Putaruru #

Whatever you do, avoid riding on SH 5 between Putaruru and Rotorua! It’s a dangerous, narrow and very busy road – and fortunately there’s a much better way. There’s a public access easement all the way along Leslie Road, which connects Putaruru and Mamaku, and the forestry company have given permission for cyclists to use it. The result is a wonderful (though hilly) connection between Rotorua and the Waikato:

The best way to get to Mamaku is to ride along the Ngongotaha cycleway to Ngongotaha, then up Dansey Road. Dansey Road isn’t ideal, sealed and with a fair amount of traffic, but it’s better than the state highway.

Note that the locals at Mamaku are notorious for dumping rubbish near the end of Cecil Road, and there’s also been trouble with people taking motorbikes into the forest so the forestry company have dug a large trench across the road. They then built a special bridge over this trench for us to use – it’s narrow, but you can wheel your bike over it.

The final 1 km of Cecil road is a bit of a mess, with trenches and blackberry, so you’ll just have to pick your way across. But once you cross over Galaxy Road the rest of the way through the forest is brilliant gravel riding.