After a day off the bikes yesterday while we were in Christchurch and a great Tranz Alpine train trip across to Greymouth we were all looking forward to getting on the bikes for the ride through to Kumara. The day was a good one and the train trip is well worth doing even if you are a local as you get to see the countryside from a totally different perspective and of course train travel would have to be one of the most relaxed forms of travel there is.
It's a very easy trail all the way through to Kumara and is virtually all off the road and much of the time it has you riding alongside the beach. I rode out to the end of the breakwater and the Grey River bar was none existent and on a day like today it is hard to reconcile how the ocean can change to become one very hostile environment. There are 12 plaques placed there to remember the folk who have lost there lives at that very spot. The other thing that you become aware of is that many of those who did not get back home that day were quite recent in living memory with many being lost since 2000.
We have comfortable accommodation here in Kumara in the "Undertaker's Cottage" and will be off shortly for a meal at the Theatre Royal Pub across the road.
I already know that tonight's meal cannot possibly surpass that, that was cooked by Elio last night. I first met Elio on the ride last year and he shared with me his Italian families traditional Spaghetti Bolognaise receipe, so me being me, couldn't possible let him escape without asking him to not only "tell" me but would you please mind "showing" me how you go about cooking it. It was a magnificent meal that everyone enjoyed and I am looking forward to a couple more meals of it still when I get back home as the leftovers are now sitting in my freezer!
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