8-10 May 2026

Leader: Paula Richardson

Friday morning, we set off on our cycling adventure, arriving at Castlecliff Campground around midday. After stopping for lunch, we cycled 10 km to Whanganui City to visit Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. This venue was reopened in 2024 after major redevelopment which strengthened the iconic old gallery and added a new modern wing. The gallery is very impressive and well worth a visit.

We returned to the campground, had dinner in the lovely cafe across the road (there were no cafes in Castlecliff when I was a kid!) and got ready for our ride the next day. It rained overnight but the forecast was OK.

Saturday morning, we saddled up and got away by 8:30. The cycle route we followed is the final section of the Mountain to Sea Trail which follows the river from Castlecliff to Whanganui. We passed the early morning Parkrun runners and walkers and stopped a while for coffee at the Whanganui Markets on the river. What a lovely Saturday market. We cycled along the river through Aramoho to the fantastic Upokongaro bike bridge and took a wee detour up a lovely valley road. It wasn’t the River Road we should have been on, which we quickly realised and backtracked.

From Upokongaro we rode about 2 km on the main highway to the Whanganui River Road turnoff. From here we had about 60 km to cycle over several hills, so we monitored our battery use carefully! The road is completely sealed now which is much better than the old gravel road. We rode through Koroniti (Corinth), Atene (Athens), Ranana (London), and Jerusalem where we stopped for a while and had a chat with the locals staying in the old nunnery. We had a look through the beautiful church, soaked up the atmosphere and had a late lunch.

We had 10 km to go to get to Pipiriki. There was one last hill to climb. Jerri, Sue and Steph’s battery lasted the distance, but my battery ran out at Jerusalem, so I had to bike the last 10 km with no e-power in the rain! But it was ok! We know all about range anxiety and battery envy now! We arrived at Pipiriki Campground which is a lovely spot with beautiful new cabins. Here we had a very pleasant night.

Sunday morning, we left Pipiriki about 8:30. There was a bit of drizzle, but it wasn’t unpleasant and the mist made the river very atmospheric. The cloud lifted and the sun came out as the day went on.

Jerri and Steph were in the lead and were very surprised to hear someone calling out “Help!” Luckily, they stopped and saw a woman in distress on the other side of the river. Luckily too, some cars with some locals came along. Steph and Jerri stopped them. The locals drove ahead to get cellphone coverage. They called the Police, who organised a jet boat to rescue the woman. The woman was very lucky we were cycling past her that day. If we had been driving in a car, we would not have heard her cries for help. The locals were very grateful for our assistance.

We carried on to Upokongaro for a coffee stop, and then with just 19 km to go we felt like we were on the home stretch. However, the wind got up and it made cycling the last 19 km hard work. We completed the cycle ride. Sue's battery ran out of power just before the Campground whilst the rest of us had 1 or 2% of battery power left! This was a lovely ride of 84 km each way and was a good test of bike, battery and rider endurance.

Those on the trip were:

Jerri Bassi, Paula Richardson, Sue Sparkes, Steph Turner

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.