Feb 2019 Raglan to Kawhia

This was an Auckland Bikepacking  weekend trip with the plan being to all meet up in Raglan and ride to Kawhia for the Kai festival but a few of us decided to cycle to Raglan Friday night

Day 1 86.69 Km 1,385m Pukekohe to near Raglan Strava

I finished work and had a quick rundown the waterfront to the train station to wait for the others. The train ride was good and much better than battling Friday traffic on the Great South Rd and before too long we were in Pukekohe.

The ride started with some country roads before the route had us turn down a gravel road with a no exit sign. Recheck of maps and there was a way through… the road then turned to a track and then a paddock, got to love paper roads but after climbing a few fences we managed to get to the end and back on bitumen.

The road later turned to gravel at which point George got his first pinch flat. I was a little surprised when he rocked up on a road bike for a ride with a lot of gravel, but he does like the challenge. Puncture repaired and off we went. The roads were good, nice and hilly and less used as the night went on.

More pinch flats and around midnight we decided to call it a night and found a nice bit of grass next to a river and bridge to stealth camp for the night.

Day 2 109.8km 1,881m Near Raglan to Kawhia Strava

We headed off just as the sun was rising, always a magic time to ride. Gravel roads were great and sunrise just as good. We made good time to Te Akau wharf where I unpacked the raft and paddled over to Raglan has the others took the water taxi.

Raft packed up we meet with the rest of the group before splitting up again as they took the inland route and we headed off for breakfast and to stock up with more tubes for George.

We had decided to reverse the planned route and took the coastal way. I have ridden this a few times and is a magic ride but is a tough ride and nearly all gravel and with the festival on was very busy. Took us a while to get going with a few stops to sort out Georges sons bike but before long we were away and enjoying the gravel, hills and views.

It was a hot day and having to stop for a steady flow of pinch flats slowly put us way behind schedule so by the time we arrived at Kawhia we had missed the festival. Fortunately, the shop that had closed still had a hole in the wall for takeaways so grabbed a feed and headed to the camp ground to find the rest… and get some rest.

Day 3 85.2 km 1,579m Kawhia to Raglan Strava

George had come to the conclusion that the road bikes were not suited to the heavy stony gravel so decided to take the sealed way back to Raglan, although there was still 25km of gravel to get to the seal. I decided to ride with the others and redo the coastal route but detoured to have a look at Bridal Veil falls which they had done yesterday.

It was another glorious day and none of yesterday’s traffic. I spent most of the ride on my own and with my detour pushed it catching the others. Was a fun ride and once in Raglan headed to the pub for a beer or 2 and a feed.

All up was a good weekend along some of my favourite gravel roads and George has found his limit with gravel and road tyres…. I hope