Betten On Bike: DAY 76 - 24TH JUNE 2013 - ARMADALE (SOUTH PERTH) TO CORRIGIN

Day 76 – 24th June 2013 - Armadale to Corrigin

Weird wild wet weather in W A & 2 flat tyres on the first day back on the bike !!

Cycling Stats: 180 kms

Cycling Average Speed: 28kms per hour

So the first day cycling after 2 weeks off – lots of rain last night and heavily overcast this morning. Walter began what was to be quite a long ride today at 7.30am. The mornings are now much darker and colder and so the plan is to get up at 6.30am (which is for me a far more civilized time).

So the beginning was very heavy skies and a very rain soaked road – after an hour the skies cleared but only for a short time. Leaving Armadale we travelled through a very picturesque valley with green tall hills on both sides and lots of signs for galleries & craft shops & cafes. When I spoke to Walter about this later he said he hadn’t noticed because it was hill after hill after hill and climb after climb after climb – pretty tough going. The landscape changed to heavy forested national park and very thick dense fog for the next 40 kms or so. Walter told me this stretch was very gloomy and chilly.

Then as I was waiting for him for our 2^nd stop it pelted down with rain – some very heavy showers. The skies suddenly cleared and Walter was keen to push on and when we reached Brookton the weather was fine. 110kms done but still another 90 or so to go. The landscape changed to open green grain fields stretching far in all directions. This is apparently the biggest grain belt in Australia. We also saw thousands of merino sheep, many farms and large gums. The wind picked up and at our next arranged stop I waited for some time and luckily there was phone reception and Walter told me he had had a flat tyre. Later when we were close to Corrigin he called me that he had had another flat tyre so a pretty eventful day on the bike today. I picked him up as we were close to Corrigin and the tyre had to be replaced because he showed me the slit in it. Corrigin Caravan Park was unattended and later when the operator arrived he saw our van and the fact that we were raising money for Alzheimer’s Research and very generously allowed us to stay for free. It was a cold night so the nearby camp kitchen was a great place to go and cook dinner and Walter got to watch the news as there was a small TV in the kitchen.