ON (AND OFF) THE WHEEL TO INVERCARGILL, SWITZERS, &c,

Otago Witness, Issue 956, 16 May 1889, Page 27

ON (AND OFF) THE WHEEL TO INVERCARGILL, SWITZERS, &c,

' Dear Mr " Demon," -In your columns during the past two weeks a certain hotelkeeper is ex1 posed to ridicule and generally " run down " because he would not open his door after 11 o'clock at night to let a parcel of bicyclists in to eat and ..sleep. Now, a word or two in his defence. The bpniface in question is old—over 80* years, I be-lieve^-and he has ft well-known rule (locally) as .to closing- time. On the night the bicyclists arrived he had turned in, and the noise of their arrival did not < tend to induce him to open the door; I should advise any young fellows requiring accommodation at any hotel after hours to ba' civil or they may find themselves, as these werej left out in the cold. —l am, &c., Jambs Snooks. !

Messrs Stone and Crow have handed us the following notes of, their tour during the Easter holidays :— We left Dunedin on Thursday, the 18th April, at,2 p.m., and taking the well-known South road, arrived at the Criterion at Balclutha at 10 p.m., having made stoppages at Henley, Waihola, and Stoney Creek on our way down. We turned in sooni after arrival, and enjoyed what sleep we could before turning out at the early hour of 1 I a.m. [on Good Friday., ■ Balclutha was left behind- at 2 o'clock, and in. the dim light of the moon, veiled by clouds, assisted by our lamps, we pushed throughjto Clinton (25 miles). , The road was good, excepting about a mile ' near Kaihiku, and Clinton was reached at 5 a.m., in time for the early train breakfast. About an hour before reaching Clinton Crow scored the second' spill of the trip. The first occurred through an unruly M.I.P. bag the -previous afternoon, and this, through ian attempt to " takfe 7, a heap of road metal, which proved unsuccessful. . , - Two hours were spent at Clinton, and fortified by a good breakfast, and' determined to get through talnvercargili.by night if at all possible, ,we tackled the Popotunoa Gorge at 7 o'clock. We' had done for the present with moonlight and ijamp, and rode along over about three miles of. rough road, a great deal of. which was unrideable. Walking through the gorg6 was not at all tedious, as a beautiful stream runs through it, and the stream is well worth the slower pace for the longer time to admire it.' From hereto , near Mataura. our way—call it not a road—lay through poor looking tussocky country, where we noticed most of the crops were still in stook. Having been obliged to walk the greater, part of 26j miles, we were very glad to get on to six miles; of good metalled road, and made fast time to Mataura, through which we passed at 2 p m., just 12 hours after leaving Balclutha. As we did not wish to waste time we did not stop at Mataura, but stuck to the saddles till we reached Edendale, a further distance of 12 miles, which we covered in lhr smin, arriving there at '3.5, p.m. From Mataura to Edendale the road has a splendid'gravel surface, excepting about one mile half way, which is covered with" tussocks. After stopping 15 minutes at Edendale for refreshments we got under weigh, and reached Dacre, only seven miles further on, at 5 p.m. We had to walk five miles of the seven over tussocks. ' Here we stayed half an hour for tea, which we were feeling In want of, and then, much refreshed, steamed off'for Invercargill, 15 miles 'away. Making a short stoppage to light lamps, we finally rode into Invercargill at 7 p.m., ;jußt 29, hours from Dunedin, and enjoyed the luxury of a refreshing bath and a rub down after our long ride. '

' ' Saturday was - spent in Invercargill visiting friends and seeing " the lions/ In the afternoon we ascended the " Eiffel " tower, which haft i been, built in connection with the water supply. Mr "Scandrett (the town clerk) courteously accompanied us, and gave us interesting inform** tion about the work. The height of, the, tower is 90ft, and the tank to be placed on the top of the erection will have a capacity 'of 60,000gw, The water to lie used will be .pumped front' a well 100 ft deep, which will give 1 a constant ( supply of pure water. This satisfactory ' resulfc is being brought about by the enterprise" and' continued effort of the municipal authorities! ' .' and undoubtedly reflects great credit oh all con* cerned: , . • -,> The following day we }effc Invercargill y«y- - early, and had travelled ,15" miles' Iwtieji 'day v dawned. At 8.30 we reached Mataurar-34 miles ' J —^and made a stay of two hours.' From Matauri we passed through ■ Gore on to the Waimea Plains, and had, dinner ,at ( Gee's Hotel, Rivers- .' dale. , The road from Mataura to Riveradale it rideable, except two miles near the latter Switzers lies much highet'than Riverßdale,,»nd 14 miles distant (w0 rode 10 miles' and, walked , four). In wet 1 weather very little would be rideable. Switzers was' reached after dark, and as we were dressed in white- flannel and had out lamps lighted we rather scared some 'of the in* habitants.', Few had seen a bicycle before, arid to see two figures' glide'silently by '"like two ghosts on a flash of lightning " gave many % start not soon' to be forgotten. On Easter Monday we left Switzers at 7 a.m. and arrived at Tapanui at 5 p.m. after covering 40 miles' of very hilly country, 20 of which hid f> to be walked. ' From 10 o'clock W 3 heavy rain, fell, and upon, reaching Green vale, 2000 ft above sea level, at 12.30, we were very gl«id to avail ourselves of the kindness of Mr M'Kay, who invited] us to dine with' him. At Tapanui the evening was spent in "drying clothes round a big; log fire under the hospitable roof of Host Sulknionds." We might mention that Mr Simmonds . looks after the comfort of travellers jn a manner " equalled by few and excelled by none. ' On Tuesday, we purposed riding through by Crookston and Rae's Junction to Lawrerice, but after the rain, of the previous day we feared the ' roads' would be too heavy,' and arranged to seiid the bicycles round by train and' walk over th© Blue Mountains to Beaumont and Lawrence.' ',

The day turned out beautifully clear, 'and th* view from the east side of the range well repaid , us for the climb. Away to thq north were the Knobbies, tipped,, with snow, against; which '' the " old man " looked so black that He' should be rechristened a much darker name.' Southward trended the valley of the Clutha, with the Nugget's Point in the far ' distance, arid the silvery river twining and winding like some great sea serpent seeking its home in the dfa* , tant ocean. Below us lay the Beaumont, look* ' ing pleasant and green, and seemed much closer than! we found it after the long walk down. ' We reached Lawrence at last, at 6.30, just 12 hours from Tap&nui, very footsore and ready " for a,reßt.

We got our machines next day and made an easy run to Milton', and on Thursday we finished up our week's holiday by travelling home in easy stages, reaching Dunedin by 6 o'clock : at night. ','' The distance travelled during _the l week wail i bout 350 miles', of which abdiit 90 were done' on , foot. With the exception of Easter 1 Monday, the weather was lovely, and the absence of head,, winds made our trip most enjoyable. The trip was only marked by four spills j two have been, already recorded as scored by Crow,, the^otherA' were scored by Stone — one charming sample, in the main street of Invercargill. and the otHot , while essaying to ride a hill, the road down, which was' more deserving to be called a river* ' bed. With these four exceptions the tfcip was marked by freedom from spills, even though some of the roads passed over were about as bad as roads are made. * •■..■••