A pleasant day of mountain biking to Twizel

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The Alps to Ocean cycle trail officially starts at Aoraki (aka Mt Cook) then heads to Ohau, instead I started at Ohau and I am heading up to Aoraki via Twizel. On the information site it is a 38km ride to Twizel.

There is an excellent web site that covers this ride: https://www.alps2ocean.com .  So far, so good, this is proving to be a fantastic ride: thank you New Zealand. 

I have Spot Tracker device which sends out signals to a satellite and onto a web site. Caroline can see where I am and where I have been. It is a great device to keep loved ones with a mind at peace with such assurance when phone is not available and the places are remote.

 This part of the ride takes you past the salmon farms, which I am sure are well guarded despite appearances.

The farmers are quite cooperative by permitting cyclists to pass through their lands.

 It is a largely flat area of country to traverse, but it is made interesting with the addition of brooks and mountain backdrops.

There are many distractions with path alternatives along the way  that will to increase the overall distance to Twizel. I kept to mission without deviation, as I am over big day epics; for a little while anyway.

 
My place of stay was reached at a reasonable hour of just on 5pm. Twizel is not of much interest to me as a town. It’s an ex hydroelectric town and so its character is not that appealing. It does have a bit of history beyond hydro-electicity which may interest others. What it does for me is that it serves as an excellent staging point for many recreational opportunities. 

I stayed here for another day to explore the area.  One thing of note, is how windy it gets along the lake. In the right direction you get a huge boost up o hil and along the flat. Otherwise it’s a real struggle. Remember those lessons at school about anabatic and katabatic winds ?


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