Day 417 | 20 km from Musgrave: what a beautiful day
90 km | zzOz total: 12,253 km
Prospective Cape Yorkers shouldn’t be put off by my slow progress, it is possible to ride with more velocity.
I spent more than 5 weeks from Cairns to The Tip and now, even after I committed to heading back more speedily, almost another 3 weeks has gone on by. On the way up it had been partly the extra days in Port Douglas, climbing Mt Sorrow and the 10 days I spent around Bamaga. Then there’s the diversion down to Iron Range National Park and through Pascoe River Station a few days ago. And taking the Telegraph Track without major hurry.
After the days in the great sandpit it has been fun to finally travel at better pace, today despite the continual undulations found when you travel on a road that follows along the ridges of the Great Dividing Range, not quite so great in these parts, like 250 m, and a 8 km soft stretch, overall I’ve managed to average over 13 kph in the dirt.
Have to confess I’ve been assisted by two 5km sealed sections which come up every 40 km or so to allow the over eager 4WDer to pass each other or zoom past the trucks. It’s a full on standard issue highway complete with white lines and 300 mm shoulders but the feel of the travel is discernibly different, one word describes it: tame.
Today about 60 4WDs sped past, plus about 10 roadtrains, mostly containing some mining extract, one of which threw a cold can of lemonade out the, very slow moving, window which I came close to catching without dropping the bike, a few morning motorcycles, then 3 with sidecars.
No other cyclists, where are they, but I’ve heard via the grapevine an American is out there somewhere, heading this way.