Betten On Bike: DAY 101 - 19TH JULY 2013 - PORT FAIRY TO APOLLO BAY

Day 101 – 19th July 2013 - Port Fairy to Apollo Bay

In the morning the wind was still blowing strong – Walter was as always after a rest day very motivated to get on his bike. I caught him at Warrnambool about 30 kms up the highway as planned. We had discussed taking a secondary road but there was a section of dirt road involved and we both missed this turnoff so decided to take the A1 and take the turnoff at Allansford to the Great Ocean Road. As we got onto the Great Ocean Road proper I stopped and waited for Walter for morning tea. He told me that the winds had been rather positive so that was a good start to the day.

Walter told me that he had seen evidence of the fox problems in this area as he had spotted 10 fox carcasses strung up outside some properties on fenceposts.

Cycling Stats: 190 kms

Cycling Average: 28.5 kms per hour

Shortly afterwards we knew we had hit the Great Ocean Road as the turnoffs to the look-out points began and I stopped at The Bay Of Islands, Bay of Martyrs and The London Bridge and we had pre-arranged to meet at The Apostles carpark for a photo there to document a milestone reached.

How lucky we were we get to The Apostles Lookout just seconds before the skies opened to some huge showers. We rushed back to The Visitors Centre and waited it out there until it cleared somewhat. Then back to the campervan and the heavens opened again, even bigger showers – we sat inside whilst I prepared sandwiches and we ate them inside the van – a first.

We waited for some time until the rain eased – Then Walter said he wanted to cycle to Princetown which was only about 6kms up the B100 Highway and there we would stay at the caravan park for the night. So after I packed up I headed off and the rain began again. I noticed a sign for a Princetown Reserve Camping Ground so headed in – it was a dirt road and I got to a narrow bridge and thought – no, Walter would probably not have come down here so back onto the main road and shortly after a turn off to the small township of Princetown so thought OK this must be it. I drove in and didn’t see Walter’s bike – there was a sign saying the camping ground was closed and I asked at the general store but no they hadn’t seen a cyclist so I thought Oh my gosh he must have gone to the other camping ground and so I went back to the dirt road and over the narrow bridge but Walter wasn’t there.

So Ok – he wasn’t at either of these camping grounds and so the only other option was that he had for some reason decided to keep going towards Lavers Hill.

If the road conditions over the past days had been bad there was a section before Lavers Hill that was so rough with hundreds of large potholes. I started driving up the infamous Lavers Hill section of road and I was a bit undone by the very steep & winding continuous climbing of this road. I finally caught him and later when I was able to find a safe place to stop he told me he had missed the turnoff to Princetown and so had just kept riding. He told me he wanted to keep going to Apollo Bay another 80kms or so and we should meet up at Lavers Hill. I waited up there and the fog came in and the visibility was limited. When he arrived I suggested maybe it wasn’t safe to continue but he wanted to push on. Luckily as we descended the fog cleared but the rain continued as it had since shortly after we had left The Apostles.

For the remainder of his ride I stopped every 10 kms so that should the rain become torrential he could stop for the day. The rain continued but he was able to complete this ride. I went to The Information Centre at Apollo Bay to find out if we could get a cabin and as I came out of the building Walter turned up and so tonight we are once again forced to stay in a basic but dry cabin because of the weather. After we arrived it poured down for a couple of hours. With heating in the cabin and a warm shower it is easier for Walter to recover because there are many more kms to be cycled over the coming days.

The weather forecast for the next few days is not good and we are 3 days ahead of schedule so we will have to wait off to see whether we can continue tomorrow or not.