Pelorus to Nelson

I woke to a very cold morning. No ice or frost but getting out of the tent I was greeted by my own breath. Today was a supposedly easy 60km into Nelson. Someone obviously hadn't told the two massive hills along the way! I ended up stopping a couple of times climbing up, to rest my weary legs, and again a couple of times while racing down, to give my arms a break from braking.

There are quite a number of logging trucks which use the road between Havelock and Nelson and after being passed by a few I thought "Surely it's only a matter of time before two pass each other right beside me." What a stupid thing to think. No sooner had I thought it than it happened. Luckily there was a reasonable amount of shoulder for me to use and I didn't kak my daks! Even so, I'll be trying to avoid having such prophetic thoughts again!



Despite the trucks the scenery was once again astounding. Lots of native bush and the odd babbling brook and also a fair few introduced species which were loosing their leaves. The yellows and reds were quite breath taking.



I stopped in Hira to give the local shop a chance at the chip buttie award but one look at their offering in the pie warmer and I new they'd be a waste of an entry form. Instead I opted for a Whittakers dark chocolate peanut slab. And they're vegan. I think I have a new vice.....

Coming into Nelson was easy peasy as the city has a very good cycleway network which leads straight to the local i-site. From there I rang my friend Alan who I was going to stay with for the weekend and we caught up for a coffee, though he had hot chocolate and I had tea??????

That evening Alan and I headed around to his father, Doug's place for a drink and catch up. Alan and his father do this every day and it was really nice to be invited along. Doug's in his 80's and has more than a few yarns to tell!

Today's myPod featured Billy Joel's "Allentown" (funnily enough) and also Inxs with "Need You Tonight"