Hiked Over 1300 Miles In 13½ Boys
Averaging over 95 miles a day, except for a few days when he did no riding, a young Whangarei resident, Mr Haddon Simpkin, aged 19, travelled 1313 miles by bicycle to Palmerston North and back to Whangarei.
He left Whangarei at noon on Boxing Day last year, with a tent strapped to his bicycle, a sleeping bag, cooking gear and other impedimenta. Sleeping by the roadside and cooking his own meals, he travelled down the east coast, through Auckland, Paeroa, Tauranga, Whakatane, Opotiki, Gisborne, and reached Napier on January 2. 1 He left Napier on January 4 and arrived in Palmerston North 24 hours later, only 10 days after leaving Whangarei. The return journey was made through Wanganui and New Plymouth to Rotorua, where he stayed for two and a half days. From then on it was plain sailing straight back to Whangarei, which he reached on January 13, after being away from home just 18 days. Papakura to Tauranga was his longest trip—ll 4 miles. This was done in 11 hours. The entire cost of the trip was no more than £5/10/-.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19480117.2.41
Bibliographic details
Northern Advocate, 17 January 1948, Page 4
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190Hiked Over 1300 Miles In 13½ Boys Northern Advocate, 17 January 1948, Page 4
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