Journal: |
I set out from Normanton at 1:20am in the hope of making it as
far as Cloncurry (380km) during the day. I had only had about
six hours sleep after similar amounts the previous few nights, and
it caught up with me around 5:00am. I could not keep my eyes
open and was struggling into a cool southerly headwind. After
catching myself twice riding off the road while dozing I walked for
a while and even then couldn’t stop from stumbling. In the end
I accepted the inevitable, found a quiet spot about 20 metres off
the road, spread out my groundsheet, put on my long cycling pants,
and immediately went to sleep. I woke up two hours later
bathed in warm early morning sunshine feeling much refreshed.
Even the wind had switched to a north-easterly, and I began riding
again making good time across the scrubby flat landscape to the
famous Burke & Wills Roadhouse where I arrived at noon and ordered
my usual breakfast. I decided to continue onto Cloncurry and
bought some snacks and drinks to sustain me during the 180km trip.
Even though the road began climbing gradually through low hills to a
kind of tableland, I continued to make good progress and began
toying with the idea of riding through the night and into tomorrow
in the hop of getting to Camooweal, my originally scheduled stop for
Thursday night. I reached Cloncurry at about 9:30pm and
began looking for a roadhouse that I was sure would be open to
service the all night truck traffic passing through the town to and
from Mount Isa. I was wrong and the only place I could find
open was a hotel bottle shop where I bought a packet of corn chips,
some chocolate bars and some Coke for dinner. I then sat on a
bench in the main street which was very quiet apart from very loud
Bee Gees music emanating from some hall somewhere and echoing all
over town. The local Justice Department patrol car called by
to see whether I was OK and offered to find me somewhere to camp,
but I said I was shortly leaving for Mount Isa. I headed out
of town at about 11:00pm and immediately began climbing into a range
of hills silhouetted by the moonlight. I began to feel very
tired and decided it was time for a nap. I found a
not-very-good spot off the road in the dark and settled down for two
hours of fitful sleep lying on rock hard ground in an increasingly
cold breeze. At about 1:00am, I decided I should get moving
again with the aim of getting to Mount Isa for an early breakfast.
However, at one of my short breaks, with about 50km to go, at a
small roadside picnic area I sat down on a bench, put my head on the
table, and decided it was time for another nap. It got colder
and colder (7C in Mount Isa, colder in the hills) and I decided I
would stay where I was until the sun rose sufficiently to warm me
enough to start riding again. About 7:00am I hit the road
again and reached Mount Isa around 9:30am. I couldn’t find a
café, but did find the McDonalds, so had breakfast there and
contemplated the remaining 190km to Camooweal. It was already
getting quite hot and north-west (head)winds were forecast. My
best guess was that I would get to Camooweal around 8:30pm (where I
had booked a hotel room), all things going well. As I rode out
of Mount Isa, the headwinds grew stronger and, as I passed the last
motel on the edge of town, I decided discretion was the better part
of valour and changed my plans. I checked into the motel,
showered, washed and bought some lunch with the intention of leaving
again around midnight and perhaps sleeping rough again tomorrow
night rather than stopping short at Camooweal or trying to get to
Barkley Roadhouse (another 265km further on). I’m disappointed
that I didn’t get back on the 53-day schedule, but feel that next
week there may be other opportunities to catch up, all things going
well.
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