Distance: 52.6 km. Time: 6:42 hours.
During the night the temperature dropped well into single figures, but I was snug and very pleased that I’m using a four-season tent. By morning, as I ate my oats and packed, a wind had started blowing down from the pass, and I realized the day would not be easy. I probably should have expected the wind, as one of the ploughmen I met in Middlemarch had mentioned that the pass was well known to be very windy.
Setting off meant immediate climbing, and
the road surface had deteriorated and was quite rough in places, so between the
wind, the grade and the road, I did quite a bit of walking. There were also quite a few streams to ford,
and I had to remove my shoes at several to make the crossing.
Since I had camped a mere 6 km short of the
pass, I had expected to reach it in little more than an hour, but it was 11:30
by the time I crossed, so it had taken more than two hours. The wind was
howling over the pass, and it was all I could manage to take a photo before
quickly turning my wheels downward.
I had hoped that the wind would ease once
clear of the pass, but it was not to be. I battled against it across the wide flat
Mackenzie Country all the way to Lake Tekapo, and it grew steadily stronger
throughout the afternoon. It took three hours to complete the last 10 kms. Jens Voigt's famous utterance "Shut up legs" was repeated time after time.
So for the second time I’ve arrived in a
state of near total exhaustion after battling the wind. But I returned to the
place where I stayed last visit, and got the same comfortable room. After a hot
shower and dinner over a couple of pints, I hit the sack and slept like a log.
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| On the Haka Pass, after battling all the way up against the howling wind... |
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