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| It had obviously been raining during the
night as the ground was fairly damp as we left the B&B together,
Dawn driving over the sensor at the gate as the bike wouldn’t
be heavy enough to trigger it and open the gate. Then a left along
the rough and pitted road back to HWY 19 and a left, bound for Waimea
and cowboy country. Once again, I had a tremendous tail wind, so much so that it was a delight to cycle this fairly busy bit of road and the good shoulder just added to the pleasure. The nearer I got to Waimea the more the land looked like the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It was rather stiking to say the least and although it was a continual climb almost the whole way, the slight inclines and the amazing tail wind made it seem like downhill! On both sides the country stretched away in lush rolling grassland, swept by the strong wind such that the whole landscape was in motion and now and again, with rolling green hills in the distance, the road reminded me of the M73 going through the Southern Uplands. At one point though, I crossed a line a tall trees that the road had demanded a break through and as it was quite unusual, I stopped for a picture and then noticed that it wasn’t just a line, it was a gigantic circle of them, perhaps 5 or 6 miles or more in circumference, forming an enclosure of luch grassland. Welcome to cattle country. I presumed they had been planted to shield livestock from just such winds as I was experiencing today. Slowly though, as I neared Waimea, the road became busier and the shoulder disappeared and I hit the obligatory roadworks, having to sidle past lorries and all sorts, crawling along past lines of workmen and steaming tar machines but it wasn’t long until I was in the built up town of Waimea, home of the paniolo and the telescope control centre for one of the huge scopes up on Mauna Kea. It was a bustling place, busy with traffic and very very windy. The recent rains had left low cloud on the surrounding hills, which almost seemed to be heading for the town but the strong winds were keeping them at bay. To the south, as I headed out of town, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa were wreathed in cloud across a vast plateau of grassland. |
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| This end of the island is long dormant and there isn’t much evidence of rock. Everything is green grass, though with El Nino threatening a re-appearance, it was slowly turning to brown and people were worrying about the effects of prolonged drought. I had other things on my mind though, as I cycled downhill out of town, bound for the Kohala Mountain road. I was going down a long incline and the wind was absolutely screaming, from the right, which meant I had to be extremely careful in case I was blown into the path of a vehicle, of which there were a few, although not as much as were in town proper. It was quite hairy but there was far far worse to come, up on the mountain road! | ||||||
| Now, you’re up about 2000 feet at Waimea and so it’s refreshingly cool and combined with the vast grasslands and rolling hills, it really is very much like Scotland and the hills on the mountain road are almost like the Southern Uplands, though a bit higher. It’s a fantastic part of the big island and one of my favourites. It’s a complete contrast to the tropical heat of the south of the island and to round it all off, I was heading over a high mountain road, with superb view of the whole island, towards the second hand book capital of Hawai’i – Hawi! | ||||||
| The moment I turned off the main road and
headed up the mountain road though, I knew it would be a struggle.
The gradients were quite challenging, being steeper than those on
the main roads and there weren’t any shoulders, although the
road surface was excellent. The real problem was the wind. It was
incredible. It was screaming along the side of the hills and blasting
me at maybe 50mph+ and blowing me straight into the middle of the
road. I just couldn’t stop it happening! Luckily the road was
deserted for most of the way up, just the odd car or three coming
now and again and the road consists of straight bits, up which the
wind would blast me, followed by bends, across which the wind would
scream out of a gully and blow me across the road. Also, the vegetation
at the side is rather interesting. I stopped to take a picture and
to get the bike off the road and onto the grass at the verge, I lifted
it up by the saddle and handlebars, upon which, the wind caught it
and blew it horizontal in my hands! The reason for the picture was
the stupendous but hazy view right down the coast, past Mauna Kea,
Mauna Loa and Hualalai above Kona. The thing about the vegatation
was it’s depth. I sank into my knees almost! I also had an amazing experience. At one point, I entered a cutting in the rock, heading uphill quite steeply, when a gust of wind came down and blew me clean through the cutting, uphill, without having to use the pedals! That’s how strong it was all the way across and down the other side. |
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| I stopped for more pictures at the 3000 foot
marker and managed to get the bike against the sign, in the shelter
of a low mound, to stop it being blown onto the road. I stopped at a large layby for lunch of malasadas from the Tex Drive-in in Honoka’a and had a look at the strange geological formation of the rock walls on the other side of the road, which are composed of Ben Moreite, Ben More of Scotland no less! Apparently not a lot of geologists have heard about Ben Moreite! More pictures near the summit, at the cinder cone quarry of Pu’u Kawaiwai, with a backdrop of blue Pacific Ocean. Then a rolling bit of road before the long long descent down to Hawi. Near the summit at 3564 feet, there was a nice house surrounded by wind blasted trees and I thought I could live there, up at that altitude but with easy access to tropical heat for the day down in the south of the island. What a place this is! |
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| Down the other side now, again dogged by
a violent side wind, though mitigated somewhat by lines of tall trees
at the sides of the road. Not only did they give excellent protection,
they also strewd pine needles on the road, making for some nippy tight
bends with a carpet of brown needles. Every now and then though, I
would pass a break, where a gate would lead onto the hills beyond
and the wind would blast through it, trying to blow me across the
road again. Once again, I had to be careful and I was continually
on the lookout for traffic, when I would slow down and hug the side
of the road. I stopped at one of the ranches heading downhill to meet up with Dawn who was out on horseback and I lazed in the sun for a bit, drinking water and relaxing, watching the cattle graze around the hill opposite and the wind sway and judder the long grass in the fields. Pure delight! |
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| On down again but nearing the end of the
hill, it became more of a head wind and I had to slow down considerably.
Just as well I suppose as I negotiated the very tight bends at the
bottom. I came upon the first one doing about maybe 30mph and had
to slam the brakes on, skidding across the road a bit but making it
round, just! Then a long descent on a rough suburb road to the T junction
in Hawi, where I just glimpsed Dawn driving out to Kohala and the
next B&B, Kohala’a Guest House B&B. I eventually reached the B&B a few miles along the road, in fact almost at the end of it and the woman showed me to the room, a small chalet really and I waited for Dawn to arrive. Bit of misunderstanding though and I sat in the broiling heat at the junction in case she turned up as I thought perhaps she hadn’t found the place. |
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| The turn off to the left for the B&B
is just before a short steep uphill and next to a couple of interesting
houses crowded by tropical jungle, very green and pleasant and the
road here is very quiet. When I first arrived at the B&B the swarthy
local woman remembered my name and led me down a narrow path under
the overhanging trees, walking over oranged scattered on the ground
to the very nice chalet, deep in the trees. Superb little place, no
telly and very quiet. That night we dined at the Bamboo restaurant in town, after going to the biggest second hand bookshop in Hawai’i I think, where we had to sign the guestbook as apparently we were the furthest travelled guests to his shop! He said he’d been to Skye but didn’t like the narrow roads or the crazy drivers. Said he was lucky to escape with his life! There seem to be a few shops, well, a couple anyway, selling what seem to be bamboo bikes but which are just normal shoppers wrapped in bamboo. Shame, as I was looking forward to finding out how they make the bottom bracket! |
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