DAY 47 - AUBURN SA

AUBURN SA

DAY 47

GAWLER - AUBURN

77.25 km

Total Time: 09.20 – 16.20 (7h)

Time on Bike: 5h 15m 41s

Max. Speed: 42.9 km/h

Av. Speed: 15.1 km/h

Officially, today was the second slowest day so far.

Not since climbing across the Blue Mountains on Day 2 has there been a slower day.

No surprises really, after 60 kilometres of grinding and relentless uphill.

The hills today were layered, so that I would climb for 10 or 12 km’s, then it would flatten out for 1 or 2, then another 10 km of uphill.

Guaranteed was another set of hills hiding behind the ones I’d just climbed.

And if this wasn’t enough, it was all straight into a headwind.

To be fair, anything else in these conditions would have been a complete waste of a tailwind, so probably just as well.

Today was also the only day I pulled up short of the planned destination.

Clare is another 24 kilometres onward - and uphill I can only presume.

With an hour of daylight left and crawling along at about 12 – 13 km/h, simple math can determine that I would have been still trundling along in the dark and this is not a great plan.

I have pitched just outside of town in what is supposedly a caravan park but I won’t be paying for it.

Auburn is barely on the map but it is a tidy little town on the Clare Valley wine trail, full of B&B’s and host to some National Heritage buildings that have mostly been converted to accommodation or restaurants.

The town pub is one such building, with a blackboard menu that would consume twice my daily budget without even having a drink.

All well and nice for the quaffing set.

Once again, the town supermarket has supplied this traveller with an oddly fashioned meal – mostly out of a tin on this occasion, however after quite a luxurious few days in Adelaide, I must not complain.

Complain I will however, first thing tomorrow when those hills start to rise and I realise that I will likely be in for another day of tedious climbing.

Such a shame really, as the countryside is quite the picture.

Grinding for hours uphill is simply no fun I’m afraid, although short of taking another route, there is little to be done about it.