Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 047 - Borroloola to Cape Crawford

Day:  047

Date: Monday, 17 August 2020

Start:  Borroloola

Finish:  Cape Crawford

Daily Kilometres:  112 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  4946

Weather:  Mild to hot and sunny all day

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Ham salad sandwiches

  Lunch:  Silverside salad sandwiches 

  Dinner:  Fish, chips & salad/Chicken schnitzel, chips & salad

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  We stopped by the side of the road in the shade of a tree for our mid-morning break and compared it to our mid-morning break three days ago on the road from Hells Gate to Borroloola.  Then, we were hot, exhausted, caked in dust, drinking warm water and trying to eat glutinous trail mix (Smarties are not as robust as M&Ms), with many kilometres of rough dusty road in front of us.  Today, we were warm, fresh, clean, struggling to get the last of the not-quite-thawed flavoured milk out of the carton, snacking on still-cold chocolate, and more than half-way to our objective with a following wind and flattish road ahead.  It almost felt like we were cheating!

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

One chore I forgot on our day off yesterday, was to clean and reposition the cleats in our shoes, so we left Borroloola a little later than intended at 6:45am.  After the gravel, clay and dirt of last week, gunk had accumulated around the cleats, making them difficult to clip in and out, so it was worth spending the time, with the gunk now behind us, for a while at least.

It was magic riding on a sealed road again.  We could maintain a good speed and look around more, rather than struggling along focused on choosing the best line to ride on the rough surface.  The sun was rising behind us and there was very little traffic as we rode through the flat savannah woodland dotted with the ubiquitous termite mounds amidst the ubiquitous burnt undergrowth, the result of low-intensity fires common in the arid tropics of Australia.

After an hour or so, we crossed out of aboriginal land onto McArthur River Station land, a vast cattle station (7,000 square kilometres), through which we cycled for the next 100km, apart from some kilometres claimed by the massive McArthur River Mine (lead-zinc-silver).  We stopped for breakfast around 9am, having made good time on a beautiful morning and looking forward to an early finish to the day.

After breakfast, rocky outcrops, escarpments and low hills began to break up the flat savannah scenery, providing more interest and a few gradual climbs.  However, to our benefit, as our road direction swung more to the west, what had been a mild crosswind became a following wind.  Our average speed was about 23kph and we decided that we would only need one more break before our destination, Cape Crawford.  We had that break at 11am (see above), then had an easy run to the Heartbreak Hotel roadhouse at Cape Crawford which we reached at 1pm.

Although we only rode 112km today, it's 272km to the next roadhouse, so we will camp here (no cabins available) where we can get showers and food, and then camp by the road tomorrow night.  There's nothing here but the roadhouse and an airstrip, but it is pleasantly grassed and shady.  We ate our lunch on the broad roadhouse verandah before setting up our tent.  Julie then had a swim in the small pool while socialising with some other travellers while I returned to the verandah for a lazy afternoon.

The roadhouse kitchen reopened at 6pm, and we ate there as well as buying supplies for tomorrow's ride, and had an early night.  Camping by the road tomorrow night, so likely no internet access.