Wednesday 6 Mar 2019

A scenic but somewhat miserable day. Last night it rained a bit just as I was hitting the sack. Then it was perfectly dry this morning UNTIL I started riding. It almost instantly started pissing. So I took shelter under the awnings of some buildings at the edge of town. After about 20 minutes I was able to continue on.

It stayed dry-ish until Rye Park, which had some interesting old buildings of which I regretfully did not take any pictures. I had hoped to find a coffee shop here, but alas, no such luck. A school, post office, several churches, but no store of any sort. Wargeila Road had a couple of 5 to 6 km gravel sections, almost a novelty. I’ve followed paved roads pretty well all the way since Rylstone! This felt so familiar again. But it kept raining on and off and I had to seek shelter under big trees or beside or in wool sheds. Interesting was a herd of sheep just being driven down the road. They were very well behaved and weren’t at all spooked by my presence.

It wasn’t raining all the time and there were certainly periods that it was dry, but the thermometer never got over 19º.

Then it started really raining and I brought out the poncho while hiding under a big tree. After a while I decided I could perhaps ride with my poncho, which isn’t a bicycle specific garment, but it worked reasonably well. It does act like a sail though and it was quite windy too. But then it started to pour again just as I rode by a small wool shed. Lucky!

At least I was out of the rain, but the mercury dipped to just 14º, a tad chilly. As my body tried to keep its core warm the blood flow to my extremeties must have allowed down because I could feel my finger tips getting numb. After a half hour the rain let up and I was able to continue on and warm up again! Only another 15 km to Yass.

Entering Yass I came by the Yass Public School. What an interesting building!

After a coffee and (huge) muffin stop it was off to the showgrounds, where I spent about 20 minutes trying to locate the toilets and showers. They are waaaaaay away from the camping area, not convenient at all. Also no tables or anything, so after having a shower I asked for a refund and headed to the caravan park. For only $3 more they offer a few more conveniences.

Yass has a beautiful pathway system through town parks and along the river. I’ve only walked a bit of it.

Only one more day to Canberra! Wow! It was supposed to be my final destination, but I’m ahead of schedule and I still have a couple of weeks. I’m toying with the idea of tacking on a quick out and back to Oldfield’s Hut in Kosciusko National Park. It would be a fitting finale to my “Rob ‘n BOB on the BNT” trek. We’ll see, it depends a bit on Malcolm’s schedule too. He and his son Kenny have been an incredible support team, so if we can spend some quality time together that certainly would take precedence.

Today’s totals 65k 4:30h 700n+ 710m-