Day: 108
Date: Saturday, 17 October 2020
Start: Robe
Finish: Mount Gambier
Daily Kilometres: 137 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)
Total Kilometres: 11280
Weather: Cold, mostly overcast and windy
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Apricot bun & donut/Sausage roll & apricot bun
Lunch: Chicken, bacon & cheese met sub
Dinner: Pulled pork & rice/Lamb rissoles & vegetables, apple pie & custard
Aches: Nothing significant
Highlight: On the road out of Robe, foam whipped up on one of the small lakes by the wind blew across the road. Out on the highway, we were buffeted by the raw south-westerly, straight off the Southern Ocean, under a gloomy heavy overcast with occasional spits of rain, as we rode past dunes and across flat farmland. It was elemental and invigorating ….. at least for the first hour or two.
Lowlight: There were no easy kilometres today. The cold blustery wind was either across us or against us, and never gave us a break.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
As usual, we both groaned when the alarm went, this morning at 5:15am. It's always hard to get out of bed, but once we do, we each fall into a routine that generally sees us packed and on our bikes in 30-45 minutes. There are never any groans when we start riding, just a pleasant anticipation of the day ahead and what surprises it might hold for us.
We rode out of Robe at 6am, aiming for the the small resort of Beachport, 52km away, for breakfast. It was cold, gloomy and windy (see above) as we followed the coastal dunes to the south-east. Initially, it was flat with a mix of coastal vegetation and farmland, but further along we encountered some gentle hills and rolling green pastures. Near Beachport, the country was more open and the cold wind fierce. We stopped to look at the resort's wind-whipped ocean beach, before riding into the town along a bike path which passed a surprisingly well-patronised, but very bleak, caravan park. It was hard to imagine what outdoor activities the holiday-makers could have on their menu for today.
We bought breakfast from the deli/newsagent on the tiny main street and ate it at an outside table, shivering in the wind. We didn't hang around and rode back out of town around 9:30am, bound for Millicent, 32km away. This area is known as the Limestone Coast, and the white rock could be seen in small outcrops and in bare patches in some of the fields. Despite the wind and cold, the increasingly undulating countryside was varied and attractive, populated with plenty of well-fed cattle.
Millicent is quite a large town, but looked desolate today, with the cold wind whistling down the very quiet main street when we arrived at 11:30am. We bought a snack for morning tea, which we ate on an exposed bench outside the Visitors Centre, as well as a sub which we carried with us for a later lunch.
After Millicent, pine plantations became a common feature, which was good for us, because they had a dampening effect on the wind. We had one final break, to eat lunch, on an exposed picnic table by the road, before cycling the remaining 30km to Mount Gambier, our goal for the day, which we reached about 2:45pm. It is a large town, and it took a little while to get from the outskirts to our motel, during which time it began to rain. Fortunately, the rain abated and we checked in, very pleased to have finished the day and to get out of the elements. Although not a huge day, kilometre-wise, it was hard work, offset by varied scenic interest.
After showers we walked to the nearest supermarket, 600 metres away, to buy dinner, and got caught in a light rain shower on the way back. After a microwaved dinner, we (well, me, anyway) watched the football finals on TV, enjoying the warmth of our heated room on a very wintry evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment