Shaken and Stirred: Fish Hole to Home Valley Station
Day 2 Fish Hole to Home Valley Station
More impressive views of the Cockburn Range unfolded from different angles on today's ride. The road surface was testing for bikes and riders. The corrugations were jarringly rough and felt hard enough to break wheels, racks or even frames.
Everything held together though, and we rode slowly to reduce the risk of falls.
Home Valley Station is a well serviced, pleasant place to camp and even had a big screen TV in the beer garden complete with plastic seats.
Tonight the second State of Origin was being played. At 12-0 I called it quits and retired to the tent. We are planning to be up and away at sunrise tomorrow.
The other news we picked up from other campers was that there was a labor party leadership spill on, and so possibly a change of Prime Minister for Australia. This was happening far, far away in hometown Canberra.
Odd just how irrelevant political theatre is when one is cycling in a place like The Kimberley.
The stats for today:
31 km 3hrs 30mins Average 8.9 km/hr Maximum 45 km/hr
Kilometres of this made for slow cycling today. Any lapse in concentration means a tumble. The surface is very unpredictable and within a hundred metres can provide samples of smooth, hard clay, deep gravel, rigid corrugations and fine sand. There was never a dull moment. The hits to the heavily laden bikes, racks and panniers were hard and persistent.
Getting nearer to the Cockburn Range as we approach the Pentecost River crossing. That is John riding on the wrong side of the road to avoid the deepest corrugations. Traffic was light to non-existent early in the day.
Will gets a dust bath courtesy of a passing Road Train.It reached me shortly after.These dustings happened quite a few times on the ride, although drivers, especially truck drivers were generally very considerate and slowed down. The dust actually looks worse than it was. It quickly passes over and settles.We would usually have several hours of virtually traffic free cycling every morning if we were pedalling by 6.30 am. Traffic was never uncomfortably busy.
The Pentecost River crossing looking from the eastern side.Anticipating this crossing had caused some consternation with at least one of the riders.Would it be too deep?Would there be saltwater crocs nipping at our knees and Schwalbe tyres as we waded across?
And the Pentecost River crossing viewed from the western side after crossing..The river was fairly low and slow flowing which was good news. It is inhabited by saltwater crocs so a deep crossing would have been a bit more testing.
A small cut by the sharp stones rapidly deflated one of Will's Nobby Nic tyres.This was his only flat tyre of the ride.I was to have my one and only flat on the last day of the ride. John had no flats.Considering the brutal road surface, especially this eastern section, only having two flat tyres on the whole tour on six bike wheels carrying very heavy loads was a minor miracle.
