – we saw no-one else on the track all day. Hand scribbled notes and maps in James Mackay hut told of a short track up the hill behind. On a … Continue reading A40BPT7 – James Mackay to Perry Saddle
After all the food we’d eaten in Karamea, I’m wondering how we even managed to leave at nine o’clock. Overnight rain had gone, so our purple patch of late-winter weather continued with a slight breeze helping us north during forty-five minutes of flat road. With timings and weather not throwing any spanners in our plans, … Continue reading A40BPT6 – Karamea to James Mackay hut
