Day 14 Canvastown to Wakfield - 83 km, 1343 m



 The  Mangatapu Saddle I do not need to ride again. Twice I have ridden/walked it and with gradients of up to 25 degrees on the downhills and 13/15/17% on the uphills it makes for a challenging outing (note I didn't say ride as some of the upper stretches make for a good walk! I ook quite a bit of GoPro footage however the post production work on that will have to wait so no video just yet.

The ride started from the Trout Hotel in Canvastown on a lovely overcast day (just ideal for what lay ahead), there was a 10 km Highway ride to Pelorous Bridge where we turned left and headed up the valley on what soon became a shingle road. By the time we got to the start of the Mangatapu Saddle Track  we had already climbed about 330 metres and then right there in front of us was the track with a grunty wee 15% hill to start with and from there it went up mostly for the next 7 km's with very litte reprieve, The track is not flash and in places is deeply rutted and in others covered in quite large loose rock. While I managed to ride a fair chunk of it there were places where the steepness combined with the loose surface  meant you really had to be a "Danny Magaskill" to even attempt to ride the track. We were passed by 8 touring bikes on our way up the valley and could see the trail they took on the track in front of us. At the saddle we cam across another guy on his motor bike then three more on our way down. Fortunately they are not like electric cars and can be heard so we had time to get out of their way.

We also encountered another bike packer who is doing the TA and he too is also staying here at the Wakefield Hotel where we are.

Peter and Stephen decided to keep Ian company in the car through to Nelson and they then (after their coffee fix) rode in to meet John and myself on the Nelson side of the Mangatapu about 15 km's out of Nelson.

SHortly after meeting up with them and enjoying some good easy downhill on the gravel road beside the Maitai River we whizzed past my mate Marsh (from my Broadbase Financial Planning days) there on his bike wiaitng for us. It was great he had come up to meet us and once again had made use of my Garmin live tracking software so he knew within 10 minutes of how we were progessing and could time his intercept well.

We then all rode in to the Riverside Kitchen in Nelson for lunch before heading out of Nelson on the rail trail, At at Stoke Marsh peeled off and we then followed the "Great Taste Trail" out through Richmond and Brightwater to Wakefield,

All in all another good day, made better by the fact that it didn't begin to get hot until after lunch by which time the Mangatapu Saddle Track was well and truly behind us - for the last time.

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