DAY 78 - WALLAROO SA

WALLAROO SA

DAY 78

CLEVE – WALLAROO (BIKE + FERRY)

67.21 km

Total Time: 08.00 – 15.00 (7h)

Time on Bike: 3h 50m 18s

Max. Speed: 57.7 km/h

Av. Speed: 17.5 km/h


I arrived today on Yorke Peninsula.

This is the middle piece of territory hanging off the bottom of SA.

Where to go and what to do next is not decided, although 450 kilometres since leaving Ceduna on Tuesday morning and I’m pretty hilled-out so there is a rest day due.

But first, back to today.

It was a 42 km, 3-hour haul from Cleve to Cowell and a cool, cloudy cruise it turned out to be.

I also spent a lot of time looking upwards.

This fascination for massive hills and how they intrude on what I normally regard as fun may still be the subject of a future human-interest lobby.

Something of an underground hill-chaser network – strange loners who travel to all corners, seeking out the most brutal of climbs and then spreading the wealth amongst other birds of feather or anyone else who may be the slightest bit interested.

I would imagine that somewhere out there, people are already doing it.

Or if not, the idea is all mine - here and now.

Still, my belief in destiny is strong enough to realise when things happen for a reason.

Consider this:

- All those nasty old monster hills between Cleve and Cowell, turning a normally straightforward 2-hour transit into an all-morning ordeal.

- Arriving in Cowell at 11 am with no intention to stay but no other game plan.

- Finding out at 11.05 that a once-daily ferry to Yorke Peninsula departs at 12 pm in Lucky Bay, 15 km away.

- Spending 5 minutes between 11.05 and 11.10 looking for a tree in Cowell under which to pitch my tent.

- Taking off at 11.10 on a fit of pique in an insane attempt to make the ferry.

- Afterburning for 50 minutes over 15 km of uphill pinch and diabolical gravel roads to make the ferry at 12.00.28.

- Receiving a round of applause from everyone onboard who had driven past and not stopped to offer me a lift.

So here I am in Wallaroo and here I will stay until Monday.

Amen.