Sunday 6 November was a good day for a ride in the Wairarapa taking in some back roads – in fact a favourite of mine – the road from Martinborough out to the Hinakura Community Centre where you turn left on to a 30 something km gravel section through some beautiful farmland to travel through Summerhill Station emerging finally in Admiral Road for the descent with magnificent view out over the Wairarapa with the Tararuas in the distance to stop for a drink and a natter at the Gladstone Pub. I had posted my intent to go for a ride sometime during the weekend – inviting others keen on dual purpose riding to join me. In the event Garry Williams joined me on his Dakar. When it came down to it I wimped out on taking my 1150GS through the Pram Track (a sometimes very steep 4WD trail in the Karipoti Forest) choosing the gravel route in the Wairarapa instead.

At this time of year the Gladstone locality has an annual scarecrow event – many of the rural properties having interesting scarecrows gracing the roadside berm.

All in all a pleasant ride and one we hope to share with some other gravel road enthusiasts in the future sometime. Cheers Stephen O aka Aslan.