By Ruth

Distance: 42 km (biking again!)

What a treat the Timber Trail has been for us! The trail is super well-maintained and goes through kilometre after kilometre of beautiful forest, punctuated by bridges over river gorges and views out over different valleys. And each day has only been a few hours of biking so we’ve had lots of long breaks and time to read and chat. It feels like the weekend!

This morning we woke up at our usual time (5:45) but we didn’t get going until 10 am – with only 42 km to bike, we didn’t need to start early. So, you may be wondering, what did we do with all that time in the morning? Well, we ate. The camping option we chose was the more “flash” choice, and came with a cook-it-yourself all-you-can-eat breakfast. Over the course of the morning today we had toast with peanut butter, more toast with scrambled eggs, and two bowls of cereal. And a cup of tea with each, of course. After that I thought I would feel over stuffed but actually I just felt good! And I wasn’t hungry again until after 1. Amazing.

Today’s ride was a bit of a climb at the start, and then basically all downhill. A lot of the trail is what used to be a tramway for logging in the forest, so none of the hills are too steep. It was overall a lot of fun. We also passed kilometre 1000 of the TA! Can’t believe we’re here already and at the same time it feels like there is still so far to go.

Tonight we are camping at the parking lot at the end of the Timber Trail. With some forested hills on one side and a sheep pasture on the other, it’s actually nicer than it sounds.