Marton Meander
Marton is a place we haven't been to in a while and Gary A knew an interesting route to get there. As a discussion about an extended local ride gathered pace at Memorial Park a few weeks ago Gary's suggestion was agreed upon. Gary A certainly knows his way around many of the roads in the lower half of the North Island and with him out the front and leading the way we knew we were in for an interesting roam around the countryside. With our final destination being the Marton Cafe and Bakery, we headed off in a North Westerly direction with the sun shining and the possibility of some predicted rain looking rather remote. The trip out along State Highway Three was uneventful and we made our way through busy confluence of Highways Three and One through Sanson (or is that Sandon?) and on towards our turnoff at Bulls.
This is an interesting loop road as it makes its way towards the beach on the western side of the Rangitikei River and then follows the back of the Santoft Forest through sandhill farmland. The road was intermittently littered with 'wheelie rubber' as young male petrol heads felt the need to 'mark' there territories around the countryside at what appears to be an increasing rate. (Of course we were never like that in our youth?) We were soon back to State Highway Three and Gary had us on our way along Williamson Road and heading towards Turakina Valley Road.
It was here where we stopped for a breather that the lovely fine weather changed and what appeared to be an intermittent shower turned into something a little bit more. Having chosen to stick with just the jeans, things became rather soaked as the shower turned into rain as we made our way along Turakina Valley Road and then onto Makuhou Road. The damp didn't take away from the fun of punting your bike through some great windy roads as we wound our way to Marton and got there just in time for another shower or two!
Parking up outside the cafe and bakery soon had some of the locals popping over for a chat and the coffees and cakes inside were certainly appreciated by the crew. It was a great morning out and a big thanks to Gary for reacquainting us with a piece of the countryside we haven't been to for a while. I am sure it won't be long until we are back that way again.
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