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| Start of the ride - smiles all round |
16 July: Lake Brockman Tourist Park to Yarri Campsite
We set off from Lake Brockman at 11.30am. My bike rack was rubbing on the rear tyre so we had to stop and fix that after only 5km. We didn't re start again until 2pm, after Annie the mechanic worked some magic with a lot of patience and some selective use of scissors.
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| Mechanic Annie |
The trail was beautiful, nice trees, lots of small bridges over creeks.
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| Bridge over a creek |
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Emma walking / pushing her bike up
a steep rutted hill |
There was one steep section coming up and down to cross Harvey River - I had to walk up one rutted section but managed to ride the rest.
The trail was not very technical - mostly on single lane vehicle tracks. Even the single track was not technical. Beautiful and we were able to go relatively fast to make up for lost time. Got to Yarri Campsite at 5pm.
Average speed 12 kph, 3:40 riding time for 45 km.
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| Annie riding an uphill section of trail that I'd just walked up |
17 July: Yarri Campsite to Honeymoon Pool
We left the campsite at 9.30am. First stop was after an hour and 8km of riding for morning tea. Before lunch there were a few hills, we crossed a railway, and we rode along powerlines in a few sections.
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| Riding along powerlines |
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| Crossing the railway |
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| LARGE tree trunk |
The weather was mixed with a few spots of rain and lots of sunshine. We stopped just after the turnoff to Collie for lunch. After lunch we found ourselves on a section of singletrack which was quite rutted and loose in places. Not much fun. And we somehow missed a sign so we spent a lot longer on the singletrack than we were supposed to. We finally got ourselves back on track by following a dirt road along a railway then taking part of a bitumen road to rejoin the trail.
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| Rutted singletrack through lovely bush |
Then there was some more nice trail and a narrow singletrack section through some very overgrown spindly shrubs. This section was quite undulating and by now I was getting tired.
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| Narrow singletrack through spindly shrubs - lots of ducking! |
Then we got to a "hard" section. It was quite steep uphill and downhill along the side of a ridge. I managed to ride all the uphill and most of the downhill, but on the downhill sections there were lots of hairpin bends that I dismounted to take. By this time it had started raining in earnest and it was about 4pm and getting darker. Not much fun doing hairpin bends downhill in the rain and low light. After about 2km of the hard section we found River Rd, where we turned to ride to Honeymoon Pool campsite where we spent the night.
Average speed 10 kph, 5 hours riding time for 51 km.
18 July: Honeymoon Pool to Donnybrook
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Mist / fog at Honeymoon Pool
before we set off |
It rained all night but by morning the rain had stopped. Everything was wet and it was very misty/foggy.
The first 4km today were tough - long hard climb (15%+) then switchback descent then much more climbing. We stopped at Nglang Boodja campsite after 4km to replenish water stocks then another 2km of climbing. By the time we left the campsite the sun was out and it turned into a beautiful day.
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| Bush affected by fire |
Today was a day with numerous long steep climbs interspersed with seemingly never ending flatter but still undulating roads. The scenery was beautiful, particularly in the morning - rolling green hillsides with black cows and white sheep. There was also a fun section of singletrack right before lunch at Crooked Brook Forest but by that stage I was tired and needed food. We had a mega feast for lunch which gave me some energy.
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| Rolling hillsides |
Lunch was at a picnic table in the sunshine where we spread all our wet clothes out to dry - much to the amusement of picnickers who came by while we were eating. It was so sunny I applied two coats of sunscreen for fear of getting burnt.
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| Part of the trail - non-technical gravel road |
Most of the afternoon was on bitumen through small towns - an excellent road surface which helped eat up some miles and increase our average speed from 7kph (first hour of the day) to an average of 12.5kph for the whole day. However, it was a hard slog mentally and it was a relief to get to Donnybrook by a record early time of 4pm. We then cleaned the bikes, had our first shower in three days, and had a lovely meal at the Apple Tree Café.
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| Enjoying the ride |
Average speed 12.8 kph, 4:10 riding time for 53 km.
19 July: Donnybrook to Nala Mia campsite (Jarrahwood township)
It started raining while we were in bed this morning contemplating getting up. We packed up and headed off to the Apple Bakery for breakfast - bacon and egg roll, coffee and apple slice to get through a few hours of riding! With rain forecast all day, our plan was to snack throughout the ride but not stop for a meal until we got to the hut. With only 45km of "easy" riding to do, we figured this would be achievable.
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| Breakfast of champions at Donnybrook Bakery |
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| Annie crossing a large puddle / lake |
Thank goodness it was easy riding today, because it wasn't so easy with the trails so wet. SE training up gentle slopes through boggy wet sand. LOTS of large puddles to cross - one that had a boggy bottom that I almost fell into (had a bit of a paddle up to my shins). And as the day got later and the rain got heavier, the trail became more like a river.
In spite of that, it was quite a nice day. A section of bitumen to help eat some miles, some riding near farms and through a pine plantation. And the singletrack sections were fun without being too technical. Quite twisty, and the first section was so new that it was marked with flagging tape.
We reached the Nala Mia campsite by 1pm. A bit of an odd hut location as it is in the middle of Jarrahwood townsite - although the town is pretty tiny and there didn't seem to be many people about. Just lots of rabbits feasting on lush green grass and bird life.
Average speed 11.4 kph, 4:00 riding time for 45 km.
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| Bike covered in dirt and making odd grinding noises |
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Gear and panniers covered in dirt and mud
- a good test. They are water proof even
when partially submerged in a large puddle! |
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Emma covered in mud but still smiling
- happy to be under shelter and soon to
be in warm dry clothes. |
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| "Picnic" lunch at Nala Mia hut in the bed area - as the tables were in the rain |
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| Our awesome tent set up a Nala Mia campsite |
20 July: Nala Mia campsite (Jarrahwood) to Nannup
Another great day for a bike ride - intermittent heavy showers. Although we were lucky and had mostly dry conditions and sunshine for our ride.
The trail today was entirely on a rail trail, relatively flat and consolidated. The trail was slightly elevated from the surrounding land so it didn't have too many puddles. However, in one area the trail wasn't elevated and there were some large puddles - one which was quite deep and a bit soft on the bottom and I lost control and half dropped the bike in the water. Lucky my shoes were still soaking wet and muddy from the day before, so it didn't matter that they got another soaking in muddy water.
As the rest of the trail was straightforward and we were keen to finish up and get home, we pushed the pace quite high and worked hard. Our average speed was 18kph - flying! - and we did 27km in 1:30. Done by 11.30am.
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Finished in Nannup after 5 days on the trail,
and still sort of smiling! |
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| Lunch in Nannup - we earned it! |
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| The completed section of trail (blackish squiggly line) |
