St James Cycle Trail

Sunday  - St James Cycle Trail

This Trail ride was the highlight of the tour for me and akin to an adventure race. We had to get up early, it was suggested that it would take around 6 hours ( it took 8.5 ), Phil spend awhile telling us we should be on the top of the ridge instead of in the valley, our shoes got wet ( over and over again ), there was a bit of bike carrying and it took us to some amazing places that we would not have gotten to otherwise. 

St James Cycle Trail - 62km

Getting the bikes off on a misty and chilly 7 degree morning ( I confess to sitting in the car and watching while the others did all the work - sorry. I made up for it at the other end by helping put the bikes on while Julie ate creamed rice with 6 spoons  -  you had to be there )

The first section of the trail was a steady uphill on narrow single track followed by a short and sharp down hill that got us into a lovely valley with many creek crossings

One of the many creek crossing, Andrew was determined to keep his shoes dry as long as possible - the rest of us just waded straight into the 1st creek

Fortunately the only time we required Janes 1st aid skills was for a separation of shoe and sole, nothing a bit of strapping tape couldn't fix

A ride along the St James Trail requires plenty of time for photo-stops, every way you turn there is another stunning vista. This is a beautiful Lake Guyon

Andrew carrying his bitch into his batch

Its a long way down

Julie pointing out that we are half way, relating the story of a previous ride when they were a little surprised to find they still had 32km to go.

Still a good way to go

Quick rest stop and a bit of giant date scone before the sand flies find us.

A nice bit of downhill

Kees coming over the top of Petes Pass after riding out to meet us. Kees wasn't feeling 100% so he had dropped us off at the start so he could take it easy for the day. Taking it easy meant performing a miracle car and bike shuttle so both cars were at the finish and then riding out to meet us along the track.