Otago Rail Trail - April 2014
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 100.97 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,635 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 2,441 ft
- Max elevation
- 2,077 ft
- TrailRank
-
33
4.3
- Min elevation
- 447 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 3 days one hour 41 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2907
- Uploaded
- November 20, 2015
- Recorded
- April 2014
near Clyde, Otago (New Zealand)
Viewed 461 times, downloaded 16 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
An excellent publicly accessible cycle way from Clyde in the Otago gold fields to Middlemarch. Lots of accommodation along the way with cafes and pubs.
Best taken over 4 days (with three nights accommodation required on the trail).
Be prepared for all weathers at all times of the year - however you can almost guarantee that in the height of summer it will be very hot and dry and in winter cold and wet.
The track is well maintained gravel - I biked it on a bike without suspension, but if you do make sure you have good grips and well padded riding gloves - most people do have front suspension.
Lots of side trips are available, check out the indoor curling rink at Nasbey, the famous Vulcan Hotel at St Bathans and the historic township of Ophir - still holds the record as having the coldest recorded temperature in NZ!
To get the most out of all the possible side trips I'd suggest an organised tour with an accompanying team van, there are lots of companies out there who can set you up with an itinerary and all the gear if needed.
Once you get to Middlemarch take the train back to Dunedin.
Best taken over 4 days (with three nights accommodation required on the trail).
Be prepared for all weathers at all times of the year - however you can almost guarantee that in the height of summer it will be very hot and dry and in winter cold and wet.
The track is well maintained gravel - I biked it on a bike without suspension, but if you do make sure you have good grips and well padded riding gloves - most people do have front suspension.
Lots of side trips are available, check out the indoor curling rink at Nasbey, the famous Vulcan Hotel at St Bathans and the historic township of Ophir - still holds the record as having the coldest recorded temperature in NZ!
To get the most out of all the possible side trips I'd suggest an organised tour with an accompanying team van, there are lots of companies out there who can set you up with an itinerary and all the gear if needed.
Once you get to Middlemarch take the train back to Dunedin.
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Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Easy
Beautiful landscapes! This was one of the highlights of my NZ trip. It was great just pedal without a hurry and enjoy the ride. The high season had not started yet so it was just me and the sheep. I think I saw less than 20 people on the track in these two days.
I did part of the trail from Wedderburn to Clyde in the beginning of November. I heard it's the best part of the trail. I pedaled for two days and spend a night in very cool 100 and some years old hotel in Omakau. The hotel bar seemed to be a meeting place for the local patrons. I also did small detours to old miner town Ophir and Hayes Engineering Museum. There was also cool bar/restaurant in Chatto Creek. I rented the bike from Bike it now! in Clyde. Very good and comfortable bike with saddle bags. They had transport to Weddderburn with the bike in the morning and booked me the hotel and bus to Queenstown. The meter of the bike showed 92 km for me in the end of the trip.
Weather was beautiful during my trip, I wore just shorts and T-shirt. However a week after I saw on the news they had 20 cm of snow there so better have some warmer clothes with you too.