August 23, 2024
Cycle day 91 - Burra to Kapunda
Cycle day 91 - Bura to Kapunda = 97km. 7324km cycle toured on this trip so far.
Kapunda tourist park = $28 unpowered
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Last night when we went to bed it was a clear cool night and it was threatening to be a very cold night but some time during the night it all turned and cloud rolled in and the wind just blew - we got up this morning and the wind was howling through the caravan park and it was 15 degrees!
It didn't take long to pack up everything as it was all dry and we were on the road at 7.05am. We took a back road that links Burra back to the Goyder highway and the wind would have been at least 40km per hour and blowing from the north. It was a cross wind for us until our turnoff and that wind was just blowing me all over the place. To get out of Burra we were climbing back up to the highway and a few times I got blown over to the other side of the road as I am going too slow - I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz - the wind just picked me up and threw me!
Once back on the Goyder hwy it was easy going with the wind just blowing us along from the side. We got to the turn off and I have to say I love the name of the highway we are about to go on ... Worlds End highway!
This road goes all the way to Eudunda and should be a pure tailwind for us but about 1km down the road we noticed we had absolutely no wind! It was 8am and we think the wind died down to reset itself as about 30 mins later it began to blow again but this time a lot gentler.
Riding along this highway which is a real minor one that isn't really used by anyone except locals is narrow and falling to bits but still ok to ride. It is flattish until Burra Creek but you can see where they are building the renewables projects on the hillside - windmills and the massive pylons that will be taking the power generated by the windmills as in stage 2 they are building a station to house the big batteries. This station is up and over the 8km hill that is after you cross Burra creek.
Along the road a signs to show you Goyders line of rainfall and you can see that alot of the land around here is marginal!
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There was not much traffic until Eudunda but once over our Burra Creek hill it is up and downish to Robertstown, across the valley floor to the other range and then along the base of that range to Eudunda. You begin to gently climb about 7km out from Eudunda.
Eudunda is like alot of towns around here - full of old stone buildings that look great from the outside and you wonder just how warm they are in the inside. While in Eudunda we diverted to look at the Silo Art
This is a nice one - actually all Silo Art is nice to look at. We continue through Eudunda climbing constantly then we join the Thiele highway and we continue climbing for a few more kilometers and then we had the mother of all downhills and the first part was through a little bit of road works. By now the wind was really blowing directly behind us and it was adding to our speed. This Thiele highway to Kapunda was all through roadworks but no one was working but the speed limit was predominantly 60km per hour for cars. It is 26km to Kapunda - 20km of it was down with that tailwind and there was one point the road surface was really smooth and I was doing 50km per hour just before getting to a 60km per hour sign - I felt like I was in Tour de Femme!!! I did not try to do that again! About 5km out from Kapunda the hills became more and more and the poor little legs just didn't want to go up the hill in middle gear so I always had to drop to my low gears. Eventually we get to town and both are weary.
We just realised that Swan Reach caravan park no longer exists. So across the river is a free camping at Tenbury so we will have to stay there tomorrow night.
Today's ride: 97 km (60 miles)
Total: 7,324 km (4,548 miles)
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