The day breaks cloudless, so unusual for the West Coast of Te Waipounamu to have a continuous dry spell with high temps - but we were revelling in it. Anticipation over coffee for another exciting return ride to complete the trail. We'd met quite a few riders who, like us, rode daily sections each way. All of us agreed that the experience of a different perspective each way compensated for the extra kilometres. And made the beer/water/ tea/drink at the end of the day, more enjoyable. We'd camped the night at The Links View campsite 5km south of Hokitika and upon exiting the main road went straight into native bush. The early morning birdsong and a cooling breeze were an awesome way to begin the ride. Some tricky switchbacks and steep climbs soon got the muscles calling out to us to "stop" but as they say "no pain, no gain". The trail took us alongside the wild, driftwood-strewn west coast beach, along dusty inland roads and, the highlight of the day for me, through wetlands where we spied large tuna (eels) from the boardwalk. A less exciting section is the last 8km into Ross along an arrow-straight dusty track that had me cycling in "puppy-paws" time trail mode. The historic gold mining village of Ross is the start and end point of The West Coast Wilderness Trail and it was with a sense of achievement that we lent bikes against the village sign to take photos before celebrating in the old pub with a low-alcohol beer and a fish burger! And so we'd completed the trail effectively both ways. If you have the time, I'd recommend completing it this way. Things are always missed whilst speeding past and picked up on the return. A fantastic trail and, for us, a great inspiration for tackling all of The Great Rides in Aotearoa