The day dawned with an epic red sky. I hoped it didn't signify anything more than bad weather on the way, as I had feared the traffic on the Cardrona Valley Road. Happily we survived and only saw one insane blind corner passing maneuver. Every time I come back to this part of the world it’s just getting busier and busier.
The Cardrona Hotel
The Crown Range Road wasn’t too bad and it helped that the steepest section at the top was exposed to the nor’wester which pushed us up. Again I’d rather ride a climb than being on the flat.
Top of the Crown Range.
On the descent into Arrowtown my headset started to make creaking noises so I took the chance to tighten it up when we stopped for a lunch at a crowded pie shop. John was needing a bike shop so we headed there. The guy running the shop had some scales so we weighed our bikes. Mine was 23.5kg. Not bad for a fully loaded steel bike. Mind you having rigid carbon forks helps a lot and one of the reasons why I prefer going up hill on this bike rather than downhill.
The rest of the ride to Queenstown was by way of the circuitous cycle trail. We stayed at the Frankton Motor camp which has a great location but the tent site is only a small triangle of grass under a spotlight that stayed on all night which gave it a prison camp vibe. A couple of times I woke up in the night thinking I had overslept and it was daytime before remembering I was camped under a floodlight in Colditz.
