After three weeks on the rail trails we were getting into the groove of touring: we had confidence in the bikes (apart from the pesky broken bits), we were building fitness (from very slow to slightly less slow), and we finally had a system and could find things without rummaging through every pannier muttering "I know it's here somewhere!" under our breath.

While we were having fun the Delta strain of Covid 19 set up camp in NSW and the sound of State borders banging shut reverberated all the way up to us in our tent in wherever we were at the time.

This causes problems on a few fronts for us: we can't meet NSW entry requirements (tell you the address of everywhere we're going to be staying?  Really?); we don't want to venture into NSW and get stuck in a long lockdown in our tent; and we don't want to get stuck forever in NSW because the other States consider us Untouchable.  We're both vaccinated but at this point that doesn't confer any travel advantages other than a considered confidence in our own continued good health.

As a result of all this, the Slow Ride South is paused, and has morphed into the Car Supported in a General Westerly Direction and I Hope South Australia's Border is Open By the Time We Get There Adventure. Which will be further constrained by the weather, because the further west we go the earlier comes summer.

This is all a long way if saying that the journal is also paused, although I'll continue to post any rides of note as we continue on our way. Thank you all for the comments along the way: both the digital and the real life camaraderie continues to be one of the highlights of bicycle touring for me.

Photo purely for fun:

Heart

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