All hope of a dry, windless, warm day was dashed by the morning news, and a peep outside of my cosy but rustic little room. It was fogged in, blowing a gale with the morning news confirming high winds all day from the NW which happened to be the way I was riding. I made porridge for brekky and was all set to go by 8am. Louis, my new Portugese 'neighbour' who came up the mountain some hours after me late the previous day, was also set to go. Louis gets my 'tough man' award for riding up the mountain. It was a mutual photo opportunity for our folks back home.
Louis was only heading for Port Campbell, some 48k along the coast. We were both excited because our first 20k would be rapidly downhill, a reverse of our climb the evening before. It was cold, wet and 'blowy', so out came the gloves, the neckwarmer and arm warmers. Louis is quite a character. It is one of the great things about cycle touring, meeting new people, especially people from overseas.
The drop off the mountain was rapid, if not a little dangerous. I was under brake most of the way - it falls nearly 500mtrs altitude in about 16k - I hit a scary 52kph at one section, but mostly managed to hold the bike to about 30kph but heavily under brake. Louis wasn't far behind. As I bottomed out at the river at Gellibrand Lower, two Japanese cyclists were just about to make the climb. I felt really sorry for them, knowing what they were about to face. They looked to me like the mountain would prove the victor! Having bottomed out, there was one more savage climb before revealing the most glorious farmland that lasted for many miles until the village of Princeton where the road opened up the most beautiful coastline and the famous '12 Apostles'. It is little known, but these were originally called 'Sow' and 'Piglets', but I can only guess the Biblical reference was deemed by someone to have more appeal to the tourist market. It was a multicultural day for me, this lovely Japanese girl delighted in having her photo with a genuine Aussie cyclist. Okay, I was also delighted!
You will see from the photos that the day cleared, but the photo does no justice to the massive wind that blew all day into my face. However, I was very keen to make the most of this outstanding and impressive part of God's creation. The coastline between Princeton to Peterborough is just breathtaking, not only the Apostles, which are limestone stacks that have been carved out of the miles and miles of spectacular limestone cliffs that dominate the coastline. It is sad that space does not allow the photos that do justice to this spectacular part of God's creation. I stopped in at Port Campbell to get in out of the wind and enjoy a hamburger for lunch, but fully aware of the remaining 65k yet to be wrestled on the bike to Warnambool. However, the best of the coastline was yet to be encountered. I knew it would be a huge day on the bike, but I was determined not to miss any of this spectacular coast.
I was playing leapfrog with this beautiful family from Holland who were up from Melbourne for the day. They seemed excited to make friends with an unusual cyclist who somehow drew pleasure from suffering on a bike like this. So finally at the 'Bay of Martyrs' we all delighted in cementing our new found friendship with a 'family' photo. I assured them I would put them on the blog. I hope they look me up - they were very lovely people and I very much enjoyed our frequent meetings throughout the day. Now late in the afternoon, we parted company, they returning to Melbourne as I faced the wind in a difficult course for Warnambool, still some 55k away.
Leaving 'Apostle' country in my rear view mirror, the landscape also dramatically changed. The road entered the most beautiful black soil farm country. Into the wind, the bike only managed 15kph under load, and at this rate the k's ticked by ever so slowly. The sun had now come around to the west, and was now directly into my eyes. My body was screaming that it had done enough for the day, but the k's were still in front of me. The legs were turning nicely, but the body was just about fully expired. I took each set of 5k's as short goals, rewarding myself occasionally with snickers and/or muesli bar celebration.
Eventually, I came to the end of the Ocean Road as I joined the Princes Highway. The sun was now low, and it looked like I wouldn't be making Warnambool before sunset.
At 6:15pm, just after darkness descended, a very weary cyclist turned his bike into a cheap Motel in the heart of the city of Warnambool. The GPS registered 122k for the day, every k being hard work except perhaps for the initial descent off the mountain from Lavers Hill. It was another huge day, nursing the old problem again of a softening rear tyre that needed pumping every 5k for the final 15k run down the Princess Highway. It was a superb day though, but tonight there isn't much of this aging body that isn't stiff and sore!
Tomorrow I head to Portland via historic Port Fairy, a reasonable 100k (but winds NW is already forecast!!).
KRA
No comments:
Post a Comment