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17 thoughts on “Leslie – Cecil Road”
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@ianganderton I’ve updated the start of the post to reflect the road being closed.
This page should probably be changed to reflect the permanent nature of the changes.
Also worth noting the gate at the start of the Leigh Road gravel section seems to be permanently locked although I could sneek around the side on my KTM 690 Enduro. Anything bigger would struggle
I went for a look at each end of the blocked off area last night.
The Cecil Road section is about 500m long looking at the map and the road no longer exists as can be seen on google maps.
There appears to be a single track suitable for mountain bikes through the 500m section.
At the Mamaku end there are concrete posts with a narrow gap then a narrow concrete bridge across deep ditches. This could be passed/crossed with care on a small, narrow bike.
At the Leigh Road End there are deep ditches with a narrow walking/mountain bike path over a narrow ridge with steep sides through some deep ditches. Again this could be navigated with a nimble bike.
I didn’t walk the path itself so don’t know what other challenges lie hidden in the trees. It looked like it would be fun to try and get through but not on my own
Thanks Daniel, I’ll take a look out there when I get a chance and post an update.
I haven’t ridden this recently, perhaps a year or two ago. There was a bit of commentary to this post but must have got lost on the forum changeover. Gist was gate was removed eastern end, then later a big trench was dug. When I went, there was a detour around that. There is a gate at western end, with a access to the side but might have trouble squeezing through. Likewise eastern end depending on bike size/tyres/weather the detour could be a challenge.
Has anyone ridden this recently to know if the gate is still there or not? Looks like it would make a great loop combined with Mamaku South Road and a bit of State Highway.
Cecil Road at Mamaku end and 1 shot of Galaxy Rd end.
Went through here the other day. I didn’t see the accessway created in the pictures above, nevertheless there was a path that went around the trench although it may be a bit of work for some larger motorbikes. There were also a series of humps and dips created along a good portion of Cecil road that were a bit of fun.
Looks like the GGG group managed to get the road opened again by putting some pressure on the council:
I’ve just seen this update on Facebook from a local cycling club about Leslie and Cecil Roads. It seems the local forest owners and South Waikato District Council have illegally blocked the road to vehicle access at the Mamaku end.
Rode Leslie Road from Mamaku via Cecil Road on Saturday 28 Jan 17 with Black Betty and Brainflex. It was very good in great condition but there is a locked gate at the Putaruru end of the road which we managed to by-pass, but it seems someone doesn’t want vehicles going east on Leslie Road towards Mamaku.
Another good ride, as mentioned above the last bit of Cecil road was fun! I’m just uploading the video to YouTube now so will post here as soon as I can.
Rode this today starting from Mamaku. As Mario Gregor mentions, its gravel then a few hundred meters of mud/water holes (aka fun!). After several K’s we hit the locked gate…
Okoroire Hotel was awaiting our arrival, so any obstacles in our way were overcome…
I rode through the Mamaku Forest today. Started from the Blue Spring (Te Waihou Walkway) and headed South on Leslie Road. when the tarseal on Leslie road ends and the gravel begins there is a gate, but I was lucky today as it was open. There was a sign on the fence to the right of the gate that stated the forest was private land and access was only with a permit – so proceed at your own risk if you choose to visit.
Leslie road was in great condition weaving its way through the forest. Nothing hard about this road, great surface. I didn’t venture off onto any of the numerous side roads, bearing in mind that I didn’t have permission to use those so I was sticking to the clearly marked public road on my map/road atlas. After quite a while (15km ish) cruising through the forest with no-one else in sight I came to a cross-roads. Straight ahead was a very badly rutted very muddy track with huge deep bike swallowing mud puddles. So I turned left and followed the gravelforest road for a couple of km’s until I could see normal car traffic in front and realised it was SH5 passing the road end.
I U-turned and went back to the main cross-roads in the forest and this time went straight on, thinking I was going to cross a railway line, turn left and come into the Mamaku township shortly after…
What I actually did was travel through LOTS more amazing forestry, through 3 signposted gorges (Mangatapu, Sheldon, and ??) each of which were twisty and steep, then passed through an area of forestry that was being actively logged, with yellow JCBs and the like loading trucks just off the road in a clearing. I passed a couple of hard-hatted workers sitting in vehicles (none of whom yelled or gesticulated at me) and had to pull aside for one logging truck to pass as I turned into a road on the left, sign pointing toward ‘Mamaku South Road’ (later I was to find out I had been travelling on Galaxy road). I followed Mamaku South road until it arrived at a T intersection. I turned right here (SouthWest) and followed the gravel (South road Ilater found out) past a recreation area with walks to a lake, and eventually through farmland until the road became tarseal and then came to a 3 way intersection. The road to the right was signposted Mossop Road, the road to the left was South Road. An old Maori fella in a van pulled up and told me Mossop Road would take me to Tokoroa. Mossop road was new he said and hence it wasn’t on my map, it was “the Tokoroa motorway” apparently. South Road would take me to Tokoroa as well, or to Ngongotaha.
I turned back the way I came onto the gravel and continued North back along South Road to the intersection at the end of Galaxy road, but this time went straight on. the road remained gravel in excellent condition and passed through some nice farmland before arriving a few minutes later in Mamaku township. After riding around Mamaku for five minutes to get my bearings I left town heading East toward SH5 and found the end of Cecil road. Determined to find out where I had gone wrong in not being able to ride straight through the forest from Leslie Road into Mamaku, I headed up Cecil road too see where it went. After a few km on tarseal the road became gravel and then narrowed towards an open gate. On the other side of the gate were huge deep ruts and mud holes and bike swallowing mud puddles… I dismounted and walked the next 3 or 4 hundred metres to confirm my suspicions that this horribly chewed up piece of ‘road’ did in fact join up with the intersection I had seen in the forest from the other side. It did. But it was impassable in it’s current condition, the locals having used it as a 4×4 fun park! so I retreated back onto the tarsealed south end of Cecil road and turned left, (Maraeroa Rd) passing Mamaku Blue blueberry winery and “Off-Road NZ” tourist 4×4 place and out onto SH5 just north of the turnoff for Hamurana (Oturoa Rd).
One day in the near future I will go back and start from the Tokoroa end of Mossop road and find my way in from that side, and travel East into the forest, then leave on Leslie road toward the blue spring.
Incidentally on my paper map it shows a railway line going through this forest, but it cant be used as a reference point because it is disused and heavily overgrown over most of its length. Galaxy road even crosses it, not that you would know, hence I missed my reference point for where I was when I reached the end of Leslie road and was faced with the muddy Cecil Road.
In Mamaku village just by the old diesel Log Pulling train head along Arahiwi road where you can ride alongside part of the line as it heads north out of the village. Google maps shows Arahiwi road turns hard left at the end and joins Galaxy road but this isn’t the case. It actually turns hard left, crosses the railway into someones private driveway. You can see Galaxy road from here, about a hundred metres away, on the other side of a locked gate.
Hi there,
I have done this road last week. If you go up there from the Leslie Rd. side (off the blue spring) there is a gate, locked off and sign that it is private road.
I turned back but being determined and stubborn, I went to Mamaku and took Cecil road back.
After little bit of gravel there was about 200 meter section of mud and heavy roughed up road but I managed to get through on my 1200GS and then I continued all the way until the gate on Leslie rd. So I have done it.
Good fun. Maybe it wouldn’t be if i was found out. But I wasn’t 😉 I will post youtube video soon.
The folks over at http://www.offroadexpress.kiwi have received a reply from South Waikato District Council about the status of Cecil & Leslie Roads.
The short story is that Hancock Forestry has been instructed to open the welded gate and remove the felled trees at the Cecil Road end. The gate will remain however it should always be unlocked.
At the Cecil Road end the road is actually on private land by up to 300 metres in places as the formed road does not follow the Legal Road Reserve, so that gate is legal and will stay.
Historically the Cecil Road gate was usually left unlocked however it seems to be locked now and that is the private land owners right to do so.
Cecil road has been blocked by the local the forestry company by putting up a gate which is welded shut and dug 1 metre deep ditches on either side of the gate to stop anyone passing through, plus dropping trees across the road.
Various local 4×4 groups have raised this with the South Waikato Council as this is a legal public road and so blocking it with an inaccessible gate is illegal.
Some video footage taken by local 4×4’rs.