Geraldine - Arthurs Pass

Today was different. It was raining and Rex had caught up with his cousin last night who insisted on us visiting the gallery he works in. So we went for some culture, three of us also bought paintings, first thing.
 It was still raining, Dave was the only one keen to ride in the rain. I didn't fancy it unless we knew how far and that there would be a shower waiting at the end.
 We drove towards Methven/Mt Hutt and stopped for smoko at Mt Sommers at the local pub. The bar maid had trouble making us coffee and we supplied our own Earl Grey tea for Nev and me. We had some toasted sandwiches made from a few scraps she found and read about the history of the area.
 We drove on and turned up the river past Mt Hutt to try a gravel road short cut of 17kms towards the West Coast road. Lunch in the van and then Dave and Rex got on their bikes to ride to Arthurs Pass 65kms away.
We watched for a while and wouldn't you know it, the rain stopped. I could watch no longer (and Neville wished he could see!) so it was on the tandem and time to run down the competition.
Neville and I did 31.33 Kms 25.3 average, Dave and Rex 65kms 25.8 ave 2hr 39mins riding. (they had some wicked down hills that we didn't get, but also negotiated 3 big gully descents and climbs) We had an X-Railway house with wood burner already lit and hot showers, our last night of accommodation. So it was a cook up of what we had left, beans, spaghetti on toast followed down with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.