Betten On Bike: DAY 114 - 1 AUGUST 2013 - GILGANDRA TO COONABARABRAN

Day 114 – 1 August 2013 – Gilgandra to Coonabarabran

Cycling Stats: 100 approx

Cycling Average: 26 km per hour

An exceptionally beautiful bright blue sky greeted us this morning and Walter was keen as always to get on the bike. Today was again a relatively short day’s cycling BUT we had been told that there were some very very long hills (yes – we are still traveling UP to Queensland).

Our neighbours Stan and Patricia popped over and were disappointed that Walter had already left and asked me to pass on their best wishes. We chatted for some time then I said that I needed to head off. They came back when they saw me trying to dry all the dew off the windscreen (it was, as always because of the quite cold mornings, fogged up and wet both inside and outside – Stan used a towel to dry it on the outside and said I wasn’t to leave until it was totally clear – such lovely people. Patricia wanted to give me her lovely pink fluffy towel to use too but I reassured her that I had plenty of paper towels in the front just for this job.

I caught Walter at the 35 km mark and he indicated that he wanted to drive another 5 kms to the Tooraweenah rest area for our coffee stop Driving along there was quite a stunning view towards the mountain range in Warrumbungle National Park . We mainly passed through pastoral lands with again lots of sheep and cattle and sweeping views of valleys. Before we arrived in Coonabarabran it was indeed fairly hilly but generally very very long climbs and Walter told me later that he really enjoyed today’s ride. There were however lots of ‘long vehicle’ trucks on the Newell Highway today. Walter told me he saw one of our sponsor’s trucks – IPS Logistics - so that makes us feel we certainly are getting closer to home. We arrived quite early (around 12 pm) at our destination and it feels almost like summer. The sun is quite warm and we can really notice the weather changing as we move north. It was actually warm enough to hang the Walter’s cycling gear on the line today instead of putting it into the dryer – the first time we have been able to do this for weeks.

We are camping at The John Oxley Caravan Park which is located a short 500 mtr pleasant walk into the township and the friendly new operator (he told us he has only just taken over) offered us a free powered site for the night.