Ross and H had teamed well earlier to distract the waitress over breakfast so they could both stockpile a weeks worth of food to take with us on the ride to combat fatigue and possible hypothermia !
We were only 10 kms into the days ride when an ominous black cloud had us scrambling for cover at a nearby farm house till the rain shower had passed - we weren't going to be caught again , we thought !
Back on track we cycled from one valley up and over into another with scenery almost story book like with toy villages amidst the valleys green conifers.
Entering a town and looking to stock up further we sent Ross out on a mission to locate a supermarket. He came back 10 minutes saying he'd seen nothing but asked what the shop was behind where H & I were standing - sure enough it was a small supermarket -suggestions we may have done this deliberately are completely false !
A descent following a good climb took us into the town of Travers where the sun made a cameo appearance in time for our lunch stop !
20 minutes later we were taking shelter from the rain under a garage overhang and gave serious thought to calling the day short - I wish we had !
Some more valley cycling was followed by a testing climb of 7-8% over 4 kms similar in make to the 1 in 20 at the Basin.
Reaching the top we could see that our forward journey was straight into more rain clouds.
Sure enough the rain came with icy cold conditions (3-5 C) as we battled another 15 kms.
Soaked and with H beginning to hallucinate we detoured on local advice to the town of St.Croix - what wasn't mentioned was that the road was 4 kms uphill !
We made it just in time for the sun to come out almost as if taunting us !
Cold and wet we quickly followed routine , showered, washed clothes and went in search of a meal - this time Thai !
Tommorrows weather sadly shows more of the same !!!
I love you commentary and am jealous of what you are doing, including carrying a tent.
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