Mothy's got sore arms from cycling

It was beautiful weather today, so instead of painting we went for a bike ride on the Motukarara to Little River Rail Trail.


It was lots of fun, with beautiful scenery, and we stopped an had a picnic on the beach at Birdlings Flat.


We cycled about 24kms! That's LOTS for me, and now my thighs ache. But Mothy's arms ache apparently. He's a strange lad in some respects.


The highlight of the day though, was coming across a crazy old grumpy guy who'd spent the morning duck shooting (first day of the season today), but then couldn't get back on his motorbike (not allowed on the rail trail, but he's been riding it since 1952, so I guess it's OK) with all his dead ducks and guns and paraphernalia. He'd got very hot and bothered with all the effort as he seemed to be wearing a balaclava, hard hat, safety goggles, gummies, very thick waders and at least a couple of jerseys in the 20 degree heat. After he'd got Mothy to try and help him push the bike up the bank back on to the trail for about 5 minutes, he remembered that he'd chained the back wheel to a handy tree. So after undoing the chain Mothy then received instructions on how to grab the guys leg and yank it up across the bike so he could get back on the seat. But it (the leg) kept getting stuck on the pile of dead ducks bungeed to the back of the bike. There was much pain and swearing and contradictory instructions issued, and eventually he got on, and pootled off along the rail trail again, back to his house.


We passed by about 20 minutes later and were hailed for a history lesson on the region, as a thank you for our trouble. It's not like it used to be. Mainly due to the Poms coming in and taking over.