Plan E

Snow closed Porter's Pass and either snow or flood damage stopped me from accessing other high country options. That left Banks Peninsula or the Port Hills. They're super saturated too and inaccessible.

I have 150mm of rain in my gauge for the week, and 48mm of that since late yesterday. Everywhere is sodden or snowed in. Too much of a good thing.

Plan E a ride. I headed out with an open mind, curious as to how far I'd get and if I'd wish I wish I had a snorkel. It was a day for careful layering and thermal goodness. It was seriously cold, early on the wind chill factor dipped to zero.

There's plenty of surface flooding across the countryside. Lake Ellesmere has been overflowing for nearly 2 weeks so I knew it could get tricky. The Rail Trail track became increasingly slippery several km's from Motukurara. With a lack of hedges and trees the wind robbed me of what little warmth I'd generated. I was no longer having fun.

With the real possibility of face planting into mud and breaking some part of me, I turned around. The sun appeared and coffee at Lincoln on the way home raised my flagging temperature. The snow cloaked mountains looked glorious as I biked the final 10 km's home.

Note the picnic table near the centre of the photo. Sometimes I bike down the bank to the table. Not today, not with an overflowing Halswell River and a saturated bank.

I saw more ducks than people.

Today's gratitude: For walking into a warm sun filled house.