Betten On Bike: DAY 116 - 3 AUGUST 2013

Day 116 – 3 August 2013 – Narrabri to Bingara

Cycling Stats: 108 kms

Cycling Average: 27.4 km per hour

We left a little later this morning around 8.30am as it’s a short ride. Once again there was a layer of frost on the ground but a totally blue sky & sunny and that is very welcome. Three kilometers out of town and we left The Newell Highway and took the Narrabri / Bingara Road and what a lovely quiet scenic country road it is – a narrow and undulating road which is a continual climb all the way up to Sawn Rocks, part of Mount Kaputar National Park. We had arranged to stop at Sawn Rocks picnic area for coffee and to do the short 750 mtr walk to the tall mighty vertical slats of molten larva rock which make up this impressive rock formation. Apparently it extends 600 metres underground.

Before the walk and while I waited for Walter to arrive a lady motor cyclist pulled in and I had a quick chat with her and then a fit & friendly cyclist rode in and it was Bob, a guy of a similar age to Walter and he is a triathlete and does the half iron man distance. I talked to him for some time about the different events he likes to compete in and I told him Walter would be here soon and would love to have a chat with him. Walter arrived and they enjoyed sharing their views on bikes / wheels and all the things cyclists like to chat about. Bob was doing a 90 km ride today and he gave us some information on the terrain for the remaining 70kms to Bingara. He told us that quite a few people drive the Narrabri / Bingara Road in a car first and believe it is relatively flat – and then are pretty stunned to realize that it isn’t and Walter showed him the terrain map on his Garmin and it does indeed show it to be a continual steady climb and continues to climb all the way to Killarney Gap where the descent into the valley begins.

Today’s journey was unexpectedly one of my favourite drives – the landscape was stunning a lot of the time and changed so many times and the colours of the mountains and their dramatic shapes seen in the distance were quite beautiful. The drive through the National Park was also very lovely and with very little traffic on this road I could drive a little slower and take in all the changing landscapes. We also passed through a lot of fertile pastoral lands and sheep and cattle country and this was a road which, with heavy rain, floods easily as there are so many low dips and creek crossings – Rocky Creek we passed over many times.

The last section over the mountain range into Bingara was a very very steep descent – good thing Walter wasn’t heading south as it would have been a challenging ride if you were going the other way.

All the shops close at 12pm on Saturday in Bingara so I am unable to buy groceries for tonight’s dinner so a pub meal it is.