Vinegar Hill to Palmerston North

Monday March 19, 2018, 39 miles (63 km) - Total so far: 4,409 miles

(7,095 km)

We awoke to frost! We’d both been chilly in the night too - a taste of things to come. We had a very slow start as the tent was extremely soggy, and Ed wanted to dry it out. After hearing fairly regular traffic passing on SH54, we were a little apprehensive, but actually we saw few vehicles during our time on it. Another highly scenic day! More hills of course - the road undulates immediately, with three reasonable climbs…..but that's just the warm up. Riding up to Stormy Point lookout felt like a proper hill - Ed deemed it a ‘cracking climb’ which is usually a bad sign ;) Wonderful views over to Mt Ruapehu, with cool river terraces in the foreground. Quite something.

We did deviate from the 54 when we could, but it probably wasn't necessary. The whole ride was great until we entered Feilding…..we headed out of the town on what looked like a small road on the map, but it was horrendous! We do NOT recommend taking Campbell road / Railway road! An ad hoc deviation was required.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1460373645

We shopped in Palmerston North (pleasant and leafy) before heading to the campsite. There's a nice tent space away from the vans etc, although right behind the cabins which are currently full of teenage volleyball teams - apparently the national championships are happening in Palmy! Big kitchen although zero utensils, and you have to rent a fridge (only 60c though).

We've bumped into the lady we met in Whanganui (who I think is called Sophie) once again, so it's been great to chat to her. She's following the Tour Aotearoa route, so took an extra day to get here. She says the route is great, but some is off road so you'd need a mountain bike.