Day: |
006 |
Date: |
Wednesday, 25 July 2007 |
Accommodation |
Motel in Marlborough |
Summary |
Riding from Miriam Vale to Marlborough |
Start Time: |
4:20am |
Finish Time: |
5:15pm |
Daily
Map Kms: |
276 |
Total
Map Kms: |
1,627 |
Map Kms To Go: |
12,784 |
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule: |
0 |
Daily Odometer Kms: |
277.3 |
Daily Average Speed: |
26.13kph |
Weather: |
Mild temperatures, partly cloudy with
mostly easterly winds. |
Nutrition: |
Big Brekky for breakfast, foot long tuna
sub for lunch and barramundi, chips and salad for dinner. |
Encounters: |
Chatted with a truck driver while having
breakfast. He does a run from Brisbane to Rockhampton and return
and had seen me labouring up a hill yesterday afternoon. Like me,
he is an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) listener and said
he occasionally phones Macca, who has a famous national Sunday
morning program focussing on the Australian bush. I got the
impression he may call Macca this Sunday about our encounter (but I
may have misunderstood). |
Highlights: |
Finishing in daylight. |
Lowlights: |
Putting on my still very wet knicks, top
and socks at 3:30am as I prepared for the day’s riding. I had
washed them out the previous night but couldn’t come up with a good
way of drying them (always a problem). |
Daily Pictures: |
Here |
Daily Podcasts: |
Here &
Here |
Journal: |
I had a good start to the day, with mainly flat roads, not too
much traffic and an occasionally following wind. I rode 95km
without stopping to Mt Larcom where I had the Big Brekky and chatted
with a truck driver enjoying the same. After that the road
became very busy as it was the only route between two sizeable and
growing cities, Gladstone and Rockhampton. There was often no
room to cycle to the side and I felt trucks pass very close on
several occasions. In the worst instance, a semi-trailer
carrying an oversize load came up behind me as a truck came the
other way. The former sounded his horn and I headed for the
bush (gravel, actually) and just managed to stay vertical.
There were more signs of civilization with several new housing
developments seemingly stuck in the middle of nowhere. The
road also paralleled a railway track which carried plenty of traffic
including some very long coal trains heading for the port at
Gladstone (which I didn’t visit as it was off the right some
kilometres away). The scenery was a mix of grazing land and
lightly timbered forest. Everything seemed very brown and dry,
despite most creeks carrying some water. My route passed
through the busy Rockhampton and I got some lunch at a Subway there
before heading off for my last 105km leg to Marlborough. The
traffic was noticeably lighter and had large flat sections through
pastoral country interspersed with occasional lightly-timbered low
mountain ranges. In the distance were higher mountains in most
directions and it looked like it was raining on some. I
reached the only motel in Marlborough where I had booked the last
available room by phone earlier in the day. It’s my most
luxurious room yet, though not very expensive. There’s no
take-out food nearby, so I planned to eat in the motel restaurant.
However, the cook never turned up and one of the owners cooked me a
meal instead, which was nice of them. Wireless reception is
not too good in Marlborough so my aerial is earning its keep
tonight, the first time I have needed it. All in all, it was
a satisfying day in that I covered plenty of kilometres without
feeling as tired as yesterday. I feel that my legs are
stronger in the afternoon but I still lack sufficient sleep.
Given where the towns are, it looks like a shorter day tomorrow and
hopefully a long sleep tomorrow night.
|
|
ADVENTURE LIST
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Via Alpina
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Australian Alps Walking
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