CWC: Day 7 Ballimore to Dubbo
Ballimore to Dubbo 55 kms
I woke up this morning to the sound of wind in the trees, so immediately checked out the direction. If there is something I fear more than riding on a highway or going up steep hills, it's the wind. For the first 10 kms the wind would be directly behind us, and for the rest of the time it would be a cross wind or directly against us.
Breakfast at the Hair of the Dog was a little light on. Initially, I thought it would be nothing, after asking the barman. However, he thought we were part of the free camping caravaners parked across the road. He didn't realise we were one of the paying customers staying in his luxury hotel for $100. He then showed me where we could get toast, Vegemite, or weetbix. So that is what we had.
Unfortunately I hadn't known about the fridge with freezer available for paying guests, so arranged to leave my little freezer blocks in the ice cream fridge in the bar, not even thinking that I would be unable to access them before we left. We didn't have any food in the bike box that needed to keep cold, so it wasn't the end of the world. We knew we could get lunch at Wongarbon, 30 kms away.
The ride back was mostly gravel, but not too bad. The wind did as predicted yet we finished the trip in pretty good time in spite of it. As we rode into the motel I realised they had a pool. So while Ray washed down our dusty bikes, I dived into the cool clear water. It was 34 degrees today.
Now the central west trail is done and dusted (mostly dusted with all those gravel roads). 441 kms, only 760 kms to go
Pics
Brenda wasn't sure what happened to this pic, but she must have activated a filter on her phone. It must have been the "ethereal" filter.
There is that short wheat again, and plenty of it. This lot was only about 30 - 40cm high
More grain and hay crops
Ride Notes
- The gravel roads were ok today but there was some corrugations on many of the roads. The good part was that as long as you picked the right line, the worst of the corrugations could be avoided.
- There was not a lot of traffic, so it was relatively calm riding all day
- There was quite a bit of up and down, but no big climbs
- Even entry into Dubbo was trouble free and traffic was not a problem
- Lunch could be had from the Wongarbon Tavern, about 30klms into the ride