TO BLENHEIM BY BIKE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2468, 23 February 1893, Page 3

TO BLENHEIM BY BIKE.

All people nowadays, and especially young people who pass the greater part of the year indoors, think the only fit and proper way of spending the longonly too short, alas ! —vacation and their money is to take a trip somewhere. It must not be a too well-known place, of course ; none of your hackneyed places. Who but those compelled by sheer necessity would dream of droning dreary days in a dusty town ? The clatter of feet on the hot asphalt almost makes one's head ache at the thought, and picnics at New Brighton or St. Clair have no special charm. Therefore when you hear that some party of your scholastic friends are going to make nn ymnd tour you never dream of them riding in state to Christchurch or to any other even semblance of a town in order to make a lengthened atay. No, indeed ! Young New Zealand's life is too vigorous for that; all the more vigorous when compelled by duty for eleven long months to gaze around on blank walls, and the very often blanker faces one meets with in school life. There must be the charm of penetrating where few of your friends can get; there must be much to see; there must be difficulties of no mean order to be overcome; above all, the country must not be flat. New Zealand proudly boasts that Norway's picturesqueness, Switzerland's grandeur, and Italy's sunny sky are all hers. Virgil himself might here soon find his idyllic bliss in another vale of Haemus, which he would find perchance well worth his song, though Fan and old Siivanus aud the sister Nymphs were wanting. Had he indeed a prophetic eye when he rolled out his grand hexameter :

" Felix <jui potuitrerum cogi».oscere causas Atque metus omnes et inexorabile i atum Subjecit pedibus sfcrepitumque Acherontis #vari."

Happy lie who has been able to find out the "sources" of things and " mount " ovei' all feara and inexorable fate and the roaring of greedy Acheron—doubtless a poetic name for Father Wainiak who knows '( How happy must we—the members of our party, of course —be then, for we have seen the sources of more than one river and survived the roar of more than one greedy Acheron. But enough of the mock heroic. " Bevenons a nous moutons." Several of us teachers had been talking for some months about a trip to the West Coast of this island, said trip to be on bikes, and to be taken during the Christmas holidays. H. and I had agreed the year before to go to a mysterious " somewhere," and the West Coast had been m oted quite seriously in conjunction thereto. But as the year drew on we began to find that th. 3 West Coast trip was only a matter of a few days—not near far enough for such adventurous spirits. We found out that certain pioneers had led the way reuuu the island'frorfll'Hoki■pika 'to" Ohristcjjurch Via Nelson_ and Blenheim. Then our ideas took" certain gi}apo. We said' " what cyclist lias d,on,e .cyclist ca-.i do," and then determined to do. So then wo are on the road at last, '< and quite time too," I hear some imj,ittei|t one mutter. Tljerg wqrp thveft of jjs qujy. Two of our 'friends had proceded us a few days, and we thought p'.'relianou wo might catch them—a vain hope as it proved. Wo were all mounted vn safety F.'s a Raglan

cushion-tyre, a heavy article, and worth its weight in, well, riverbed shingle. Ko wonder he came down 91b in weight the first week. H.'s machine was an Ivel semi-racer, with solid tyres, as sterling a machine as ever was ridden, whereas my own, a new Humber clincher, came up to expectations and gave me next to nu trouble whatever. I can't understand why more Humbers—the genuine article, I mean are not ridden. Our swags, wrapped in waterproof and strapped to the handles, consisted of simply a change of underclothing, a towel, toothbrush, piece of soap, and a handkerchief or two. Two of us carried shoulder bags, strapped knapsack fashion, and these served to carry our waistcoats, books for an oc casional ton-minutes' read, and provisions for the midday meal. A small "billy" [ carried at my bike handle. This con- j tained sugar, butter, and cocoa, and was I a grand institution. We gave it away at j Picton, having then no further use for it. Monday afternoon, January 2nd, then, saw us leave Norwood, near Selwyn, and strike up country along a tussocky trackon our road to Springfield. To Canterbury people no description of this part of the country need be given; the only things of interest to us being the slowly approaching mountains that we were to penetrate, and the splendid water race—a young river, indeed, which feeds the Selwyn water races. This race, for several miles, has concrete breakwaters running out at an angle into the stream every hundred yards or so. These aro doubtless to protect the bank and impede the How, for the fall is evidently very great. Springfield might be called the terminus of the West Coast road, for the coaches, instead of running from Christchurch, now make this township their headquarters, as a side line runs to it from Rolleston Junction. The West Coast .Railway has been commenced at this poiut, and runs up a few miles towards the Waimakariri Gorge. The coach road does not go in the same direction, striking off westward. We came upon the track of the future railroad again on the Bealey river. Springfield is about 1200 feet or more above sea-level, and' is a fine healthy place, families from Christchurch visiting it regularly every summer to spend a month or so. There is fine mountain scenery within easy drive, and bush country nearer still. Making a fairly early start next morning a few miles of medium road brought us to the Kowai river, a mountain torrent, which during the morning we crossed four times. We generally took off our boots and stockings and carried the machines across. After a day or two of this river wading, however, we began to find it was easier to wheel the machines through and take less care about getting water iuto the bearings ; and, as the continual taking off and putting on of stockings was a nuisance, why we went without, and rode bare-legged. Porter's Pass, which is 3100 feet at the summit, was the first difficulty of any importance. The road leads round the hill, in a steady uphill grade, for a good three miles, and is the stiffest uphill climb I have ever made or wish to make pushing a bicycle. The down grade, however, on the other side was a treat. The road was good, though watercourses were somewhat numerous, and we soon hailed little Lake Lyndon, looking somewhat gloomy and lifeless, owing perhaps to the dullness of the day and the lack of bird life. That morning, also, we ran down the Craigieburn and round Lake Pearson. The road round the lake is really fine—slightly down hill. Wo had a wind behind, too, so that we raced along, though we did not neglect to admire the dark green waters rufHed by the passing breeze. Castle hill was reached in due time, and the afternoon was fully occupied in making the Bealey. The road was good, but there were numerous mountain streams to be crossed, necessitating a good deal of delay, especially where the banks were 100 feet high or more. We just managed to get well into the Bealey Hotel when r the coaches, two from Springfield and two from Hokitika arrived, and much bustle ensued. We had foreseen this, and were glad we were able to get our beds beforehand. The Bealey is very quiet, except on coach days. The Waimak. runs just below, and high mountains rise just across the river, so that the scenery is Alpine in winter time. Indeed the rifted clouds showed us, though it was midsummer past, here and there a snow patch. The railway line will run the other side of the Waimak. so most probably the palmy days of the Bealey Hotel are over. The charges, half-a-crown all round, were the dearest on the whole trip. Eighteenpence was the general charge, even in tho heart of Nelson. We got underway next morning about 7 o'clock, and a half-mile spin down hill brought us to the Waimakariri, Well it deserves its name, at least up in the mountains, for it is glacier fed, and our poor legs ached with the cold—or, at least, mine did ; and as there were three different streams the walking barefoot over the rough riverbed was as bad as the water, which was only up to our knees. We now entered the Bealey riverbed, up which both road and railroad strike, the course of the latter being marked by little flags. We crossed the cold waters of the Bealoy three or frmr times during the morning, mounting up and up, till at last another stiff climb brought us out at the summit of Arthur's Pass, over 2500 feet above sea level. Here 1 s,aw \\ watershed for the f}rst time, the Bealey being seen running down behind us and the Otira in front of US. On entering Westland a change was at once noticeable in the scenery. Up to this time the mountains had been quite, or almost, baro, the little bush noticeable being mainly stunted birch, looking in many places as though having had a fire through it, and never reaching to the mountain tops. Looking down on the other hand from Arthur's Pass through the Otira Gorge, we could see the mountain-side covered with dense bush, in many places from foot to summit, move especially on the northern slopes. The forest was still mainly birch, bnt of better growth, and the underwood was more prolific in fern life as well as in many unfamiliar shrubs. Wo had to get well down, however, before seeing any forest giants, meeting no really heavy bush till the Tc-romakau hove in sight. J A really cold, howling wind at ihe summit | prevented us from staying more than a minute or two on the saddle, and, with a hasty glance back into Canterbury, we began the descent of the famous Otira 'Gorge. Wo found the road very steep and rough, and eminently unridpablp, because of the zigzag y/iiy in which ttie road h? r d ViGOu c.ut. ' "\V-e c'o'ukl see t% road winding below us —almost within a stone's throw it seemed—-several hundred feot down', and the brawling Ot.iv» urt j ler down still, it w«' a (11 ,i te toilsome work walk";.;_f downhill, mid we had tq \\hm tho brakes on the two heavier- machines to hold thorn bauk tho easier. Towards tho bottom pf the zigzag we passed a Sulitury house perched up above the roads, Vv'e could havo dropped a stomj on it from above a few minutes before It is doubtless inhabited by a road-ropairor, several of whom we passed busy at work. We always stopped for a. fyw iniuutus'

elm f with the~o men, and found thorn to a man cheery, talkative individuals, glad to give any information they could about the o roada and the items of interest on the way. ('l<> be continued.)