Saturday 2 Feb 2019

I couldn’t rouse the folks at the Longhorn Pub at 6:30 when they supposedly open their coffee bar and breakfast room. Oh well. Had a great visit last night over dinner with 3 other people camping behind the pub. A couple in a camper van and a bloke on a motor trike, a Can-Am wich apparently is made in Canada by Bombardier. I had a small pizza and couldn’t finish it so I ate just the toppings off the second half.

The bakery wasn’t open yet either at almost 7:00, funny, so it became sausage and eggs at the little petrol station. It was surprisingly good. Mobile reception was minimal in Deepwater, but 17k further south just along the highway it was excellent. Go figure.

That’s where I turned onto Bald Nob Road which 10k further down connects with the Gwydir Hwy (how DO you pronounce that?), a very efficient shortcut. Another 10k on I crossed (how can it be!) the Timbarra River! It didn’t have any water in it this far up though. It must be the head-head-waters. Then quicky I came upon the Glen Elgin Road and reconnected with the BNT. I contemplated doing a BOB-less out and back to Glen Elgin, but it is 15k (x2) and so I decided against it. Almost immediately after came the descent into the Mann River Valley, more than 600m downhill. And it finally warned up enough to take my sweater off! That’s the first time ever I wore my sweater this long into the morning, but it was totally overcast with a stiff breeze and only about 20º up to that point.

I was the first one to set up camp at the Mann River Nature Reserve, had a nice swim, a bit to eat, some more sips of my delicious port-in-a-bag, life is good! This is a lovely spot, as I remember it from other times, definitely in the top 5.

Total 50k 3:35h 380m+ 945m