THROUGH THE BUGLER AND OTIRA GOUGES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 45

THROUGH THE BUGLER AND OTIRA GOUGES.

NOTES ON A CYCLING TOUR, XMAS, 1899.

As the festive season of Christmas approaches with its prospect of gaiety and mirth, a feeling of oppression and weariness comes over one, and becomes well nigh unbearable. The marked contrast between the weary drudgeiy of daily toil and the eager desire for relaxation from worry serves but to intensify the dreariness of the everyday round, and to increase the longing for variety and change ; and thus it is with very mingled feelings that those who are fingaged in occupations of such i a character as to deprive them of the interest and excitement of an out-of-doors life look forward to the Christmas holidays. Never does the time seem to drag more wearily or with more apparent tardiness; but on the other hand seldom do we experience greater pleasiire, temporary though it be, than from the anticipation of what Christmas may bring forth. It was with a considerable share of this pleasure of anticipation that I, in the early part of the month of November, determined to spend a portion of my holiday on a bicycle tour thiough parts, of the North and South Islands, resolving, if it were pospible, to see something of the far-famed Buller and Otira Gorges with their wealth of beauty and grandeur,. Of the first part of my ride I shall say little, except that with a first-class machine and good weather, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip tluougli the Forty Mile Bu&h and the Wairar.apa Valley.

From Wellington to Picton was a s-Lort run of 53 miles in the s.s.. Rotorna, Irat ;i« we left about half-past 5 hi the evening nnrl did not arrive until after 10 o'clock we missed seeing the beautied of (,>neeii Charlotte Sound. Next morning 1 had a look at the town, b'icton itself has many attractiono. It is feiluated at the head of the Sound, and with the bush-clad hills in the background, aud the clear water in front, it looked, in the beautiful splendour of early morning, the very ideal 9i v holiday icsort.

And report gives it even greater attiactiomj* The sound itself affords excellent boating »n^J! fishing facilities, while its numeroiii ". infcj* and bays seem to have been specially for wed ft 5 .the paradise of picnic parties.

Saturday morning saw me mounted tX avi early hour, and a very short run bruughi IVB to the foot of Mount Pleasant, where the rotJjS^' ness of the road rather than the steepr-esir or the ascent caused me to dismount ar.-i •wisGiJ. my machine. On reaching the elevaifon L beautiful panorama of sea and bush, ixUsrtd by the buildings of the town in th<: <.eiioi!j o^ the pictiue, stretches out before the tourist and force 3 him to stop in admiraticu. oi l^ie beauty oi the scene. Here I 'overtook auottier cyclist, also on pleasure bent; and us" his intention was to ride through to Chris ichurch', via Blenheim and Culverdeu.. it was immediately agreed that we should complete the firsstage — to Blenheim — hi company. 'After running the easy descent from ihe "elevation, wo had a splendid ride down a very pretty valley to Tua Marina, 'a small township on the ed^a of the Wairau Plain, and thence a smooth, wel^kept road took us into Blenheim. This completed my first stage of 18 miles after crossing the Strait.

The Wairau Plain,, as seen from the main, road, reminded me very forcibly of the Here,taunga Plains of Hawke's Bay, .'a large traCtf of fertile, alluvial land, watered by, and really,' owijQg its existence to, several- important riverßg which bring large quantities of silt down fronii their •, pper reaches among the hills and spreatfc it over the country at their mouths. As the de- " posit of material at the mouths of the rivers causes the formation of impediments to • the. current, floods "at-e of frequent" occurrence; 1 and as in the case of Hawke's- Bay the" backing up'-*-pi the flood waier' submerges' miles--ot/conntrxj that would otherwise remain -untouched. Tha configuration of the coast lines, t'oo^, of the.twa provinces is very similar. The projecting head- " ' lands of two ranges of hills in each district form the northern and southern boundaries of. two large - bays which receive the waters ofi ■ several large rivers, and which are respectively) the'w'ell-knowii Cloudy and Hawke's "Bays". ". . Blenheim itself is a pretty little town — that isV as it appeared when I saw it, with imposing and commodious business places, and a stir, and bustle that are completely wanting in; many of our New Zealand towns. But it "has its peculiarities ; and the comical aspect c£ houses, nearly all of which are raised 3it ££ 4ft on pilesj just showing the ridges of their roofs over the flood embankments, strikes the \isitoK very forcibly. I lately saw three companion pictures — " Blenheim in Sunshine," " Blantiei'ra irj» Winter," and " Blenheim in Flood," an i the aptness of the various views can be thoroughly, appreciated by anyone who has seen the townf I spent a day and a-half in Blenheim wd its. surroundings, visiting Renwick, and exploring in various directions. The whole appearance of the district showed that the sen-son had l«en, very dry there, and although it was only Christmas Day on which I left Marlbj.-m^h I saw numerous fields of oats harvested, and in scrno instances stacked, and several crops of wheat ready for cutting. Grass was very brown anil burnt up, and I crossed several river be^s »i-at had not a drop of water in them.

I left Blenheim on the morning of Christmas Day, starting at 7 o'clock. The first part of the journey was uneventful until after crossing the "Wairau River, which, with, the dry, weather, was nothing more than a mere stream in a wide shingly bed." Immediately on crossing the river I entered the Kaituna Gorge,. and at the very entrance a set of cross roads rnuet be noticed. The road strikes straight up the valley, and the cross-roads diverge to Onamulutu and Tua Marina respectively. Anyone being so unfqrtunate as to take the Onarmilutu road would surely pay dearly for his mistake by having to fcwist his tongue round such a specimen of Maori nomenclature. The Sai- , tuna Valley itself is well worth a visit. Lined on both sides by numerous homesteads, tho load winds up the gorge, and affords a beautiful ride for the cyclist, who will doubtless be ns much .-surprised as I was at striking Havelock sooner than is expected. This was one of the very few stages where the distance, as measured by my cyclometer, proved considerably less than I had been informed.

Havelock has a nice situation at the head ol Pelouis Sound, but cannot compare with Picton, either in its beauty or the excellence oi-" itd commercial position. Its site is crtfinped and confined, and to me there seemed a feeling of want of loom and fresh air about the place. The hills come close down to the water's edge, and there is little room for expansion. The timber trade appears to be the chief industry, and several timber boats were lyirg along the sawmill wharves waiting for. the completion of their cargoes. Some gold J has recently been found in its vicinity, and this, I believe is causing a stir, but I' had neither the time nor the opportunity to make a visit to the scene of the operations.

Instead, as rain was threatening, I pushed o\i right through Hayelock and at once entered more heavily timbered country. Tht, road soon leaves the head of the sound and follows the Peloius River for several miles through nice bush country, until it crosses th« river and proceeds up the Jtai Valley. This district is lapped by a substantial tramway on which a f.mall engine inns, hauling the logs down to the sawmills near Havelock. I

At a quarter to 12 I reached a small accommodation houce and stopped there for lunch. I had been riding all forenoon with rain clouds bni'kinf; up in front and on both sides of me, Hiul ,il tine stopping-plate there wa3 a cyclist who had been honked, str.d was in v tciribic plight with wet and mud. lie hnd ridden from Ne'fon, and Jiacl resohed to take the coach, but when ho saw that 1 had Lad no lain oi nuid to encounter li«

again pushed on. My turn was to come. I had ridden 47 miles in four hom-3 and threequasters, but now. I had two mountain, ranges, 'each- about 1100 ft high, in front of me* and a prospect of heavy rain and muddy roads. However, "T was very fortunate. The rain had passed over, and though the roads were muddy and the riding was heavy for the first-f ew miles, 'there was no special difficulty. I rode through .the beautiful Rai Valley, climbed the Rai (Range, and had a nice run down the slope at thi other side to the foot of the Wangamoa Saddle. I crossed this range, and a. short run brought me to the junction of the road that leads to Cable Bay, and another run of about 22 miles took roe into Nelson. This part of the journey affords numerous opportunities of seeing some- magnificent hill and bush scenery. In places the road winds up the side of tlia valley,,, and' the traveller can see stretcMng far below him a beautiful expanse of dark green, bush, relieved by the lighter hues ofr Lovely tree ferns and other foliage. The roads themselves are also all that cam be desired. Though hilly, and in parts too steep for safe riding, they have a nice firni surface,, over which the machine runs ■with rapidiiy and ease, and' th.c last 10 miles into Kelson axe especially g.ood', being really the best cycling road I ever saw. Here the road is foimecl of a hard bluish-green clay, and as it wcund in and out roui-d the inlets of the bay, tired as I. was, I felt that few modes of progiession could .equal, much less surpass, cycling. Next day being Boxing Day and the day oi the annual Nelson regatta the town was crowded with visitors, but I made an early start as usual, and set out on the journey across Nelson to Greymouth. .Leaving " Nelson the road " follows the railway line .up the Wairnea Valley, through a nice hop-growing and-Jarming district, to Belgrove, a distance of 22 miles, and then rises over the Spooncr Range, a steep climb of four miles. The descent into the Motupiko Valley is shorter and' so correspondingly steeper, but I ran down in first-class style with a drag brake attached to rnyjns chine. This makes a very pleasant, but risky, method of negotiating a steep- descent, and I only tried it once. The Motupiko is a small river which runs north andi drains into the Motueka, and the valley is connected by a railway tunnel with the Waimea Valley. Parts of the road are here very uninteresting, but the scenery is for ■the most part good and continues so until the ascent of. the Hope SaddTe, which lea-ds over into Dfce Buller Valley, is reached. The saddle itself is covered' on the Mottipiko side with 'dense bush, but the other side is very steepv is bleak and bare, and lies- exposed to the cold westerly winds that come from the summit of the" Marine Range. Acioss the saddle at the foof of" the range- is a wayside accommodation, house, and here I spent the night. A couple of miles further on the lovely scenery of the Buller Valley commences. Next morning a- run of 18 miles took me to Owen Junction, and then -34 ~rniles more bio'ught me to Lyelk The road winds along thj side of the valley, which is cloth eel in dense- bush, and down which, the river flows, sometinseaagliding in a .broad, shallow stream and' sometimes foaming and tossing like a veritable Niagara. The sighfe to be seen' are magnificent in the estieme,. and, whether the road 1 traverses a level stretchy of valley or is- " ascending ox descending^ by zigzags and curves, so, sharp that one, wonders at the feats of*' engineering shown in its. construction, there, is nofc a, single- port' but ha.s some striking; piece tof jacenery. Theie is no ,rnoaotony,' no"tanie»there- is plenty oi-Varieay,, and one never gets tii'ed oil looking andi admiring-. ; " (To v be- continued.)