Day 12 - Thursday March 19th, Wanganui to Palmerston North

I didn't get up particularly early, and after leaving Fiona's house I went to the bike shop to get my front derailleur fixed (loose screw) before heading off. I decided to try and make it to Palmerston North due to the weather forecast - the following day was due to be wet west of the main divide, and I didn't fancy camping - so making it to a friend (Chris) in PN seemed a good idea.

A tail wind helped, and the first 60km to Hunterville was all on road. Lunch at a lovely cafe there, then the difficult stuff - heading east to the edge of the Ruahine ranges, with lots of hills and gravel roads. The route took me to Rangiwahia, a village on a high plateau at the base of the Ruahines that I'd never even heard of, and felt like the back of beyond. A little further on the road switched back south-west to Apiti and on to Ashurst, through three deep gorges (with huge uphill climbs). The last 2 1/2 hours were in the dark- I didn't get to Chris's till 10,30pm ! I'd covered 212km, climbed a total of 2,555m all at an average pace of 19.8km/h. Not surprisingly, I was buggered by the time I reached PN! Sadly, didn't have much time to spend socialising before I fell into bed....

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