South Wairarapa Rebus Club

Joe Howells.

By David Woodhams

Members attending our October meeting heard a fascinating address from Joe Howells, one of the principals of Green Jersey Cycle Tours based in Martinborough. While Green Jersey, with 700 cycle seats available for hire, is larger than any other Cycle Hire company in New Zealand, the bulk of their hire market is Martinborough Wine Tourism; when it comes to real touring in Aotearoa NZ, there are Cycle Tour operators that are substantially larger than Green Jersey. Pre-Covid, Green Jersey had organised tours to the south of France with on-the-ground support from Velorizons, a cycling organisation in France with a similar philosophy to their own. In return, Green Jersey had supported French tours to NZ but there has been no business either way since the outbreak of Covid in early 2020.

Their French business was initially a small-scale endeavour to generate some business over the quiet NZ winter months. It became something they really enjoyed doing. In the NZ winter of 2019, Joe spent almost four months touring in France and UK. Green Jersey are now taking bookings for their cycle tours in France for 2023 and are looking forward to the prospect of reciprocal business from Velorizons.

The main Green Jersey French tour is 16 days riding from Bordeaux City to Sète, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, a distance of 750 km, taken at 50 to 75 km per day. All meals and accommodation are booked ahead, luggage transfer and bicycle hire are included in the cost. Often the route follows canal paths, particularly the Canal de la Garonne, opened in 1856, from Bordeaux to Toulouse and the Canal du Midi, opened 1681, from Toulouse to Agde. Together they link the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the hazardous 3000 km sea journey for freight through the Straits of Gibraltar.

France is a very cycle-friendly country with more kilometres of cycle trails per head of population than any other nation on earth. He showed us many views of tracks, in a wide range of environments with different surfaces from asphalt and concrete to shingle tracks, most being dedicated to both cyclists and walkers. 

France is a collection of principalities all with a unique history. The Loire is like a fairyland, a land of plenty, where rich landowners competed with each other in the building of Chateaux and gardens. But for all the wonderful scenery, the scars and monuments of war are everywhere to be found, although often softened by the abundance of flowers growing wild, flowers that reminded him of the flowers that grew in his grandmother’s garden in Martinborough. 

The South Wairarapa Rebus Club <https://southwairaraparebus.com> meets in the South Wairarapa Working Men’s Club on the fourth Friday morning of each month and organises an outing in those months with a fifth Friday. Anyone in the retired age group who may be interested in SW Rebus Club is welcome to come along to a meeting as a visitor.  Please contact David Woodhams, Past President, 306 8319, 027 673 1027.