Rimutaka Cycle Trail - Encore

Earlier this year we had attempted to do the Rimutaka Cycle Trail from Petone to Featherston.  The total distance  of the  trail to Cross Creek is 60 kilometres and then add another 12 kilometre to Featherstone from the Cross Creek car park.  B and I figured that we were up to it and waited for a nice day in the week after Easter to do it.  That proved a real waiting game, but on Saturday the weather gods smiled upon us.  A light southerly was forecast and it was to be dry.

We rode from my apartment down to the railway station in Wellington and took a unit to Ava which would cut off about 1 kilometre of the journey.  The idea was to have a slightly different route.

The ride up the Hutt Valley was very pleasant and soon we stripping off a bit of clothing as we were heating up.  At Lower Hutt we had to negotiate people on the shared path but they were very co-operative.  The noticeable difference from our last ride was the amount of water in the Hutt River which a bit muddy and swollen from the recent rain.

We took the right bank from the Totara Park Bridge and followed a not well formed track to the Birchhill Bridge where crossed back to the left bank of the river finally emerging at Te Marua.  This time I knew which way to turn, that is towards Maymorn.  The sign that pointed the way to the cycle trail was out of eyesight at Te Marua but a kilometre down the road there was one.   It took us about two and a half hours to get to Maymorn.  By that time we were a little hungry and aware that we still had another 30 odd kilometres to go.  We found another sign pointing to the trail and after lifting our bikes over a gate we attempted to ride up the hill but having not got it into the right gears and with legs a little jelly like we both walked our bikes up the steep incline.  It leveled out and the first tunnel of the trail appeared.  We were back on the trail which from that point sort of followed the old railway.

At the end of the Maymorn Tunnel there  was nice open space with picnic tables.  We had brief stop there to eat and drink a bit more water.  It also gave the legs an opportunity to recover a bit from the almost non-stop riding that we had been doing. 

Lunch time

The trail seemed to follow what I assume was the old railway although it was now a forestry track.  It was a gradual incline and after about four kilometres or so we climbed a hill, descended and then it was onto a sealed public road until we reached the rail trail section.

Railtrail beginning

The track wound its way along a valley following the Pahuratahi River.  The old railway bridges were still there.  It was a very pleasant ride as it had warmed up nicely.  We then began to climb gently toward the Summit Tunnel.  I found it much easier than B who complained about the comfort of the seat and the amount of pedaling she had to do compared to me.  Bev had an old mountain bike that was at least fifteen years old.  Compared to the hybrid or trail bike that I had,  the cogs were much smaller.  The tyres were wider as well.  All conspiring to make it a slightly harder
ride.

The biggest bridge on the trail

We got to the Summit Tunnel at about 3:30pm which left us with about two hours to descend the incline and then ride the 12 kilometres to Featherston.  We paused for a few minutes at the summit as there were remains of it previous life as a railway junction.  It is very remote but there was a small community that lived there to service the trains that came up the other side of the Rimutakas before the tunnel was pushed through in the fifties.

Remainders of life at the Summit

After the Summit Tunnel the trail descended following the Rimutaka Incline.  It feel steep going down and it is hard to imagine what it would have been like having a train going up down it.  The incline is 1:15 and the information said that trains today have difficulty going up a 1:30 incline.  For nearly a hundred years the trains were pulled up by a couple of Fell locomotives that gripped a centre rail.  It was a slow journey apparently with people able to get off the train and walk with it.  The engines also belched smoke and sparks which would often set off major forest fires.  Now of course the hills are regenerating the forest cover.

Summit Tunnel

After leaving the Summit Tunnel we went through two more tunnels before getting a point where we had to walk the bikes.  It clearly was not part of the railway as you could see where it ended on a cliff.  This place was called Siberia.  I assumed there must have been a bridge there that had fallen down.  After picking our way across a small stream we saw a big pylon which I assumed must have been for the bridge.  However we discovered a little further on, on one of the many information posts that there had been an embankment crossing the stream but it had washed away.  The pylon was designed to deal with the erosion debris.

Crossing the stream at Siberia

The incline does not look very steep - Information Posts

While 1:15 gradient may not seem like much, it certainly challenged us as there was thick gravel on the trail much like the ballast they have around modern railway lines.  So for nearly five kilometres the brakes got a very good workout.  It was quite an effort of braking correctly to ensure we did not tumble off due to getting something wrong in the gravel.  Apparently the brakes on the Brake Vans on the train had to be replaced after each descent due to the amount of wear on them. I am not surprised as we were certainly using lots of rubber to stop us hurtling to a painful demise. At Cross Creek we saw again the old areas such as the turntable.

The trail left the old railway line at that point and followed a relatively narrow track to the Cross Creek car park.  Riding on the sealed road was very easy.  It took us about half an hour to ride the 12 kilometres to Featherston.  We arrived with minutes to spare.  What had taken us nearly seven hours to ride took a mere hour in the train.

The Rimutaka Incline

We were too tired to ride back to the apartment  so we took the Cable Car.  it was two grateful bodies that gratefully got into the shower.  Then it we walked up the hill to friends who fortuitously were cooking dinner for us and other friends.  We only had to supply some wine and cheese.