March 29, 2024
Did I mention the trees?
Jarrahwood to Donnelly River
Jarrahwood is a weird little settlement. In its prime it was a thriving community centred around a timber mill with a pub,shops and a football team. Today it’s a complete dogs breakfast. There are a dozen or so houses in various states of repair with car bodies and junk lying around. The hut we’re in is close to the houses and the least impressive so far. We haven’t seen any residents but they’re clearly occupied as there’s a few dogs barking and car engines revving.
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It all feels a bit like being on the set of ‘Ozark’ without the lakes. Opening the visitors book in the hut doesn’t help my spirits much. The first entry says ‘Welcome to the murder capital of Western Australia’. Surely a joke.
We’re all tucked in our sleeping bags by 9 o’clock. There’s 2 flickering street lights that cast a spooky glow into the hut and they remain on the entire night. Only one of the houses has a light on. After dozing off I’m woken by footsteps and a torchlight flashing around outside. I’m positive I heard wolves howling as well. Turns out it’s a late arriving bikepacker who then sets off a barking frenzy amongst a pack of Rottweilers ( my guess) and then an expletive laden barrage emanating from the closest house. I crawled deeper into my sleeping bag hoping that any prospective murderers are away on an Easter break.
We survived obviously. It’s quite difficult to write a blog if you’ve been bludgeoned to death.
Simon was up and out of the hut by daybreak but we had our usual dawdling start not helped by a restless nights sleep. It’s another chilly start but it doesn’t take long for the sun to filter through. We follow the old logging rail line all the way to Nannup some 20 kilometres away.
There’s sections where the jarrah sleepers are still in pretty decent nick having been in the ground for over 100 years. Its long gradual climbs followed by long descents all through magnificent forest.
Nannup is the halfway point on our ride. It’s a pretty trendy, arty sort of town, a bit like Braidwood, with plenty of cafes open despite it being Good Friday. After a decent coffee and muffins we head out on what turns out to be the best riding of the trip so far.
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The first 2 hours was on a sealed road climbing up and over a series of ridges. Cloud cover for the first time in 2 weeks made for more comfortable conditions and with no traffic it was very enjoyable cycling. The road then turned to dirt and quickly rivalled the corrugation highway we rode on the Mawson trail a few years ago. After a little more climbing it was onto the single track for the last push into Donnelly River. Was it the best days riding? I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
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7 months ago
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Donnelly River is another former logging village that is now a holiday park with numerous chalets scattered around. It’s chock a block with families here for Easter so the best we can do is a bunk room. It’s great to see kids out playing hide and seek, riding the flying fox, playing spotlight and basically doing all the things that we did as kids. And with no phone coverage or internet there’s not a device in sight.
Everyone is is in holiday mode and up for a chat. It’s not long before Matt appears with 4 Coronas. A perfect end to a spectacular days riding.
Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 577 km (358 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 12 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
7 months ago
7 months ago