Otago Rail Trail Day 1

The rain finally eased later on Wednesday afternoon so we hopped on our bikes and did the 5 km loop over 2 bridges from Omakau to Ophir, a tiny old goldmining settlement which has a hotel, an often photograghed post office, former Hospital and a handful of old character cottages.
We parked that night and last night in a free camping area by the river, a 2 minute walk from Omakau "village", where there were several other motorhomes. Yesterday (Thursday) we picked up our hire bikes and set off about 9.00am for Alexandra and Clyde. It was very windy but more of a crosswind for us and as we were mostly going downhill it didn't bother us really until we got to Alexandra. The Plan had been to do the circuit from there to Clyde going along the very scenic 150th anniversary track beside the Clutha River to Clyde and then back to Alex on the rail trail. However when we got down to the river we found the track was closed because of the huge flooding caused by the opening of all the gates at the Clyde dam. The river looked immense and very swift - we were told it would be up to our armpits on the trail so we wouldn't have lasted long on the bikes. So after cycling along a lesser river, eating some trackside cherries, visiting the huge hillside clock which must look amazing when it is lit up at night and having a yummy lunch in the Courthouse cafe in Alexandra we just cycled the rail trail into Clyde.

Straight to the point campsite site, with clear benefits!

The headwind was very strong and although it was just a very gentle straight uphill slope for 9 km we found this to be the hardest slog of the whole day. At least we could stay on the bikes and didn't have to walk most of the day like a lot of others who were on steeper sections. Even the locals were saying what a terrible wind it was.
Generally the countryside at this time of the year is brown and barren with mountains in the distance, interesting rocky outcrops of schist, the occasional pond and maybe a sudden striking irrigated green patch on the dried quilt.

Over the bridge and through the cutting

Clyde Dam - wide open!

We biked up to the dam at Clyde with the spray hitting our faces as soon as we left the village. Close to the dam we were in awe of the huge volume of water violently rolling through all the gates which had been opened to lower the level of Lake Dunstan after all the recent heavy rain. After cycling around the little town we had dinner at the Post Office Bar and Cafe before being picked up by Jan from Shebikeshebikes and dropped off back at Debussy.
Total distance biked 54km (not all on the trail) and no aches or pains!