Day 17 Tadmor to Gowanbridge

Walked by me and Rapid 44.2km Ella 19.5km 65092 steps

The original plan for today was for Ella to walk the 29km from Tadmor to Glenhope via the back road while Alison and the van went on the main road. The back road is much more direct but has 15km of narrow gravel and 3 fords. After my experience the first day I decided that might be too much for Ella and so the plan was changed for Alison to meet me 10km towards Tui, for the first rest break, and drop off Ella before going back to Tapawera where we stayed last night and on to Glenhope.

The first dilemma was that the vicarage at Tapawera not having Vodafone coverage I had switched my phone off. I hadn't packed everything in nthe van as Alison was planning to spend the morning with Jane. I had left my phone in the suitcase. Alison wne t back and got if for me but it meant I missed the coverage area between Tapawera and Tadmor to get any messages. I was 15 minutes late leaving Tadmor. Alison got back with the phone about half an hour later when i was 3km up the valley and out of coverage.

Rapid had a tough day today. I suspect he stood on some of the dead blackberry which littered the verges and hurt his left rear paw. Within minutes of starting I put that paw in one of the soft boots Marion gave me. The traffic after an initial rush died off and I let Rapid off lead and he remained off lead until Glenhope, apart from a short distance where a farmer had a fence that wasn't containing his sheep.

About 4km after starting Mark Newcombe, the local Mighty Mix agent. Mark is a builder and Mighty Mix is a secondary business. Mark is working on a house near Tadmor Saddle and invited me to join him for a cuppa when I got there. Mark also dropped the first donation for the day in the bucket.

Alison arrived spot on time at 9am by which time I had covered 9.5km. Things for lunch were transferred into my pack along with all the "emergency" supplies including shoes and socks for Rapid. Hannah had come out for the ride. Hannah gave me a set of shoes and some socks. I put the socks inside the shoe bag and then dropped it into the back pack. Alison then took the backpack off me to load in other stuff while I carried on walking.

A little further up the road Caroline called me in for a cup of tea. Mark was still there. John and Stanley, a blind sheepdog, live here. John has MS. 40 minutes later I was back on the road, now well behind schedule. Within a km Rapid was limping on his right rear leg. I put all 4 shoes and discovered I din't have socks. Almost immediately Rapid lay down and chewed at the front ones. I took off the front shoes and he walked moderately happily for the next 10km. Ella was always well ahead of me enjoying herself. Rapid was hanging around close to me.

The Nelson railway was built up the Tadmor valley. There was no settlement between Tadmor and Glenhope so the stations were given birds names. Kiwi, Tui, Kaka, Huia.
Kiwi is about 8km from Tadmor. There is a sign in NZR station sign tradition in the middle fo a field. Tui is still obvious as a loicality as it is at a crossroads. There is a road bridge at Kaka. I never found Huia. When I drove the route I saw very little evidence of the railway but walking I first detected signs of it a few km out of Tadmor and could see it most of the way to Kaka. After that I lost it but I was told by one of the locals at the building sight where to find the cutting at Tadmor Saddle.

I arrived at the building site - 8.2km from Glenhope 15minutes before I was due at Glenhope. The site is well up out of the valley and had phone coverage. I called Alison and got voice mail and left a message I would be at Glenhope at 2:30 (1hr 45minutes late). Alison was in one of those strange locations where you can get texts but not calls. So she got a text to say she had voice mail. Initially she assumed it was just me saying I was on the way but as time went by she became worried. About 2:15 she set off in the van along the dry weather road to find me.

Meanwhile back at the building site, Rapid was very tired and just lay down a few times on the climb up the driveway. Ella went for a swim in the dam so I then took Raoid's shoes off so he could go to. Leaving the site half an hour later Rapid within 1km was limping. He also seemed to have problwms with the front feet so all 4 shoes went on.

There was a cold wind coming from the south as I went over Tadmor Saddle. The cloud was also building and I was fairly certain we would get rain - it turned out to be much later than I expected. Alison met up with me about 3km from Glenhope and I put Rapid's socks on. Unfortunately the shoes had pulled quite a bit of hair off his front feet.

Once we got to Glenhope Alison took Ella into Murchison to get her cartrophen injection and also to buy some food while the shops were still open while I carried on towards Kawatiri. Rapid was a fairly listless and hanging behind me all the way.

I changed socks at Kawatiri as my feet were getting a little cold and hoped that socks that weren't full of sweat might be a little warmer. I also put my parka on as I was getting cold. There was a guy there who had bought a dirt bike in Nelson. He had a friend witha trailer to carry it but was determined to ride it partof the way. He wasn't that well dressed - jeans and a jacket. He was pretty cold at Kawatiri and I doubt he made it through to Murchison before giving up riding.

I wasn't long down the road to Kawatiri when the rain started. Not very hard and only lasted about half an hour. The road from Kawatiri to Owen River (part of Day 18) is narrow and rather windy. I had to frequently cross the road as it was necessary to be on the outside of the curves, so I couldn't always walk facing the traffic. Alosin caught up with me about halfway between Kawatiri and Gowanbridge.

On my first visit to Gawanbridge (I think in 1971) Dizzy's store was still there. In 1974 I waited in the store for half an hour for the bus to Christchurch to arrive. Now thre is just a plaque where it was. The road layout has been changed dramtically and it is hard to recognise it as the same place.

It had been agreed at the start of the day I would walk 2 or 3 km extra as this was a "short" day compared with the next few. The sun was setting as i got to Gowanbridge. I told Alison to proceed ahead a maximum of 2km till she found a good pickup spot. Granity Creek - 1.7 km down the road turned out to be that spot.

By the time we got to Murchison it was dark. We couldn't find the cottage at Suzie's place and she ws still out gardening. First attempt turned out to be a barn. We then found a cottage and got the fire going. When it was time to start cooking we couldn't find any pots. We were just packing the van to go to Murchison to eat when Suzie arrived. We were in the wrong cottage. By the time we got a second fire going and had dinner it was bed time.