Dandalup Shelter: and not a bad spot to spend a night
Tuesday, December 28 2010 | 62 km | Munda Biddi total: 181 km
Wungong to Jarrahdale is a blast.
No big ups and most of the travel is along old tram lines once used for logging the original forest. Even the rises are flattish so it’s a lot of fun and you have the feeling you’re the last person on Earth, ie there’s no one else around.
The shop in Jarrahdale was open so I reacquainted myself with civilisation, a hot pie and an iced coffee, in a paper carton from the fridge.
After Jarrahdale the fun begins.
It helps to have done a little snow skiing in times past heading down those slopes on the pea gravel. The Nobby Nic is, mostly, doing its job, only occasionally, if disconcertingly, sliding around and rapid dismounting was only required once: the front shocks hit a rock, the bike stopped abruptly, but my body continued its trajectory, remarkably gracefully in fact, reaching terra firma on my feet, with slightly elevated heart rate, no real damage done.
The drop down to Serpentine “River”, no water flows although there’s a puddle of gloomy water near the bridge, was ominous and even with the full complement of gears this time there was a fair amount of hauling, grunting and general “what am I doing this for?” as I took an hour and a half to struggle up the other side. Too steep and loose to ride with my caravan.
Traction in my surfboard sandals was proving negligible at one point so I removed said footwear. Not a great idea. The dark pea gravel, err, peas, burning an imprint into the tender soles of my feet. Sometimes it was 25m shoving at a go, my shirt fully drenched.
Then, once at the top, I know it’s only about a 200m rise, it was pure joy with kilometres of downhill single track.
That’s what life is about.