It is 4 am in the morning and I have decided that we will give John a ring first thing and say that we will not be arriving tonight after all. I have been conversing with John for weeks and feel really bad. Talking to our hosts here and looking at the altitude diagrams for our route, tell me however that we face a severe challenge to do the route we plan on the bikes that we have within the time we have. We really want to start the real challenge and the only thing stopping us is fronting up to John, so logic dictates that I should just bite the bullet and be courteous enough to let him know the situation as soon as possible.
My good lady knows nothing of this and is snoring away beside me not know that I will wake her at about 6.30 and suggest that we head out. I know she feels the same as me. I guess the only problem with warm showers is that your plans can change as you go along.
So off early and we can pass a Coles store on the way and stock up with rice and stuff for cycle camping back up rations.
So the main reason I am doing this entry is to say that we are now going for the hard stuff, long days and camping and may be away from WIFI . So I can save a blog each day, but I am unsure if we can publish each day.
Looking at GPX files, on a 65 mile trip down our route a rider did over 7000ft of accent, two days running.Looking at the hills around us I can believe that but I am hoping his GPS overestimated . So that will mean allot of walking for us and our little bikes could be a bit outclassed.So hence we will need every hour we can otherwise we will never get back to Lauceston in time for our flight.
Hobart is yellow from heat and forest fires have hit national news and devastated local communities. It is our first day of cyclecamping tomorrow and the forecast is ....... Rain!!!! About 6 mm. The locals are jumping for joy. We always seem to have this effect on local weather!
So up early and out tomorrow and I will make the call to John. Yes I am nervous about the next few days as they will be the hardest of the whole trip which is why I am now keen not to hang around another day. The bikes are really untested on a long tour in hilly terrain, but I need to get out there now and see what happens. It is also why I am up at 4 AM unable to sleep and worrying! So if you are reading this in the UK you could well know what is happening tomorrow before Catherine does. I am not being male chauvinist however, as I know she was regretting the idea of messing about for another day here.
I will add further info on our day of 22nd Jan and republish this page with added info below, but this is the story at 4AM.With luck, that has got all this off my mind and I can get some sleep!
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We contacted John by text and he said "no worries" but I will contact him again when I can just to say sorry to mess him about. We are at Orford on the coast. Our mileometer battery has gone but I reckon just over 50 miles. The ride consisted of four hills. Hill one was on our journey to Richmond which was 15 miles away, and we managed the long up ok without dismounting and had coffee at the Bakery. We bumped into Graham and Helen from Richmond (the Aus one) who were having a coffee at there local cafe. They had a Cannondale tandem with a doggy cage trailer, which I intended to photograph but got chatting and forgot. John worked for Quantas and had a Brompton which he took with him when flying and he could then cycle in the countries he ended up in on his rest days. He liked it so much he has brought Helen one.So we had a good Brompton Techie talk.
Graham told us that there were three big hills ahead all going from about sea level to about 1000ft and all having funny names.Break your neck hill was one and " Bust a gall" was the other I forget the third. We found two signs but "Break your neck"we saw as we sped past on the descent, so we missed.We did dismount on all but only for short sections. We stopped at a road house just after hill two and had beans on toast for 6 dollars which equates to £4.
It was great to get some miles done and prove that the system can work and we are pleased with fifty miles if we can do 40 a day then it would easily do our trip on time. So feeling much more positive and feel that we are now really getting into the cycling. GPS suggests that we will have over double the climbing tomorrow,but having accelerated our departure all looks good.
We got to Orford and stopped in the shelter of the supermarket. The rains had come as expected and all the locals were really pleased. We had cycled through areas that had been burnt just two weeks ago and both sides of the road were black and smelled of burning.See the photo of the melted road marker below.
Now it comes to the part of the day that I find just remarkable. I was outside the IGA (Independant Grocers Association - Aus version of the co-op) looking no doubt wet and bedraggled waiting for Catherine who was buying stuff for our first Trangia meal of the holiday. A lady came up and said "are you camping in this rain?"and I said "yes"and asked where the village campsite was. You can't camp in the rain said the lady (I now know as Sue)"I have a spare room you could both use if you want it". I know the British thing would have been to say no, but I am not in Britain.So folks at home have a think,when did you last tour in the rain, and get an offer like this. What did I say about Aussies being really really open and welcoming, it is like another much better world. I really really like this place. So we are still not camping. What did I say about taking a photo every day sitting at a table with "good food and company" It should be the tag line for Aus! Say I,as I take another sip from the wine glass.
I am carting a big bag of camping stuff and Cooking equipment with me. 15 days in to the tour and the cooker and fuel remains unused and the tent has seen two back gardens, but has not been put up in a campsite yet.
Great to get on the road and get some miles done. Sue has transported us to her house overlooking a White sand beach. Of course if they had not been folding bikes then Sue could not have put us all in her car and brought us here so thumbs up to the Bromptons again. Self doubts fading fast!
All sounds a bit difficult, hope it all works out and that you managed to get back to sleep.
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