Day 9 Warkworth to Browns Bay - A tale of two rides

Today we ride back to Auckland, to Brown's Bay, where we will stay with friends of ours, Angela and Yvonne. We set off early, 7:30am. It's a bit grey this morning but does not look like rain. After 1km we are on the old SH1, as we had hoped the road is reasonably quiet and has generous shoulders, Sau Keng is happy cycling here - thank goodness, as there is no alternate route until we get to Puhoi.

8km out of Warkworth, and AFTER climbing a large hill, I notice the top of Sau Keng's flag is missing. I must have left it behind :-( Should I ride back and get it? Sau Keng would have to wait an hour and I'd have to climb big hill again - neither of us are keen... We explore options with the motel owner, getting a taxi to bring it will cost $35 - it is only worth $40. In the end we organize to have it posted to us.

We carry on and reasonably soon are at the Puhoi turn off. Do we stay on the old SH1?or meander through Puhoi back roads to Silverdale and then Dairy Flat? We debate and decide to continue on old SH1- which takes us to another big climb on the hill with the tunnels.

Motorway tunnel just visible on the right 2/3rds up. We climb all the way

Looking down on the Wenderholm estuary

Along a bit and zoom down into Wairewa, another climb out of Wairewa, then another and we are looking down at Orewa.

It's only 10am and we are nearly there - Sau Keng does not want to arrive so much earlier than she said. So we have lunch, buy a toothbrush and retire to the local library to work for a while. This library is an excellent place to work, even better than most cafes, we will look for them again.

2:15, we are on the road again. Climb another hill, pass the Whangaparaoa turn off, cruise down to Silverdale. Abruptly the road becomes much busier, unpleasantly so. East Coast Bays road will be better - but will it be enough better? No. Fewer vehicles but they are travelling faster and roar past us. We persevere for a while - Sau Keng is not happy at all. Options? To the left nothing. To the right, about 1km on, Wilks road crosses SH1 and takes us into Dairy Flat. We reach Wilks road and turn - this is so much better!

Dairy Flat is becoming industrial and residential, I had expected all farmland, but the roads are quiet and pleasant to ride. Our route forces us to highway 31, busy. I spot Kennedy Rd which should be quieter and cuts the corner... It also climbs a decent hill that has no business being in Dairy FLAT.

We are back on highway 31 but it's residential now, slower traffic and footpaths - even sections with a cycleway. It's okay riding. Albany, we have ridden here before. Down to the motorway junction, full of traffic.

Up to East Coast Bays road (easy climb), Down Browns Bay road for a bit, a couple more turns and we are 'home'. The second half of today's ride was much more of a mission than the first and we are happy it's over. Yvonne walks out to greet us, last time we saw her she was using a walking frame (recovering from a fall) Great to see her fully mobile again :-) I'm looking forward to the dinner we were promised :-)

Sau Keng, dinner, Yvonne, Angela

Statistics

Distance: 55.9km

Climbed: 948m - More than I had expected!

Time: 4:52