Day 6 – Cool run into Griffith

Not enough concrete for a sheep, try a tennis racket and ball. Top points Barellan

Today has been an easy day. Maybe the best Valentines in years. The temperature has dropped a good 10C as the rain pours in over Adelaide west of here, which is ideal. And whilst it looked ominous all day thankfully it never fully broke over me out on the road. 

Ominous 

All this has had an immediate effect of making the riding easier to sustain, but more importantly has finally broken the heatwave in South Australia, and calmed all the fires in North Victoria. Obviously this is great news for all the people who’ve faced these this down over the last month, but on a very narrow selfish level it makes my route across to the Nullabor more achievable.

With only 50 odd miles to cover to Griffith, and straight and flat roads all the way, I wasn’t on the road till 07:00. A gentle headwind was tedious rather than a serious issue, and I was relaxed enough to stop at the village of Barellan and the hamlet of Binya  en route (for strawberry milk at former, coke at the latter, if details are your thing). 

The smaller villages and hamlets out in the NWS shires are hardy looking places. Post office, general store, huge grain storage hard up on railway line, pub if you’re lucky, a church maybe and not a lot else (with the possible exception of Barellan which includes a 20ft racket and a half ton concrete tennis ball, in honour of local girl Evonne Goolagong). 

False advertising, didn't
see one

Some look a little dust strewn and weary, but not poor. Guess if there is only you and 100 other souls and the weather’s not always kind, there isn’t any great need to keep all the houses fronts spick and spam, just functionally operational. That said they all look like strong,  deeply private communities.

The ride into Griffith was tough for the last 10 miles. For the first time in three days traffic picked up, but more frustratingly the shoulder disappeared. With the rain finally getting heavy and the headwind increasing it was hard riding. But I couldn’t have been happier. This was my first target on the trip. Get from my cousin Emily in Sydney to my cousin Charles in Griffith, and I’d made it, roughly on time.

I’ll cover Griffith tomorrow, but safe to say it’s a very cool thing to leave one house full of pictures of people you know, ride 400 miles through the heat, rain, hills, and more and find another house full of more pictures of the same people, all on the other side off planet Earth, from home. 

Breakfast – Same as yesterday on the motel bed

Lunch – Ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches made by Kay

Supper – Roast chicken, salad and potatoes, followed by melon. Home cooked food finally. Now in bed a very full and happy man.