Solitude - Blogabond

Had a very pleasant 2-day journey between Dunedin and Queenstown. On Wednesday morning I took the Taieri Gorge railway from Dunedin to Middlemarch. It's one of the world's most scenic train rides and was indeed quite beautiful. And then I picked up my mountain bike and took to the Otago Rail Trail, a 150km route to Clyde that follows the route of the old railway line. It's a beautifully scenic ride for the most part, interspersed with some long, mainly agricultural stretches, but is still relatively unknown outside of New Zealand - I must have passed no more than 30 other bikers for the whole two days. I overnighted in a hotel in Ranfurly which called itself an 'Art Deco' hotel, but it quickly became apparent that that just meant it hadn't been refurbished since 1930. But it had food and a bed so that did the job. 92km on day 2 was a bit of a push - definitely some saddle soreness towards the end of that stretch. But a very nice ride. Then a shuttle bus took me on the Queenstown, New Zealand's 'adventure playground', where I'm meeting up with the legend that is Keith Graham Potter, of DHL Vauxhall fame.