tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74724329457795909102024-02-20T09:36:15.396+00:00BILL HONEYWELLBill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.comBlogger343125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-18775263201694472792015-03-30T19:34:00.000+01:002015-03-30T19:34:16.335+01:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Days 20 & 21 - The Journey Home</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Dubai from the A380</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Tuesday 24 February. A bit of a non-morning as we wait to be picked up and taken to the small airport at Devonport around 11.30. Not enough time to do anything in particular, but I did have a wander down to the beach where I did a bit of rock-pool hunting. I found a shore crab which was small but looked fierce!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I thought this flower looked very pretty...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and this shore crab very fierce!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Greg, the bus driver, arrived with trailer attached, and once the bikes had been loaded up we were soon at the airport. I was pleased to learn when we checked in that I wouldn't have to manhandle the bicycle through Melbourne Airport - it was checked all the way through to Manchester. Which reminds me - I was only going as far as Melbourne with the rest of the group - those returning to the UK had a flight to Dubai, then Heathrow and finally Manchester. Having booked separately, I would be flying from Melbourne to Dubai via Singapore, then direct to Manchester (saving time and money!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The plane was delayed by half an hour or so, which had John and Sue worried as they were already a bit tight for time for their connection to Sydney and this would cut down their margin even further. As soon as we took off, we flew directly over the Comfort Sunrise Motel and then out to sea, where I'm sure I saw a big whale far below...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real propellors on the deceptively comfortable flight across the Bass Strait</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The flight is nearly 250 miles so takes just over an hour. Transit through Melbourne was easy but I had a few hours wait for my flight, spent mainly gazing out of the window at the Boeing 777 I was on, and wondering how much more freight they could load on before it was unable to take off!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Once the flight was underway it was a question of keep turning my watch back and getting bedsores on my bum! Over seven hours to Changi at Singapore, where there was a 90-minute break, then another 7+ hours to Dubai. At Singapore I was allocated a new seat: I asked if I was being upgraded to business class and was politely told "No, but you're getting close!" And in fact I was, just behind the business section and luckily next to two empty seats in the central aisle, so I could at least stretch out a bit.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Social Tree at Changi Airport, Singapore</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">We flew over India and it was daylight when we arrived at Dubai, where another wait was required before the next flight on an A380 Airbus left at around 0730. There's a bit more room on this one but still the worry that it can't possibly take off, it's so massive! Now we flew over Iran</span><span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">, Turkey and Europe for another seven hours before finally arriving at Manchester around 1130 local time on Thursday. The bike arrived by the carousel looking OK, although once I'd arrived home I found that - as last time - one of the gear shifters had been broken. I'm going to have to work on that problem next time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">And so ended my Tour of Tasmania. Three weeks of fabulous scenery, plenty of hills (of course!), good companionship, and lots of wildlife and other interesting things to see. My first trip to Australia, first crossing of the Equator, and first pint of James Boag's beer. Now I have to catch up at home before setting off for the seas north of the Faroe Islands to try and catch a glimpse of the next total solar eclipse on 20 March. Will I be successful? Perhaps I'll write up the journey in this blog...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I hope you've enjoyed reading this on-line diary. Feel free to make any comments and if you're in my part of the world and looking for a speaker, let me know. In fact, if you're anywhere in the world and (a) want a speaker and (b) are prepared to cover travelling expenses, let me know!!</span></div>
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-31977905833139059452015-03-29T13:33:00.000+01:002015-03-29T13:33:50.316+01:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Days 18 & 19 - Around Devonport by bike and on foot</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Spirit of Tasmania heading for Devonport</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Sunday 22 February. It might be a rest day, but when the sun's shining and there's places to see, what do you do? - You get on yer bike, of course! Heading out towards Port Sorrell we found cycle paths along the shoreline of the Mersey which took us out of Devonport. I encountered a local cyclist who was out for a Sunday morning ride. He turned out to be from the Netherlands originally, and we passed the time chatting for a while until our routes diverged.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just wish we could have looked inside!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Port Sorrell wasn't quite as interesting as it sounded, made up for the most part of retirement homes, but there were a couple of cafes and after a short coffee stop we headed for the beach. Deborah had even brought her swimming costume and was soon in the sea, which she reported as fresh! It certainly looked good, a deep blue under a bright sky.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beach at Port Sorrell</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">On the return journey we headed inland for a while through lovely countryside before revisiting Latrobe. There's a visitor centre here - the Australian Axeman's Hall of Fame, apparently where the first-ever world wood-chopping championships were held in 1891. Today it seemed to be mainly sunday market stalls so - perhaps wrongly - I gave it a miss and headed back alone along River Road back to Devonport.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Masked Lapwings are everywhere in Tasmania</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Platypus sculpture in Latrobe</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">In the evening we all went out for a meal together - a 'last supper' where Richard was presented with a Tasmanian cycle top in recognition of his fine job as tour leader, and I was delegated to make a short speech.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perhaps it would have been easier with one of these...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The following day, Monday 23 Feb, we started the day by dismantling and packing our bikes ready for the flight home tomorrow. Well, some of us were going home - Richard was going to Geelong to spend a week with son Paul, Valerie was staying for a while in Australia where her daughter lives, and John & Sue were off for a week's walking in the Blue Mountains before they headed back. John H was leaving today to return to Nebraska, so only seven of us would actually be flying back to the UK.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow-throated Honeyeater (courtesy of Flicker)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Once the bikes were packed, Richard and I headed for the town's cycle shop for a general look around, admiring the latest electronic gear shifters, and then after a quick bite to eat in the town centre we carried on out towards Mersey Bluff and Coles Beach on foot. Birdlife was good, with Pied Cormorants occupying their rock just offshore and lots of birds in the woodland including Yellow-throated Honey-eater, Fairy Wrens and Kookaburras, three of which posed beautifully.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kookaburras looking like the Frys Chocolate boys</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">In the evening the ten of us who were left (Valerie had flown to the mainland today) ate at the motel. Having seen Chicken Schnitzel on every menu for the last three weeks, I decided to finally try it, only to discover that it's basically a very flat piece of chicken breast in breadcrumbs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Tomorrow we start our flight home. It's going to be a long way...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">36.6 miles on Sunday, making a final total of 632.3 for the whole tour.</span></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-45571478094705061032015-03-28T17:26:00.002+00:002015-03-28T17:28:38.010+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 17 - Launceston to Devonport - </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">with a (successful) Duck-billed Platypus hunt</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small Black Cormorant with Silver Gulls</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Saturday 21 February. A sunny start from the Penny Royal in Launceston and on to an off-road cycle track almost immediately, running along the water's edge. Deborah is still suffering from an upset tummy which she thinks is caused by Campylobacter on some seafood or chicken.</span></div>
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Just before we reach the main road we pass a water outfall with Pelicans, Cormorants and Silver Gulls: then it's on to a dual carriageway through the suburbs. Saturday morning must be the day for club cycle rides as we've never seen so many cyclists in Tasmania before.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Australian Pelican</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">After ten miles or so a quiet road turns off to the right to run along the edge of the River Tamar until we get to Exeter. I can just about cope with Launceston being on the Tamar, but not Exeter! It's another example of the somewhat random way that the early Tasmanians named their towns and rivers - Devonport on the north coast, astride the River Mersey, Sheffield to the south, and St Helens on the east coast - very confusing!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kookaburra</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">This pleasant stretch took us to Exeter where we turned inland. The others raced ahead while I lingered long enough to catch sight of a fine Kookaburra in the higher branches of a gum tree. We all stopped at the cafe in Glengarry, where the generously-bearded owner told us he was born in Cornwall, although he was pretty young when he came out with his parents on £10 flights. He was very chatty and it was a while before I realised he was wearing some kind of skirt, rather like a Roman centurion. Mmm.</span></div>
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A long gradient followed and thankfully the sun went in for a while. The hill was blessed with many false tops, and along this wooded, undulating plateau the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were screeching while the Black-cockatoos flew lumberingly above like large raptors. At Frankford there was another cafe where most of us stopped for another coffee and lovely home-made cake, but on this occasion I kept on going, through woods and fields, until a long descent back towards sea-level.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They have some unusual letter boxes in Tasmania!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Having crossed the River Styx earlier in the tour, it was now the turn of the Rubicon, meandering lazily through a salt-marsh area - we couldn't have been far from the sea. Then another detour through fields and a particularly attractive avenue of trees, past an irrigation pump that was badly adjusted and threatened to soak me to the skin if I didn't get my timing right. Not much point watering the road, I thought.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No turning back now</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Next up was the small town of Latrobe and another cafe stop. There are plenty of shops in this small town, including Reliquaire, a huge Tardis-like building full of bric-a-brac and junk. Richard likes this kind of place - this was the second one he'd brought us to, the first being in Sheffield. I prefer modern design but the sheer volume of old and antique items for sale was quite amazing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Finally to Devonport along the scenic River Road, following and then crossing the Mersey, until we were back at the Sunrise Comfort Motel where we had started our tour about a fortnight earlier.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River Road, Latrobe</td></tr>
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But in the evening we were in for a treat, heading back to Latrobe (some on bikes, some by taxi) where we'd arranged with the local nature reserve rangers to look for Duck-billed Platypus in the quiet backwaters and landlocked ponds by the river. After an initial mix-up on our meeting place we found our way to a quiet lake and, having waited for what seemed like ages, saw the Platypus emerge and go feeding. They dive for a minute or so and feel for their food with their amazing leathery bill which is packed with sense organs.</div>
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Platypuses are really unusual, primitive mammals - not far removed from reptiles but with fur. They lay eggs and the mother suckles the young with milk, although she lacks any teats: the milk is just exuded from the mammary glands and the youngster laps it up.</div>
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With the light failing it was difficult to get a decent still shot, but I took a video which seemed much better. Be patient, as I haven't edited it, but the bit where she rolls over to scratch her belly is rather cute! It's at</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=X2X5oQpp3OI">https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=X2X5oQpp3OI</a> </div>
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Back to Devonport and another first - a sandwich from Subway! - and then off to bed.</div>
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An interesting day. 59 miles, making a total of 596 so far.</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-27967026430758269602015-03-27T20:26:00.000+00:002015-03-27T20:26:21.770+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 16 - Rest Day in Launceston</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking downstream near the mouth of Cataract Gorge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Friday 20 February was to be a non-cycling day, and why not? There's plenty to see and do in Tasmania's second city, including an amazing river gorge which has a real wilderness feel about it despite being so near the bustling centre. So, as the sky was blue and the day promised warmth and comfort, four of us (me, RIchard, Tony and Deborah) made our way by walking about 100 metres from the hotel to the path at the entrance of Cataract Gorge. A steep climb soon warmed us up as we reached the 'First Basin' where there were cafes and a chairlift which is almost horizontal and is in fact the longest single-span chairlift in the entire world.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way up to First Basin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Basin is there behind the suspension bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way up to Sentinel Point Richard tries to dislodge this chock-stone</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">A little further on, not yet crossing the pretty suspension bridge, the path climbed again above the gorge to Sentinel Point. Looking down on the river, it was a bit reminiscent of the River Tees in the Low Force area, and indeed the underlying rock of both Cataract Gorge and the River Tees is hard, igneous dolerite. Skinks, brightly-coloured beetles and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos drew our attention before we reached the viewing platform and then headed back, crossing the suspension bridge to our first cafe stop.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cataract Gorge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If this beetle has a name, I don't know it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many skinks</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sentinel Point</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Here were Peacocks, Peahens, and baby peacocks (Chickpeas?), and also a group of local Rotarians who were hosting a group of fellow Rotarians from Sweden, so we had a chat with them and discussed our respective clubs before having the compulsory coffee and vanilla slice. We were sitting under a Ginkgo biloba tree, which - if you didn't already know - is like a living fossil, a tree with no close living relatives anywhere in the world. The Ginkgo belongs to an Order all on its own - the Ginkgoales - most of which appeared in the Cretaceous period and became extinct long before the Palaeocene. There were also Sequoias and other specimen trees here.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ginkgo leaf (Google images)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ginkgo tree (Google images)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sequoia</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">After getting back to the road and checking out the start of tomorrow's route, we wandered through the waterside area, had lunch at a cheap restaurant and then went back to the city centre. The Launceston Design Centre was a bit disappointing, being more of a showcase for furniture on sale, although there were a few rather clever ideas there.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They even have river cruises here!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can imagine these two machines caught Richard's eye</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Launceston's colonial-style buildings</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">However, we decided to move on to the motor museum for a bit of (a) nostalgia and (b) a sauna. The museum is housed in a basic industrial unit: the reception area/shop is air-conditioned but the main exhibition hall isn't, and today the sun had been high in the sky for some time, so it was a sweat box. And the motorcycle mezzanine was even hotter! So after a wallow amongst the motor cars of yesteryear, we headed through the park into the town centre for a large ice-cream.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Spotted Dove in the park</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I also bought some factor 50 sun cream. The lady who served me said she currently had visitors from Hull who had brought some factor 15 with them. She was surprised because it isn't possible to buy factor 15 in Tasmania on the basis that it's effectively useless!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Once more we found restaurants pretty well booked up in the evening, although after splitting up we did all manage to get a table. We went to 'Sails' and Richard had the duck. When he went to pay on the way out, the girl couldn't understand his accent and only managed to grasp what he'd eaten when he said 'DACK'!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Back to the room, pack ready for a longish day tomorrow and a 7.30 start. A hot day today.</span></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-45413924260224924542015-03-12T11:07:00.000+00:002015-03-12T11:07:59.185+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 15 - Scottsdale to Launceston - Erratics, Echidnas and Eucalyptus</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from Myrtle Bank</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Thursday 19 February. I didn't mind the fact that my single bedroom last night was tiny, but the lack of opening windows made it difficult to get clothes dry. I think I decided to put on my spare pair of shorts for the first time, so I could 'peg' the damp ones on to the rear bike bag to get them dry. Breakfast was a bit on the scant side, so when I set off I went looking for a bakery. When I drew a blank I called in at a cafe where the owner was happy to sell me a couple of bread rolls, a banana and a choccy bar.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rush hour, Scottsdale</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">On the edge of town is the strange-looking building which houses the Forest Eco Centre. As someone once said, it looks like the Martians have crash-landed their spaceship in the paddock, and if I'd known more about it I'd have stopped to look around, except that we were too early and it wasn't open. There's an information centre about Tasmania's wood and woodlands. Now the road undulated steeply through pastoral scenery with lots of glacial erratics (boulders left behind after the last ice-age) and a pretty carving on a massive tree stump. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sottsdale Eco Forest Center</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A glacial erratic the size of a small car</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too much spare time with a chain saw. Actually it's rather good.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The day's big climb started after about seven miles - over 400 m to the top of Myrtle Bank, and despite being reunited with those heavy panniers I climbed quite well, passing a few colleagues on the way up and almost (but not quite) keeping up with Irene.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This seemed strangely ironic as I passed it not far from the top of the hill</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Near the top was an excellent lookout with great views of the NE corner of the island, plus very distant views of Cape Barren and Flinders Islands. After a strangely undulating top (the hill didn't seem to want to give up!) we eventually dropped, gradually, through woodland and surroundings with an almost moor-like quality, until we saw the Myrtle Campsite, and although no-one else had stopped, five of us (me, John, Sue, Steve, Irene) called in for a machine-made cuppa and a quick break, noticing how cheap overnight stays were (about $6 per night for a camper or caravan).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Sue spotted an Echidna by the roadside soon after. I hung on for several minutes hoping it would spring into life, but without luck as it stubbornly buried its snout in the ground and, apart from the odd bad-tempered shuffle, showed little signs of activity. When I set off again I was, as usual, a long way behind everyone.</span></div>
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But the countryside was really pleasant here, with a mixture of fields, forests and streams - a joy to cycle through. By the time I reached the next cafe stop, everyone had been and gone, but I wasn't bothered and simply carried on until I reached Launceston, Tasmania's second-largest city. Having navigated my way through the centre, I found the Penny Royal Hotel Apartments, and it being only 1 pm, was too early to check in.</div>
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I went looking for the rest of the party and found Tony and Deborah at a nearby cafe, bought a coffee and - as we were sitting outside - polished off my second bread roll and the banana (you've got to admit, I know how to live!) Back at the hotel the rooms weren't quite ready, and now everyone else arrived so we went across the road to a swanky restaurant bar on the water's edge and had... a beer! It was now very warm and the cold beer was perfect.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from 'Still Water', our beer stop</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Back to the hotel, checked in (excellent rooms, lots of character in a rare old building) then off for a wander around town where I bought three new inner tubes from the local MTB bike shop, and learnt the new Australian word for 'cool' which is 'prime', pronounced 'proym'. And a huge ice-cream, which was proym.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penny Royal Hotel Apartments</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The only niggle was the evening meal, just across the road, where over an hour passed between us ordering the food and it arriving on the table. Steve and Irene's main course arrived, to be followed some 15 minutes later by the chips they'd ordered with it, and it's fair to say that Steve was not best pleased. Nor did he appreciate the waiter's reply that 'Well, we've only got a small kitchen.' Surely they knew that when they took the order..?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A horrible way to go, but at least he didn't die of starvation whilst waiting for his meal</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Never mind, overall an enjoyable day, pretty easy going and full of variety. Tomorrow we stay in Launceston to enjoy the sights before our last decent cycling day, returning to Devonport where we set off two weeks ago.</span></div>
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41 miles today, running total 537 m.</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-50302765881200112672015-03-11T14:19:00.000+00:002015-03-11T14:19:13.274+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 14 - St Helens to Scottsdale - I make it a hat-trick of punctures on our longest day</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's 4,730', a bit like Ben Nevis on a touring bike</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Wednesday 18 February. It would have been an early start but the caterers were pretty slow off the mark so we didn't get away until 8.00. Our panniers were to be carried for us (see yesterday's post) and it's surprisingly tricky to remember to take everything you need on the day - spares, tools and so on. You'd be cross if you had a puncture if your spare inner tubes were in your panniers in a van somewhere (funny I should say that... read on!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Mounted on our super-light bikes (!) we left through St Helens's suburbs, soon after which Richard was stopped, looking up at a large bird in a tree to the left, which turned out to be our best sighting of a Wedge-tailed Eagle.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wedge-tailed Eagle</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Just before Pyengana we came across an Echidna, which Tony and Deborah had seen crossing the road. What I find puzzling is that we normally spotted Echidnas this way - crossing the road - and yet I never saw a single road-kill. Whereas I never saw a wallaby or a possum crossing the road, and there were lots and lots of them sprawled out, lifeless, on the tarmac. An enigma.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">During coffee and Kit-Kat at the Pyengana filling station / cafe, I noticed a wooden plaque to the fallen of the two World Wars and was struck by the fact that of the eleven names there were only two surnames - Dobson and Nichols, simultaneously suggesting that this must have been a very tight-knit community and demonstrating the dreadful consequences of conflicts on the other side of the world.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big ferns (2 metres high)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">It began to drizzle as we left, and in fact it rained all the way up the day's longest climb, as we went from just above sea-level to an altitude of 600 m (nearly 2,000'). Along the way were lots of enormous ferns, like bracken on steroids, making you wonder whether you've stepped back in time to the Carboniferous era or earlier. With a sense of recurring deja vu I noticed my front tyre deflating for the third day in a row, and at the top, where Irene was waiting for Steve and getting very cold, I pumped it up and carried on downhill for a while, into a drier and slightly warmer environment.</span></div>
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Luckily I'd borrowed a spare tube from Tony and stopped to fit it, concluding that my spare from yesterday was probably too small a section. To be honest, I'd probably been a bit blase when packing my spares, because I never get punctures. Now it was becoming a daily chore! Happily it would prove to be the last one (puncture, that is, not inner tube).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the pub, just a photogenic old shed!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Not long afterwards we came to a proper pub, at Weldborough. I say a proper pub, but it didn't have a proper welcome. Stopping for a coffee with Steve and Irene, we found the landlady to be cold and severe, and when I asked if I could eat some of my own food she relented only if I went outside with it. Well, I thought, I can eat my own food outside anywhere I like, so I won't be doing it outside your cold pub.</span></div>
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As we were leaving, she lit the fire.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Derby</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely house converted from the old town bank</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">By Derby (pronounced 'Durby' the sun had come out and all was lovely and warm again. More coffee, this time with carrot cake, at the 'Arts' cafe, where there were lots of paintings and other cultural stuff on exhibition everywhere. Leaving this small town it appeared as though the route would be nice and gentle, but then it started to undulate until a big climb hove into sight - 345 m of Billycock Hill.</span></div>
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Stopping for a brief rest I was watching a bird in the trees which looked unfamiliar. I took some photos but they were against the light, and it was only when I brought them up on the computer and lightened them up that I realised that this was another new bird for me - a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Finally, a gut-wrenching climb just before Scottsdale, where I got on to Irene's back wheel as she 'towed' me up to the top, only for us to see a long descent and an equally horrendous second hill to the town itself. I went in front expecting to return the compliment but Irene dropped off on the downhill: for some reason I got stick from John later on, who said I was being un-gallant, but I did my best honest, Irene!</span></div>
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I arrived at the hotel in a state of complete knackeredness, to find that the bags had all been left around the back, but mine weren't there. After a brief panic it turned out that Ken had taken mine, thinking we'd be room-sharing when in fact we all had our own individual (tiny) single room. Ken was relieved as he wasn't sure how he was going to swing a cat.</div>
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Another early dinner and early night. Tomorrow we head west for Launceston, Tasmania's second city. 61 miles today, grand total so far 496.</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-30177797367066852522015-03-10T21:04:00.000+00:002015-03-10T21:04:31.151+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 13 - Bicheno to St Helens - A good soaking and another puncture thrown in for good measure</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dennis, the Tasmanian Devil. Or is it Duncan...?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Tuesday 17 February. Not quite a queue for the bathroom but with four sharing our room it came close! Breakfast was served in the room, but before you get excited we're talking cereals and milk, plus toast. A quick inventory revealed that I still haven't bothered my spare top, spare shorts, longs or long-sleeved top, so perhaps there's scope to cut out even more weight next time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The day started grey, and before we set off it began to drizzle, so I put on arm- and leg-warmers, a waterproof top, and to everyone else's intense amusement, Tesco plastic carrier bags over my socks and inside my shoes. With non-waterproof shoes these can keep the water out for some time. But not for an entire day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Off we all set, into the drizzle. Within 10 minutes or so we came upon the Natureworld Wildlife Park. There were mixed feelings as to whether to visit, but I was keen (I thought it might stop raining whilst we were there, haha!) so I quickly went in and asked whether they would do a group discount. Straight away I got a reduction from $24 to $20 but even that wasn't enough to persuade the majority, so in the end only five of us stayed (still at $20) - me, Ken, Valerie, Tony and Deborah, while the rest soldiered on.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah makes a new friend</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwVw2Y5osew/VP9Yy9yZwdI/AAAAAAAAGCQ/fvKaSPGPS1A/s1600/P1070320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwVw2Y5osew/VP9Yy9yZwdI/AAAAAAAAGCQ/fvKaSPGPS1A/s1600/P1070320.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rather odd Cape Barren Goose - a distant relative of other geese, despite its similar appearance</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magpie Goose</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rod Hull</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">They missed a real treat - an excellent wildlife park, with lots of Eastern Grey Kangaroos (all wondering what I'd got in my plastic bag, expecting it to be food. I can't remember what it was now, but I do know what it wasn't, and that's Kangaroo food). There was a Wombat, Bennett's Wallabies, Pademelons, lots of birds, some loose like the Cape Barren Geese, others in aviaries including Cockatoos, parakeets, doves and pheasants. There were snakes, an emu, and a magpie goose, but the highlight was to be feeding the Tasmanian Devils at 10 am.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There had to be a Joey somewhere</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8npAj_7pyq8/VP9YtI7mTuI/AAAAAAAAGBk/qyH1dJtEZeg/s1600/2015-02-17%2B09.53.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8npAj_7pyq8/VP9YtI7mTuI/AAAAAAAAGBk/qyH1dJtEZeg/s1600/2015-02-17%2B09.53.24.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lowland Copperheads - venomous, potentially fatal</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lady Amherst's Pheasan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The two Devils, imaginatively named Dennis and Duncan, were adolescent males, almost full grown. 34 teeth, all functioning incisors, and a bite strength stronger, pound for pound, than any other animal known to man, including the Great White Shark. They will eat anything, but seem to be particularly fond of Wallabies and road kill that absolutely stinks. Once they get their teeth into something they do not let go. Ever. They can eat a third of their bodyweight in one meal, which is like you or me eating a 50 lb steak in one go. Make that medium rare for me. They are marsupials, giving birth to around a dozen pea-sized young, which make their way to the pouch (or marsupium, to use its scientific name) where there are only four teats. The first four to grab a place are assured of shelter and sustenance. The rest perish. I was tempted to say a bit like estate agency but perhaps not!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He ain't gonna let go ever - until he's eaten this delicious portion of possum tail</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">After we'd seen everything and had a coffee, we set off again, almost two hours behind the others, into drizzle which got steadily worse and worse. Then my front tyre punctured again! We pulled in and noticed that we were being watched by a nearby Wallaby. It appears that yesterday's replacement inner tube, which had been repaired, decided to attach itself to the inside of the tyre via some of the patch adhesive, so it was on with my last spare and get going again.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still grey at Scamander</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">On the next section the drizzle turned to torrential rain, bouncing off the road. Hence no photos of this bit, as I'm not good at photography when I'm getting a good soaking. At Scamander we stopped at a filling station / cafe and had sandwiches, custard tarts and coffee, and as we were about to set off the rain cleared away, giving us a pleasant final run in to St Helens where we soon found the Bayside Inn.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The marina at St Helens. Not exactly Monte Carlo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7b1EcBp-agX2aeXiVeHZ-IsKkbZvsv6JnbYw4N6EUc_5CgjiS3kxc5TjyxhJR3eQg6rS2AJgCjax7gDB8KffdrjC7imCKbMJ6LoCJDjXcYN1d_GEaGk4juXAYNBRqoo21lruf6ZZ9dK6j/s1600/2015-02-17+17.09.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7b1EcBp-agX2aeXiVeHZ-IsKkbZvsv6JnbYw4N6EUc_5CgjiS3kxc5TjyxhJR3eQg6rS2AJgCjax7gDB8KffdrjC7imCKbMJ6LoCJDjXcYN1d_GEaGk4juXAYNBRqoo21lruf6ZZ9dK6j/s1600/2015-02-17+17.09.21.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HOLD THE FRONT PAGE! Another big scoop for the St Helens Examiner </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">To say it's the biggest town on the North-East coast, there isn't an awful lot to St Helens, and I reckon it has the world's smallest marina. The hotel restaurant started serving dinner at 6 pm, and it was like the opening day of the January sales - everyone, it seems, wanted their dinner as soon as possible. I was feeling a bit under the weather, which wasn't helped by the biggest helping of chicken linguine I've ever seen. I almost needed a porter's trolley to get it from the serving hatch to the table, and much of it remained uneaten.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just one more James Boag's draught...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">During the meal we were entertained by several young Japanese children who were in turn entertaining themselves with one of those arcade machines with the crane and grab handle, the prizes being chocolate bars. They managed to accumulate quite a stash, but at what cost I shudder to think.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L to R - John H, Richard, Helen. Should we have a caption competition? Submit your suggestions and I'll publish the best ones (or all of them)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">So ended our wettest day, with another 47 miles on the clock, 435 altogether.</span></div>
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We were concerned about the longest day - tomorrow - to Scottsdale, with some serious climbing on the way. With this in mind, when Richard got to the hotel in St Helens he set about trying to arrange for our panniers to be carried so that we could travel light. And so it was that the post man agreed to take them about half way, then put them on the bus for the rest of the way, at a total of $2 (about £1) per bag. Everyone was very happy with his efforts!</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-63387104764674487142015-03-09T19:31:00.000+00:002015-03-09T19:31:56.845+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 12 - Triabunna to Bicheno. I get a talking-to from the Police and we find a real Penguin!</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bicheno</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Monday 16 February. As you may recall, the bar closed at 7 pm yesterday evening. Despite the fact that the Tandar is a motel, it turns out they don't do breakfast either. So we returned en masse to the eat-in takeaway, which suited most, although as they only did a cooked breakfast I wasn't too keen. Then I made the mistake of ordering sausage and ended up being the last one to be served for the second time in under 24 hours.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_Npi1qkjhsUGMwzlAFZPN5-ulrs5rl74vcXQ08j4oWCquqmiEAjrK3RPmqWnA3pkw_AoOGuu4StgSTEq7hFKfP257MRnzolDQyxSeDHpLEQ2sOyMU5sLgCk8heJGnq-onPHBHvzvPor_/s1600/2015-02-16+08.20.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_Npi1qkjhsUGMwzlAFZPN5-ulrs5rl74vcXQ08j4oWCquqmiEAjrK3RPmqWnA3pkw_AoOGuu4StgSTEq7hFKfP257MRnzolDQyxSeDHpLEQ2sOyMU5sLgCk8heJGnq-onPHBHvzvPor_/s1600/2015-02-16+08.20.45.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opposite the Take-away. Somebody needs to get out more</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not far from Triabunna</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DT_a33vDnLg/VP3xcyPDscI/AAAAAAAAF_c/QIxi1BPhvDo/s1600/2015-02-16%2B09.55.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DT_a33vDnLg/VP3xcyPDscI/AAAAAAAAF_c/QIxi1BPhvDo/s1600/2015-02-16%2B09.55.49.jpg" height="137" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the entrance to a walking holiday centre. Perhaps these belonged to the naughty visitors</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I set off (last) with Tony and Deborah, the day looking promising with a broken sky and following breeze. Once again I stopped several times to look at birds (Eastern Rosella, Scarlet Robin, Noisy Miner, Kookaburra) and then, after 16 miles, I got a front puncture. I don't get punctures very often but it was just after I'd stood up out of the saddle to give my bum a rest, and the front wheel had dropped off the edge of the tarmac. Whether that caused the flat, or whether a flat caused the wobble, I'm not sure.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scarlet Robin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eastern Rosella</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noisy Miner</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">By the time I'd changed the inner tube (it only took five or ten minutes) I must have been well behind everyone, but I reckoned I'd catch up in Swansea (which came after the junction to Pontypool). Thinking Richard might be worried, I sent him a text, which he read after I'd told him about it!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swansea</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The road now ran close to the sea and was very scenic, then led to Swansea, where everyone had found a decent cafe for a spot of lunch. A flat white, a banana and a citrus tart later and I was off again, along with John, Valerie and Ken. The weather was warm and sunny with a gentle tailwind. A Swamp Harrier attracted my attention, as did a freshly road-killed possum.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What you can't see (or hear) are all the singing frogs</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Another of Richard's minor detours took us on to a side road which crossed a medium sized stream on a concrete bridge which was only a few inches above water level. It occurred to me that if it had rained much more two days ago we'd be turning back to the main road at this point! I stopped under a tree to renew my suncream as it was really sunny (and also to have a delicious cherry-coconut-chocolate bar, then, back on the main road, the road kicked uphill for a long climb.</span></div>
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At one point a stream ran close to the road on the left and I heard a loud splash as I got near, but didn't get to see what had caused it, sadly. Over the top there was a great viewpoint on the descent overlooking Oyster Bay and some vineyards. I spoke to a young man who'd just arrived in Tassie on the overnight plane from Perth, and was on his way to do a wilderness walk in the Freycinet National Park.</div>
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Soon afterwards I was overtaken by a Police car which stopped just in front of me. The Officer got out and waved me to stop, then in a friendly kind of way told me that drivers had 'complained' that there were two groups of cyclists on the road and that they had 'come across them just around bends'. I resisted the urge to suggest that as we weren't doing anything wrong, complaints was a bit of a strong word: he seemed friendly enough and he just asked me to ensure that everyone in our group was cycling safely (which I knew they would be anyway) and we parted on very friendly terms. But I couldn't help wondering what kind of driver would actually report to police the fact that there are cyclists on the road. Blimey, there'll be walkers on footpaths next!</div>
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I've just remembered - the biggest irony was that there are signs on that stretch of road warning motorists to 'Expect the Unexpected' around the next bend!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pondering Frog Ice Cream cafe. I think they're looking for a house-sitter next June - if you're interested go to http://ponderingfrog.com.au/contact/ </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Soon after was the best ice-cream stop ever - the Pondering Frog - in just the right place and with the most unbelievably delicious ice-cream. Some of the Canadian cycling group were there so I told them that the Police had told me that they were the troublemakers!</span></div>
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The last few miles to Bicheno were into quite a headwind, which slowed things around. At the Wintersun Motel we found that four of us had to share one room, which was a bit tight. Richard got the camp bed, and drying clothes would have been a problem had it not been for (a) the dry weather and (b) a rotary clothes line in the garden.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The laundry met with Val's approval this time</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't resist a photo of this</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">After an evening meal at the Sea Life Centre restaurant we walked back in the gloaming along the rocky beach (great big slabs of granite, getting trickier to negotiate as it got darker) and then found ourselves at a Penguin nesting site. These are Little Penguins: you could hear the chicks in the burrows at the top of the beach (and under the edges of the nearby car park) calling for their parents to hurry up and feed them. But mum and dad were, in most cases, reluctant to come ashore until it was later and darker. We waited, seeing nothing for a while, then as we decided to leave, Tony and Deborah found an adult bird hiding in some bushes right next to the path - so we got to see a real Little Penguin at last.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Penguin (courtesy of Google Images)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">An eventful day. 59 miles, running total 389 miles.</span></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-40552278518268252842015-03-08T19:59:00.000+00:002015-03-08T21:32:13.771+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 11 - Hobart to Triabunna with a proper cafe stop on the way!</span></b></div>
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Sunday 15 February. Having replaced the sheared bolt yesterday there were - hopefully - no worries about seat post collapse. As we were about to start, Sue discovered that one of her tyres was flat, so there was a short delay whilst husband John fixed it. We made our way back to the Tasman Bridge, along Bathurst Street and some off-road cycle paths, and this time Irene went last and walked over again. Not only is the bridge cycle 'path' narrow, it has a 3 cm wide groove along the right hand edge, which could catch a tyre and throw a rider of the bike, and there are projecting bits of structure which, if you're not paying attention, will take your shoulder off! Definitely not impressed.</div>
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We all waited on the far side in a little suburban avenue, then found our way out of town along a surprisingly hilly route which soon passed under the Tasmanian Highway before we turned left on to the Coal Valley 'Vineyard' Tourist Route. This turned out to be one of the busiest roads so far.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for my elevenses</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">At Richmond there was an excellent cafe serving Devonshire Teas (TWO scones with all the trimmings). I went for buttered toast and a strawberry & custard tart plus a coffee. Time went by as we sat outside enjoying the sunshine. Everyone else had been served. I enquired about my order, and it seemed that they'd given it to someone else, so would bring another straight away. More time passed, so I went to enquire again, and they'd done the same thing by serving it to a complete stranger inside the cafe! I was beginning to suffer from paranoia, when finally it arrived. All taken in good humour of course. Grr.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's coming! Wait for me!</td></tr>
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Despite the number of vineyards the scenery up until now had seemed more British than on previous days, and this continued after Richmond. We passed a Go-Kart track with a race in progress, though viewing opportunities were limited.</div>
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Once on the A3 I quickly turned left as per Richard's instructions on to a 4 km stretch of old road. I could see that the riders in front (including Richard!) had overlooked it and continued on the main road. I was hoping to see some wildlife on this quiet stretch, but was disappointed as there wasn't much apart from fallen trees which almost blocked the road at times.</div>
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Back on the A3 the road curved upwards in a long climb up to 315 m or so. We came across other cyclists doing the same route - almost a new experience in Tasmania. It turned out that some were on another organised tour: several were Canadian. They had a support vehicle with spare bikes, food and all their luggage, so I couldn't decide whether to feel superior or just jealous.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This photo for Val, who was born in Downham (Lancashire)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The climb was followed by a short descent and then a long level section into a strong headwind. Steve, who usually climbed a bit slower than me, came past at this point so I draughted him for a few miles to get a bit of a rest.</span></div>
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Another serious ascent followed, up to over 350 m, followed by a long, gentle descent, through Buckland (which consisted of nothing more than a filling station / cafe / store. The lady serving had a great sense of humour, ribbing me mercilessly for my pronunciation of 'mug', which she mimicked quite well.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The River Prosser's in there on the left somewhere</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bridge at Orford</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">23 km to go, some downs, some ups, but always into that grinding headwind. Really interesting scenery as we reached the River Prosser, which seemed to disappear into a deep gorge, reappear as a wide, lazy river, then there was a large weir, before we arrived at Orford, where the river was crossed by a long bridge. Two of the other cycling group passed me as I was taking a photo, and in about 3 km I'd re-caught them and their two companions despite my burden of panniers. Suitably inspired, I went on to catch Helen and Ken before we finally arrived at Triabunna and the Tandar Motel.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Never a good sign when the cemetery is so near the Medical Centre. Triabunna</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The rooms were luxurious - a large double bed each and lots of space - but the bar closed at 7 pm and there were no evening meals. We found a 'take-away' where, despite its title, you could eat in, whilst others went for the local fish & chips. It seemed an incredibly sleepy place during what I would have thought was the late part of the tourist season - quite odd. When I asked the bar manager why they closed at 7 pm he replied that none of the locals visit the bar after that time. Well they wouldn't, would they, if they know that's when he closes! All very odd.</span></div>
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Quite a hard day - 57 miles, making a running total of 330.</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-54085518088940557852015-03-08T16:15:00.000+00:002015-03-08T16:15:21.550+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 10 - Hobart in the rain</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of colonial-style buildings in the state capital</td></tr>
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Saturday 14 February was scheduled as a 'rest day' to explore Hobart, and with perfect timing it rained most of the day. At least there would be opportunities to shelter, which you don't get whilst out on the bike.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAiff3YjjYwqHOzaSWtJVx_YY3Ie67P3qGT0ntTZ8BLb15KHzJDUu-GbGBpLdvQo4ZHheCuXf-J12NuOtYhWN570COkrwzPpu_JMzG_PV0JSmWCmK6Qn28kVMJ2CIbRhznJT_3XOqcZ7Sw/s1600/P1070279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAiff3YjjYwqHOzaSWtJVx_YY3Ie67P3qGT0ntTZ8BLb15KHzJDUu-GbGBpLdvQo4ZHheCuXf-J12NuOtYhWN570COkrwzPpu_JMzG_PV0JSmWCmK6Qn28kVMJ2CIbRhznJT_3XOqcZ7Sw/s1600/P1070279.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Salamanca market is a big open air affair down near the harbour. Hundreds of stalls selling lots of things from unashamed rubbish to nicely crafted jewellery, lots of handicrafts, art, food of all sorts, plus entertainment in the form of a live band or two and a couple of buskers. I had a wander round but to be honest, open air markets aren't the kind of thing to float my boat. What was more interesting was the collection of vintage and 'special interest' cars in the adjacent park. Not many, but the red MG 1300 reminded me of John Cleese manically thrashing the bonnet of a similar car during an episode of Fawlty Towers; the Alvis with its straight-6 engine had me wondering how anyone managed to balance all three SU carburettors, and the JPS Lotus Europa was just sublime.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For our younger readers, this is the MG1300...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wy53wW45IrM/VPrZRBL1ppI/AAAAAAAAF8Y/a6ivfRmhWYI/s1600/2015-02-14%2B10.45.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wy53wW45IrM/VPrZRBL1ppI/AAAAAAAAF8Y/a6ivfRmhWYI/s1600/2015-02-14%2B10.45.29.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and this is the Lotus Europa. No prizes for guessing which one I prefer</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Beaujangles Cafe in the central arcade was ideal for a light lunch, then off to the Tasmania Museum for an afternoon shelter from the rain. Helen was there and recommended it highly. Lots of natural history displays, including a room about the extinct (or is it?) Tasmanian Tiger, known as the Thylacine. I also liked the architectural work around the entrance and staircase.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JTtvz5CW85Y/VPrZaVAIoJI/AAAAAAAAF9g/Ze12sPMKQ2Q/s1600/P1070283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JTtvz5CW85Y/VPrZaVAIoJI/AAAAAAAAF9g/Ze12sPMKQ2Q/s1600/P1070283.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely designs</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHh62ezjur448BURaXX0uoBgAQD7kXFRb42lbpsE7OyJXywIvoSH3KhDUSRc4f849BlGFeMaXUsweG6ZzVddJN5-WjPKcbk7gVE6oPLmblGLGIvNURN3VZPbK0T_UAmWi5IU155OhlOvM7/s1600/P1070284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHh62ezjur448BURaXX0uoBgAQD7kXFRb42lbpsE7OyJXywIvoSH3KhDUSRc4f849BlGFeMaXUsweG6ZzVddJN5-WjPKcbk7gVE6oPLmblGLGIvNURN3VZPbK0T_UAmWi5IU155OhlOvM7/s1600/P1070284.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0bn8s1qtemA/VPraepTBsPI/AAAAAAAAF9w/MLJMSGoEcNY/s1600/Thylacine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0bn8s1qtemA/VPraepTBsPI/AAAAAAAAF9w/MLJMSGoEcNY/s1600/Thylacine.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Thylacine is thought to have been extinct for decades, but some folks aren't convinced</td></tr>
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Then a gentle amble around the port...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...new</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhapsody of the Seas in Hobart Harbour</td></tr>
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I got back and fitted my shiny new seat bolt to the bike. Our evening meal was problematical again, as tonight was Valentines Day (yes, I DID send some flowers to Val. Virtual flowers I know, but that way I could send more and they were in better condition when they arrived). We managed to find a table for four (me, Richard, John H and Valerie) at a nearby Italian restaurant which was very good.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">(Was it here, or somewhere else, where I saw an advertising sign which read "SPECIAL OFFER - 20% off your meal price on Valentine's Day! 4 persons minimum." Kinda defeats the object, don't you think?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I'm a hopeless romantic. These are the flowers I sent to Val. ALL of them. Via my iPhone ;-)</span></div>
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Tomorrow we turn north and head up the east coast to Triabunna.</div>
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PS To avoid any confusion, Valerie on the cycle tour is not the same person as my good lady wife Val, who bravely stayed at home during my three-week sojourn to the Antipodes. Just in case you were wondering.</div>
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-35729290265602508112015-03-07T17:19:00.000+00:002015-03-09T08:51:45.908+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 9 - Hamilton to Hobart: Our leader has a very important birthday</span></b></div>
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Frday 13 February. Tour leader Richard Dugdale is 70 years young today. We gave him a card at breakfast and sang that dreadful song. I probably managed to say "You don't look 70... but you must have done once" though I can't remember for sure. No, I must have done - I always do!</div>
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When we arrived yesterday afternoon I left my bike at the front of the hotel while I carried my bags inside. When I went to move it later, it had disappeared. I assumed that some kind person had taken it around to the implement shed where they were all being stored overnight, but of course now I got that nagging doubt. Had someone actually stolen it? This is of course a ridiculous thought, as who would want to ride a bike up and down all these hills? And sure enough, the bike was in the implement shed, though I never found out who the kind person was that put it there.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">We loaded up and set off after a mammoth photoshoot (no idea why!). The long hill didn't seem as bad as we'd expected and was soon over, to be followed by rolling green countryside. I went from lead bike at the top of the hill (which may surprise those of you who know how slow I usually am up hills) to rear-gunner again after stopping to take photos of Eastern Rosellas and two White-faced Herons. Whilst stopped I looked down at my feet to see a 12mm combination spanner on the ground, so I put it in my little tool bag!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eastern Rosellas</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White-faced Heron</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">A large tanker with trailer passed very close on a downhill section at an alarming speed, forcing an oncoming car off the road on to the gravel, then continued to pass the cyclists in front without any apparent care for their safety. He did blow his horn a lot, so I guess that made it alright. For an idiot.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Derwent River near Gretna</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">We passed through Gretna (and the Gretna Green Hotel) then turned right on to a much quieter road following the River Derwent, initially quite high above a steep-sided valley but quickly descending to cross the river and run through fields of hops, towards Bushey Park and Uxbridge, all very pleasant. Did you know that the closest relative of the hop plant is the cannabis plant? Remember that when you're quaffing your next pint of best bitter. We also crossed the strangely-named Styx River. I waited a while for the ferryman but he didn't show...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well I guess anything goes in Uxbridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old Mill with water wheel</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Now the road followed the increasingly wide River Derwent - a delight - to New Norfolk where, eventually, I found the others at a cafe which did the most excellent Ricotta, roast Squash and Spinach pasty. Then we crossed the river and I stopped to slap on some factor 50, as the sun was getting quite strong. We passed a paper mill (I think) and then into open country. The river became much wider as it began to approach the sea (and Hobart).</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not sure how this roadkill got up here...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I stopped to watch a Swamp Harrier (a buzzard-sized bird of prey), some Black Swans and a Pelican and so was some way behind when I caught the group, who had stopped at a busy junction to regroup and stay together on the way into (and through) Hobart. Traffic was now heavy at times although we still found a few quieter roads. Around Old Beach then a busy dual carriageway into the Hobart suburbs, along the waterfront to the Tasman Bridge, with its ridiculously narrow, elevated and confined cycle 'path'. Poor Irene couldn't negotiate this at all, and ended up walking almost the entire length of the bridge. The trouble was that the cyclists behind her (including me) couldn't pass because there wasn't enough room with panniers!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approaching Hobart</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tasman Bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bridge designer never rode a bike in his life</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">After a bit more trauma negotiating streets and busy junctions (not designed with cyclists in mind) we arrived at a cafe next to our hotel. It was on a one way street and Ken stopped without leaving room for traffic to pass. The next vehicle was an ambulance and no amount of horn blowing would get through Ken's hearing difficulties, until I almost manhandled him out of the way!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Busy Hobart</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Once the bikes were put away and we were washed and showered, I made my way to a nearby bike shop which had the exactly correct pinch bolt that I needed to replace the coach bolt that had replaced the old sheared seat-post bolt and stood me in good stead for the last couple of days.</span></div>
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Being Friday evening most of the restaurants in Hobart were full, but we found an excellent Indian near Salamanca which hit the spot. No cycling tomorrow - instead we'll be free to wander around and explore Tasmania's capital city. Another 60 miles today, 274 in total.</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-46061935059028704322015-03-06T19:38:00.000+00:002015-03-06T19:38:59.105+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 8 - Miena to Hamilton via Stonehenge</span></b></div>
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Thursday 12 February. Freezing cold this morning! Tasmania can be very chilly at each end of the day and very warm in the middle. Talking of the end of the day, this comes very soon for many of the locals. The evening meal is taken no later than 6 pm and by 8.30 everyone seems to have gone to bed. It takes a bit of getting used to, especially when you're accustomed to Spaniards who don't even think of starting their evening meal until 10 pm!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tour leader Richard leads the way out of Miena</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Although I still had some heavy fruit cake, I nipped across to the 'village' store for an egg curry (!) sandwich and some energy bars. Steve and Irene appeared, complaining that their alarm clock hadn't gone off, but I'm not sure there was any rush. Almost as soon as I set off I saw a large bird of prey. It always makes me wonder about the reliability of witnesses in court when I remember thinking "It has a very square tail" yet when I talked to Tony about it later, he said it definitely had a "wedge-shaped tail" - who was right? There's no way of knowing.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First stop for some fruit cake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">It was still cold. I'd donned leg- and arm-warmers and was regretting the fact that I hadn't brought full finger gloves. The sky was blue and my fingers were the same colour. The road passed through some really pretty farmland and woodland, entering Steppes National Park, and I turned off at a sign saying "Steppes Sculptures" to find a kind of modern-day Stonehenge.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Steppes Sculptures</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">As I ambled along, bringing up the rear as usual (it's a big responsibility being deputy tour leader!) a pair of Blue-winged Parrots flew across my bows, and before leaving the woodland, a Dusky Woodswallow was perched on a fence. Open farmland followed, with lots of irrigation reservoirs (one on the outskirts of Bothwell with over 40 Cormorants loafing around) and by the side of the road at one point there was an enormous dead Wombat. It was so big that for a moment I thought it must be a Grizzly Bear!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dusky Woodswallow</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Black Cormorants outside Bothwell</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">In the little town of Bothwell I found that everyone else had stopped for a coffee and cake. I continued the heavy theme by having a very dense slice of banana cake. Leaving town I passed the local sports field where the entrance took the form of a fine war memorial, and I was reminded that the Australians sent troops to Korea and Vietnam as well as the two World Wars.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bothwell Sports Ground with its War Memorial gates</td></tr>
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A pair of White-fronted Chats were a good find - very pretty - and for the rest of the afternoon I passed through very dry country, with parched fields, dead trees and sheep looking like they'd never get a square meal. Then after a final 3 km descent I arrived at today's destination of Hamilton. Our group had found another cafe on the outskirts: it turned out that Richard had been to our hotel to find it closed: the gardener told him that the owner had gone to Hobart and been delayed, so he wasn't sure when she'd get back. We hoped it wouldn't be too late!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White-fronted Chat</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hungry-looking sheep</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dry central plateau</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The cafe had a really excellent gift shop with some exquisite wood-turned items, including a fantastic chess board and clever letter racks, all made out of local woods - Huon Pine, Myrtle and... something else.</span></div>
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We made it to the Hamilton Inn at the same time as our host. The Inn was built in 1826 by convicts, and certainly has character. Dinner was good too, although despite the large number of draught taps in the bar there was no draught beer! Various bits of missing plaster in the bar / dining room were disguised by the presence of decorations such as old yacht sails (or perhaps they were to catch any plaster falling off the ceiling!)</div>
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A good day all round, with another 59 miles on the clock making 214 in total. Of course tomorrow we'll have to start by going back up that long 3 km hill on the way to Hobart...</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-62151626412452286352015-03-05T15:51:00.000+00:002015-03-05T15:51:53.956+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 7 - Mechanical problem sets a challenge</span></b></div>
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Wednesday 11 February. My usual morning ritual of loading up the day's route on to the Garmin didn't quite go according to plan - when I tried to look at it, the screen said I was in Libya. Near the Egyptian border, to be fair. Of course this caused me some consternation - I had a good look around and was sure I was in the same place where I went to bed last night, and as there was only one junction on the whole day's ride today I reckoned I could cope without satnav!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I prepare to cycle to El Alamein</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I went for some breakfast and found that Ken had already set off, concerned that the prospect of a long climb and gravel roads might make for a long day. Leaving Deloraine on the A5 we passed road works and rode through fields before keeping left at the only junction and entering woodland where Cockatoos were squawking and Kookaburras laughing.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those of you who've visited Lanzarote may be reminded of the Timanfaya emblem here</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't think, just pedal</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The road started to climb and then dipped briefly through the hamlet of Golden Valley (they do have some lovely names!) before settling into a serious ascent, not steep at 6-10% but relentless. A left turn was signposted to Liffey Falls and a few riders decided to have a look, though it was quite a long rough detour and opinion was divided as to whether it was worth it. When we had set off Richard said that he wouldn't recommend it, so of course who decided to go? - Richard, of course!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Designs on the Central Plateau</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of only two monotreme species in the world - an Echidna, or Spiny Ant-eater</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Quite a few of us were quite close together at this point, when Irene spotted an Echidna at the roadside and of course we stopped to have a look at this large, long-nosed, snuffly, egg-laying hedgehog-type thing.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R Irene, Sue, John Valerie, Steve</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I expected the road to top out at about 1,000 m but it kept on climbing to an impressive 1210 m instead before levelling out in quite dramatic scenery with big rock outcrops and small lakes. A gravel car park with information board and overlooking Great Lake appeared so we decided to have a lunch stop (bread roll and banana for me again!) It was lovely and sunny now, and quite warm too.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Lake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">At this point the road turned to gravel for about a mile, including some nice downhill hairpins, then back to tarmac as it passed through several miles of cabins, static homes and other generally shabby stuff a bit reminiscent of Dungeness. Presumably lots of these were weekend fishing retreats, but others had a certain Bohemian appearance.</span></div>
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Further on the road reverted to gravel once more, this time for 19 km, but the surface was quite good, just needing a bit of concentration to keep away from the occasional stretch of 'washboard'. Most passing cars slowed down, and the ones that didn't received a dusty curse! Then what was this strange feeling? A tailwind? Now that doesn't happen very often, but it was very welcome. In fact towards the end of the gravel I was spinning along at 20+mph which was a great feeling!</div>
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The only one of our group at the Great Lake Hotel on the outskirts of Miena was Helen, and she was quenching her thirst in the bar. I ordered a pint of lager shandy ($7.50!) and got 15 fl oz. On further enquiry from the bar person lady it turned out they only did 10 oz or 15 oz: this was the first time I'd come across this practice, which I was to find is commonplace in Australia. Now, I thought our Aussie friends were big drinkers, but if they're only quaffing these 'stubbies' it suddenly becomes less impressive!</div>
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Later in the evening I ordered "Three-quarters of a pint of James Boag's please". I don't think the bar person lady was amused.</div>
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Our rooms were quite small and looked rather like stables from the outside. I decided that my saddle needed raising by about a centimetre, so slackened off the pinch bolt, lifted the saddle up, tightened the bolt and "bang!" - it sheared. I realised this was going to be a problem, as without it the saddle not only drops 6 inches (much too low) but also there's nothing to stop it swivelling. And pinch bolts aren't the kind of thing you carry as a spare.</div>
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I went into the bar and asked if there was a hardware store in town. No chance. Someone said he could look in the back of his pickup, so out we went to have a route around. We found a bolt but no nut, then another with the nut almost completely rusted on. I nipped over to the little store by the petrol pumps and with the help of lots of WD-40 got the nut to turn. But then, back at the bike, the bolt turned out to be too short. Just then a couple arrived at a nearby room (stall?) and the husband asked what I was up to. So he had a route around in the boot of his car and found a coach bolt (and nut) which were a perfect fit apart from being two inches too long. Then he found a small hacksaw. Brilliant! Five minutes later the job was neatly finished and to my relief I had a serviceable bike again. </div>
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We had a jovial dinner at the hotel. I had the world's largest pizza, which the chef said he cooked himself and I don't believe a word of it - it arrived in a big cardboard box and was obviously put together in a factory. I'll accept that he re-heated it himself... Before dinner UK John had been totally frustrated by the bar person lady serving all the locals before him, even though he was there first. Both parties were getting a bit annoyed with each other. Later I spoke to her very nicely and got some extra Weet-Bix for our in-room breakfast. One needs the calories.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The end of another day, sunset over Great Lake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Total mileage now 155, with a run to Hamilton tomorrow that looks interesting.</span></div>
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-31068452334104478982015-03-04T17:15:00.003+00:002015-03-04T17:15:51.281+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 6 - What a Fruitcake!</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading out of Sheffield towards Mt Roland</td></tr>
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Tuesday 10 February. I like to think I learn from my mistakes, and having run out of food on Sunday when I really needed energy, yesterday I spotted a fruit cake in the Sheffield Supermarket. Weighing in at 800g - almost 2lb - it looked pretty good value on the $ per calorie scale. But it's so heavy I think I've added 10% to the weight of the bike! I saved the clingfilm off everyone's breakfast slices of bread, cut it into four (and the fourth piece into three) then carefully wrapped them all up and stashed them somewhere near the bottom of the panniers where they could keep my centre of gravity low!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wish!</td></tr>
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Meanwhile Richard, not wanting to waste some red wine that he'd bought, was rinsing out milk cartons so he could take it with him, although not to drink en route, I presume. Having bought a couple of bananas and a bread roll (reverting to my standard luncheon fayre!) we set off en masse just after 8.30, and after a short descent past fields and ponds (with Black Swans, Hoary-headed Grebes, Coots and Chestnut Teal), headed towards Mount Roland.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very noisy and not-at-all musical Sulphur-crested Cockatoo</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were making an awful squawking din as the road once again swung upwards and started a long climb through woodland reminiscent of Delamere Forest in Cheshire. The eucalyptus trees, not surprisingly, have a wonderful smell, whilst the birds are loud and generally raucous, apart from the surprisingly musical song of the Australian Magpie.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not Delamere Forest - wrong kind of trees</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">From the summit a great descent took me down to gently rolling fields again and for the rest of the day the roads were reasonably flat. But first of all I reduced that weight by having a delicious slice of fruit cake. Dry fields, hedgerows - some neat, some not so neat - and roadkills. Did I mention roadkills before? Well they are everywhere in Tasmania - mainly Bush-tailed Possums, Wallabies, Pademelons (another species of wallaby) but also the occasional Tasmanian Devil and other unidentified corpses. Whatever these animals eat, it doesn't decompose gracefully, because you can usually smell a roadkill before you see it - a really disgusting smell! I've read that there are more wallabies than people in Tassie, but surely this rate of attrition is unsustainable - there really are an awful lot of dead animals in the road. Best to treat them like smelly roundabouts I guess.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bush-tailed Possum. Dead. Not too smelly yet either</td></tr>
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The ladies were having problems - Valerie rode by with her helmet on top of a pannier (overheating); Irene complained of a noisy pedal and Helen a noisy bottom bracket. Was my bike behaving itself too well, or was it saving up a problem until later? We shall see.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If this reminds you of Sylvester the cat, you're getting old</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spotted at Mole Creek</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bezzey's Cafe</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Arriving at the very tidy Mole Creek, clearly one of Tasmania's best kept villages, I joined the others at Bezzey's cafe where the only person serving was coming under pressure. Just in time another lady arrived to help out, and said to me (at the back of the queue) "I guess you're the slowest ey?" to which I replied "That's a bit rich when you've just traipsed in half an hour late!" I think she appreciated my attempt at humour. Well the coffee tasted alright...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tour leader takes a break</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'd love to know the story behind this. And the ultimate insult - to mis-spell Patricia</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wish I'd taken a photo of the sign saying 'Unicorn Poo'</td></tr>
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Past a very odd sign on a building (no clues, sorry), past a honey museum, then an easy finish to Deloraine, which, like several other towns in Tasmania, seems to have learned the knack of hiding its town centre. Whichever through road you take, you don't seem to see the centre, and roadsigns don't seem to help. You just have to ask, I guess, and then there it is, a reasonable sized centre that isn't on the road to anywhere!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thought I was back in Yellowstone for a moment...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a Social Huntsman, though I don't think you'd want to get too social with it...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Message from Val on the other side of the world - "You've hung your cycling top the wrong way up!"</td></tr>
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Having got over the shock of an enormous spider (dead) I got showered and changed, hung out my laundry on the rotary dryer and then went off to find the town centre. Ken tried ordering a sandwich for tomorrow, and got the American Twenty-Questions treatment which he didn't appreciate as he couldn't hear a word the girl was saying!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For those who remember Shoshone Lodge ('Complaints Department -> 300 miles' here's another one!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The dining room at the motel was quite interesting. Everything had the date 1818 stamped on it, there were photos of the old loggers sawing massive trees, and copies of the Launceston newspaper from 1818. Pity there was no one left from 1818 to ask what was going on. A hearty dinner, a couple of James Boag's draught and then another early night prior to a big climb and lots of gravel road tomorrow on the way to Miena.</span></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-69940248589246646812015-03-03T16:38:00.000+00:002015-03-03T16:38:59.245+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 5</span></b></div>
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Monday 9 February. We slept in a sort of duplex room, rather swish really - two en suite twin bedrooms with a living / kitchen in the middle. Making his morning toast, Richard discovered that the smoke alarm was a bit on the sensitive side, and had to stand on a chair to knock it off. Ken never heard it. Note to self: if there's a real fire, make sure Ken's OK 'cause he won't hear the alarm. Actually, now that I think about it, the twin rooms had one single bed and one double. I gave Ken the double which seemed to make up for the disappointment of the night before.</div>
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It was overcast and chilly. I nipped across the road to buy a sandwich (too much meat, like America), then Greg the bus driver arrived with his little bus to take us to Cradle Mountain about 40 miles away. The route included some pretty big ascents and descents which wouldn't have looked out of place on yesterday's ride. We went through a hamlet called Promised Land (Greg said "We'll go back via Paradise") and a large upland area called Middlesex where there were lots of dead trees. Apparently these all died during a serious and prolonged drought a few years ago.</div>
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We arrived at the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre, paid our $16.50, had a coffee and then got on the Shuttle Bus which took us up to Dove Lake (photo above) , where there are superb views of Cradle Mountain itself (photo above). Black Currawongs - yellow-eyed crows - patrolled the car park ready to snatch any titbit. Most of the group opted to walk around the lake and then get the bus back. I worked out that I just had enough time to walk the six or seven miles back to the Visitor Centre, and Richard decided to come with me.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Currawong</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The landscape was interesting, a different kind of upland compared to the UK, with rocky paths, small ponds, strange palm-tree-like plants, boardwalks with basking skinks (the sun was beginning to come out). It looks like it should be boggy but it's quite dry. We visited the reconstructed wooden chalet at Waldheim which pioneer Gustav Weindorfer built in the early 1900s. We had hoped to see Wombats, Echidnas and Tasmanian Devils, but they were all hiding.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this is a Mountain Skink</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVr945Ww9srRe2vC9NIrE2eBRRwDArsFahZ10TY6XQCb_JEMyJldjT_sNir1ZTmsCAcvI4E5dJhbF89SPciEFrIkWbXdq1F-M8Fn3liXWQFJdgvuorEmTkxlRdgPTAewNQgAIcy19Dr4le/s1600/P1070115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVr945Ww9srRe2vC9NIrE2eBRRwDArsFahZ10TY6XQCb_JEMyJldjT_sNir1ZTmsCAcvI4E5dJhbF89SPciEFrIkWbXdq1F-M8Fn3liXWQFJdgvuorEmTkxlRdgPTAewNQgAIcy19Dr4le/s1600/P1070115.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Waldheim Chalet</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eastern Rosella</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtuwAQ7a0DQWZwrhBLbpy6eW7cW-xWu0HPQzZXaZEPo4KvciPFCx_6XP1s_QK6cw8nhwWwpli7V5AyCSILeN-35MbZesHA9onixDINVLKqFiTjK3MZsC8yM2n3CXZ_T9s8C5EAwqBH4t2/s1600/P1070138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtuwAQ7a0DQWZwrhBLbpy6eW7cW-xWu0HPQzZXaZEPo4KvciPFCx_6XP1s_QK6cw8nhwWwpli7V5AyCSILeN-35MbZesHA9onixDINVLKqFiTjK3MZsC8yM2n3CXZ_T9s8C5EAwqBH4t2/s1600/P1070138.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forest Raven I think</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">At Snake Hill we looked at the map and Richard decided to catch the Shuttle Bus the rest of the way. I reckoned that if I got a wiggle on I had just enough time to reach the Visitor Centre by 3.00 when the bus driver wanted to leave. Nothing much interesting on the rest of the walk, and when I reached the Visitor Centre at 2.50 I found it was the Interpretation Centre and there were still another 2 km to go - Ooops!!</span></div>
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I almost ran the last 2 km and arrived at the Visitor Centre car park at 3.05, boarding the bus with those eternal words - "Am I the last?" I think I just got away with it. We did indeed go through Paradise on the way back, and returning to the motel I helped myself to another doughnut, visited the nearby 'emporium' (they seem to like these big junk shops in Tassie, selling everything including toilet seats and memorabilia). I had a look at a few more murals and called it a day.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go on, you know you want to lift the seat up....</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haha!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheffield murals</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">As the Currawong flies we're still not far from Devonport, but tomorrow we head to Deloraine and start to travel south, eventually to Hobart in a few days' time.</span></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-87487655808883307132015-03-02T20:28:00.000+00:002015-03-02T20:28:11.718+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 4</span></b></div>
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Sunday 8 February. The motel doesn't do breakfast (not many do!) so it's a quick stroll along the road to the Bakehouse in Penguin for a coffee and a slice of pizza made, rather strangely, on a slice of ordinary bread. This and a coffee will do, I think, and I don't buy anything else to eat either, a decision I come to regret later as I underestimate the difficulty of the ride to come today.</div>
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Ken locks the door to our room and a split-second later realises that he's left his gloves behind. But he can't get them back because the proprietor doesn't live on the premises, so has to set off without, looking a bit glum.</div>
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After a brief team photo alongside another big penguin, we get going to find that the road out of town is bloomin' steep! Lungs start to strain for the first time this week, chains drop off the inside of granny gears, whilst I try to stay detached from the chaos and pedal serenely, if slowly, up the hill into open countryside. Helen, who had been feeling under the weather, had decided to take the much shorter direct route to Sheffield, with little climbing but missing out the Wildlife Park at Gunns Plains.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It could be England, except I don't think we have so many cows any more</td></tr>
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It's agricultural again, with lots of dairy cows - more than you'd see in England these days - and interesting to see that most farms have small lakes {or large ponds) all over the place, no doubt for storing irrigation water. Cattle Egrets, White-faced Herons, and smaller birds like Greenfinches are to be seen as we climb more gently now over the next few miles to reach 400 m above sea level and a very useful filling station / general store.</div>
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Time for a coffee and something light to eat. Then the descent to Gunns Plains is incredibly steep and short, and I can't help thinking that it would have been a challenge in the opposite direction, to say the least!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down to Gunns Plains</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The sky was clear and blue, and the heat was building as we arrived at Wings Wildlife Park on Gunns Plains. After a bit of banter during which I failed to get the admissions lady to let me in for a concessionary fee, I went in with the others to look at the various animals kept in open air surroundings - a Koala (very sleepy), Tasmanian Devils (very creepy), Eastern Grey Kangaroos, a Wombat, Meerkats (African, surely?), Kookaburras, Black Swans, snakes, and so on.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tasmanian Devil has a bite which,<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"> pound for pound, </span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">is stronger than a Great White Shark,</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Did you know there are three species of snake native to Tasmania? All of them poisonous, potentially fatally - the White-lipped, Lowland Copperhead and the Tiger Snake. If you get bitten by one, you need to be given anti-venom quickly, but what if you don't know what kind of snake it was? The answer is - it doesn't matter, because the clever people in Tasmania provide a 'three-in-one' anti-venom with serum from all three species. What a good idea!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Onwards and upwards...<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I had a coffee and a large slice of carrot cake, but it wasn't large enough. If I thought the next few miles of gentle pedalling were going to be typical of the rest of the day, I was to be sadly mistaken. After following a very pretty wooded river downstream for a while the road kicked uphill and then went up, and up, and up. It seemed never-ending, and when it did end the descent was short and sweet, before a brief easy section - past fields of opium poppies (OPIUM POPPIES?!!) and then another long, long climb. Followed by two or three miles of gravel road. At one point a pick-up sped by in the opposite direction, not slowing down at all and churning up clouds of dust that had me spitting pulverised road for some time! Grrrr!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do mine eyes deceive me? Opium?!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">There was still a long way to go and I was averaging little more than 8 mph. Nowhere was flat. Every downhill was brief and followed by a much longer uphill. I'd run out of food - and energy, and was running low on water. A short easy section took me to a bridge over the River Forth: Richard caught me here and gave me an energy bar - phew!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WHERE is Richard taking us now?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Only 12 miles to go but... what a climb followed! A huge monster of a climb, past a dam and hydro-electric plant, up and up. When this had finished and there were only 7 or 8 miles to go, there were still uphill gradients and now a headwind. All I could do was look at my front fork as I pedalled away. Eventually, after seven hours pedalling, I arrived at the motel in Sheffield, to a cheery welcome from the proprietors and a DOUGHNUT! Yummy!</span></div>
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I was one of the first there, and (almost to my surprise) the others eventually arrived, marvelling at Helen's wisdom in taking the short cut from Penguin. A quick shower and laundry then across the road for a beer and crisps before joining everyone else at the evening meal. Lots of pasta.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Sheffield is Tasmania's town of murals, but they would have to wait. No cycling tomorrow as Richard has arranged a bus trip to the famous Cradle Mountain area, where we can use our walking muscles instead of cycling muscles.</span></div>
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56 miles today, making a total of 80 so far.</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-43879240446790780402015-03-01T17:35:00.000+00:002015-03-01T17:35:59.303+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 3</span></b></div>
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Saturday 8 February - I can't believe it's so long since we left the UK, during which time making contact with home hasn't been as easy as one would expect in this day and age, so having woken up before the alarm I decided to hang the expense and ring Val. She was a bit surprised to hear from me I think! 7am in Tasmania is 8pm in the UK so it's not a bad time to ring. It seemed that everything was in order so I got dressed and headed for breakfast.</div>
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When brekkie is included there's always that temptation to go for the Full English, but I got over that a long time ago. I was walking the Pennine Way, stopping at B&Bs on the way, and although I never have a cooked breakfast at home I felt, as most of us do, that having paid for a full English I'd jolly well stoke up on one. After about 10 days I'd had enough and when one host offered a continental with lots of fruit I went for it and have never looked back!</div>
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We'd left our bike storage bags at the motel to be collected on our return, so now we packed up everything for the next two-and-a-half weeks in our panniers and after a very brief briefing from Tour Leader Richard Dugdale, set off on our adventure.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our esteemed leader starts the tour with a briefing as Valerie and Ken pay close attention</td></tr>
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The first couple of miles followed my walk of yesterday, along the off road path / cycle track, but at Coles Beach we continued straight on to the mouth of the Don where, at a car park, there was a strange collection of pebble sculptures. Each pebble looked like it was carefully and precariously balanced on the one below, and very soon Helen found that this was indeed the case. I'm referring to the word 'balanced' - there's no cement or glue, and when Helen touched one it fell off and, try as she would, she couldn't put it back without it falling over! Oops! Exit stage left. No doubt some skilled person would soon have it back in position!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The balancing rocks of Coles Beach</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Over the rickety Sawdust Bridge, then under the main Bass Highway, uphill and out of Devonport towards Ulverstone (I don't know about you, but I find all these British place names confusing, particularly as they bear no geographical relationship to their counterparts back home. Devonport is on the North coast and sits on the River Mersey (and also the Don), Ulverstone has an 'e' on the end, and later on we were to find Launceston and Exeter both on the River Tamar. Very frustrating!)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasmanian hitch-hikers</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">The country was agricultural and soon we passed through the village of Forth, where there was a river (we crossed it on the Forth Bridge I presume...) then everyone missed a junction to the right and carried on to a busy highway, with our intended route, another off-road cycleway, over on the other side. Because John Hartigan was behind us I volunteered to retrace our steps to find him and go the right way, whilst the rest of the party took a shorter route to get back on track. I found John without any trouble and we all soon met up again.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasmanian Wild Hen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">By this track were Galloway cattle, Tasmanian Wild Hens (like a big Moorhen) and at a railway level crossing, a group of trotting ponies being coaxed across. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Time for a coffee stop at Banjo's in Ulverstone, a quick look around town including the War Memorial, and off again.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday's alternative Clitheroe Bike Club Ride</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ulverstone War Memorial</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guerrilla Crotchet, Ulverstone</td></tr>
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Tasmania is at around the same latitude as the south of France, but the climate is affected by the fact that the island is surrounded by the cool Southern Ocean, so much of the time it's a bit on the chilly side compared to what you might expect, but when the sky is clear in February (it's their summer of course) the sun does a pretty good job of heating things up quickly, and 'things' include cyclists.</div>
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Unlike the UK, many of the cafes and restaurants don't have their own toilets. This fact is compensated for by the presence of lots of public toilets. It's something you soon get used to.</div>
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The road then took us along the coast to the town of Penguin, which lives up to its name by having replica penguins absolutely everywhere - on rubbish bins, on every building, sign and so on. You <i>know</i> you're in Penguin. On the way Richard mentioned to look out for whales out to see, but they either weren't present or were being very shy, and we weren't delayed. The penguins are Little Penguins (once known as Fairy Penguins), not the most northerly of the penguin family (that honour goes to the Galapagos Penguin) but still nearer the Equator than the South Pole. They breed in burrows in dunes and soft earth near the sea, and the parents come ashore at night to feed the chicks.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Arriving at our motel I found that the four single men (me, Ken, Richard and John H) were billeted in one room (or suite) with a double, two singles and a couple of bunks. After some discussion and flipping of coins I ended up with the double bed. I couldn't be sure but I got the impression that Ken might have been a bit disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">For the rest of the afternoon (after more coffee and cake) I looked around the town and its many plastic penguins, then later we all headed to a Thai restaurant which was excellent. They didn't have a licence though, which necessitated a visit to the nearby bottle shop beforehand. Afterwards we went looking for real penguins in the dark. We'd been told that they could be found near the caravan site on the edge of town, but I reckon we were given duff information as the habitat was all wrong and not a penguin was to be seen. But it's surprising how many caravanners sit out under their awnings until well after dark - very quietly, almost spookily, as you walk past, unless you shout a brave 'Helloo'!</span></div>
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A short day - 24 miles, but tomorrow would make up for any lack of mileage (or effort) with a long hilly ride to another place with a familiar name - Sheffield - with a visit to a wildlife park on the way. It's beginning to feel like a cycle tour.</div>
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-65982109955844961292015-02-28T21:16:00.000+00:002015-02-28T21:16:41.570+00:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Day 2</span></b></div>
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My room mate, Ken, is a touch on the deaf side. This came as a relief when someone rang me at 3.20 pm. Because this was 3.20 pm UK time, therefore 2.20 am Tasmania time. I scrabbled to turn it off without answering (it was a sales call anyhow!) and was about to apologise to Ken for the rude awakening when I realised he was still sleeping soundly. Jet lag doesn't seem to apply after travelling west-east and I quickly dozed off again.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah finishes re-assembling her Hewitt while the neighbours look on approvingly</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Getting up at around 7.30, it seemed amazing that it was Friday already, having left the UK so recently - on Tuesday. Talk at breakfast was of folks going into town to visit the bike shop, but encouraged by my brief outing to Mersey Bluff yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd saunter around the headland and then head back along the creek, doing a bit of bird-watching and generally being lazy.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small Wattlebird</td></tr>
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Setting off alone after applying Factor 50 (in deference to the depleted ozone layer down here), I followed the coast path, looking at birds which were all new to me - Galahs, Masked Lapwings, Small Wattlebirds (not very small but very noisy), Silver Gulls (like our Black-headed Gulls but with white heads), then through mixed woodland, where the narrow trunks of the trees were densely packed and quite spectacular in their own way. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The path winds through densely packed trees</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A passenger train runs on the hour<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px; text-align: justify;">A few little birds appeared, like native Silvereyes, Grey Fantails, plus some which had obviously been introduced - Blackbirds, Starlings, Sparrows, Greenfinches and Goldfinches. Past the car park at Coles Beach, over the narrow-gauge railway track and into more mature eucalyptus woodland with a Grey Butcher-bird and then the distinctive (and loud) call of a Laughing Kookaburra. It felt very Australian. A Beautiful Firetail (grey and scarlet finch) tried to hide in the higher branches of a path-side bush.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grey Fantail</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sawdust Bridge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Behind the Aquatic Centre a wooden footbridge (Sawdust Bridge) took me over a small tidal creek where a second view of a large log revealed no crocodile-surprises (I don't think there are any crocs in Tassie). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Re-entering the outskirts of town a massive, noisy bird in the top of a tree in someone's garden turned out to be a Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The railway museum<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">I turned towards the railway museum and said 'Hello' to a man in a pickup truck. He said he was the famous 'Bo' the clown (meant nothing to me), and when I told him I was from Lancashire in the UK he said "Well you won't be goin' 'ome mate" - apparently because I would like Devonport so much that - like him - I would settle down there. I suggested that Mrs Honeywell might have something to say about that, but it didn't seem to register.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Superb Fairy-Wren</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.1000003814697px; line-height: 16.9400005340576px;">Nothing to eat at the railway museum so I set off back towards the Aquatic Centre to rejoin my outward route. A Superb Fairy Wren bobbed about and looked stunning, with a head of Kingfisher blue and black. Two or three miles later I was back at Mersey Bluff and called at the Surf Club for a bite to eat. Ordering the Brekkie Burger was perhaps a mistake, as the huge bread roll, two eggs and multiple rashers of bacon dripping fat everywhere was rather more than I'd bargained for. As I ate it I sat watching the Silver Gulls sorting out their pecking order - literally - with one dominant bird keeping all others away in anticipation of me giving up on the Brekkie Burger before I could finish it. He was neither wrong nor disappointed.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainbow Lorikeet - an invasive species native to NE Australia</td></tr>
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Back at the Sunrise Comfort Motel, John Hartigan was still waiting for his bike to arrive. He'd travelled from his home in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is a retired judge, and unfortunately the bike hadn't been able to keep up with him. He was sceptical of the promises he kept receiving as he rang the airline, but around 4 pm it finally arrived by taxi from the airport, to his great relief.</div>
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This time our evening meal was at the Devonport Croquet Club (I'm sure we'll find a proper restaurant some time!), and on our return we looked for the Southern Cross and found it (I think). </div>
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Tomorrow, Saturday, will be a gentle re-introduction to the art of cycling - upside-down of courese - so we all turned in early to get some sleep ready for the off.</div>
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If you've any comments to make or questions to ask, feel free to add a comment at the end of this blog, and also feel free to share it with your friends. It gets more interesting once the cycling starts!</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-44939376200900654482015-02-27T21:05:00.000+00:002015-02-27T21:05:52.691+00:00<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">Cycle Tour of Tasmania – February 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">I've just got back home after another great three-week tour. I had hoped to produce a blog as I went along in Tasmania, but running lightweight and with only an iPhone, it was just too much trouble to update the blog en route - so I decided to publish the details after I got back home rather than spend all my evening time poking fingers at a tiny screen. Much better to enjoy the odd James Boag's Draught in the evenings!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">So here we go. Apologies if I start by repeating anything general from the Yellowstone tour last September - but I'll soon get on to the details of Tasmania itself. But first... </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">I guess the first thing to report on is the flight. And before that it may be worth mentioning the packing. The main thing being the bike. If you're just going for a week's cycling holiday from a single base, it's worth hiring a nice road bike from your holiday destination. But if you're going for three weeks, and if you're moving on with panniers every day, then for several reasons it's better to take your own. </span><br />
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<br />But this results in a whole new range of problems. At least this time the bike and luggage came within the 30kg limit allowed by Emirates. The USA's United Airlines (who we flew with to Yellowstone last year) have a stingy 20kg allowance, and charge an extra $200 for 'sporting goods' - including bikes. </div>
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<br />Nevertheless, some careful preparation is required. Wheels off and stored separately in the bike bag with mudguards cable-tied on; saddle down as far as it will go, pedals off, handlebars loosened and turned at 90 deg; thick cardboard protection for the chainring; dérailleur unbolted and fastened inside the frame; and then the whole lot wrapped in bubble-wrap. Along with a few tools and other items, the whole thing weighed in at 22.0 kg, just under the 23.0 kg max for a single item. </div>
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Then two panniers with all my clothes and other stuff, this time kept as light as possible with only one spare of everything. In fact some items don't need spares. After over a week I hadn't used my spare cycle shorts, top, warmer longs or top, and only used one of my evening shirts - because I'd brought it! I'd also taken the drastic step of not using cycle shoes or clipless pedals. On a recent trip I'd forgotten my shoes (!) and had to change to ordinary pedals and trainers. This time I'd decided to try ordinary pedals again, with really light Hi-Tec Zuuk 'trainers' which weighed much less than cycle shoes. The cons - being able to pull up on the pedals mainly - were in my view more than compensated for by the pros - lighter footwear, lighter luggage, and no problem walking around the different places of interest en route. In fact, the combined weight of two pairs of Zuuks was over a kilogram less than a pair of cycle shoes and a pair of trainers.</div>
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I'd also thrown out the heavy bar bag with all kinds of heavy stuff in it, and replaced it with a modified rear saddlepack which took only my camera, money and spare toilet roll. Overall I think my luggage weighed at least 8 kg less than it did in Yellowstone. <span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Note to self: cut back even more next time. </span></div>
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<br />One pannier went in the hold with the bike. The other stayed with me as cabin luggage. Because I have a stoma, this bag includes medical provisions, which, if they were to be lost in transit, would be a disaster, so I kept this pannier close to me all the time. </div>
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<br />Having done the preparation, check-in was a doddle, apart from the sheer awkwardness of manhandling the bike bag. Arriving at the airport with tour leader Richard Dugdale, we met up with old friends Helen, Tony and Deborah, and new friends Ken, Steve and Irene, then went to wait for our departure time. </div>
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<br />The Airbus A380 is huge. There's no way it should be able to fly. Even on Economy Class it's luxurious, with 10 seats per row after row after row. I never even got to see the huge upper floor with first- and business class - it wouldn't surprise me if there were an Olympic-size swimming pool up there!</div>
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The flight to Dubai took seven hours. Next came the flight to Melbourne on a Boeing 777, a smaller plane perhaps, but still big, with ten seats across the width of the fuselage. A fourteen-hour flight, broken halfway by a refuelling /change of passenger stop at Singapore's Changi Airport. I was on my own now, having booked my flights separately from the main group. Because I was flying in an easterly direction, I had to keep turning my watch forward, so that by the time I arrived at Melbourne I'd been flying over 21 hours and added another 11 hours on the watch - so Wednesday just disappeared. It was now Thursday morning, time for the last plane, a Dash, with propellers - what a contrast!</div>
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At Melbourne I had to go through immigration and then collect my hold luggage - i.e. the bike - before going through to the domestic terminal. Long queues at immigration with officials who weren't all the most welcoming. The automatic passport reader failed to recognise me so I had to join another queue. With bike on trolley, I headed for the uphill travelator only to find it not working - and worked up quite a sweat pushing the loaded trolley uphill with the brakes insisting on coming on at every other step! Finally I rejoined the rest of the group at our last departure gate, and met John, Sue, and John Hartigan for the first time.</div>
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Bass Strait isn't like the English Channel - it's 150 miles wide and takes over an hour to cross in a plane. We were travelling not to Hobart but to Devonport on the north coast, and it made a nice change to be in a smaller plane with only just enough time for a light lunch on board before we reached our final destination. Devonport may be a small airport but they still have sniffer dogs.</div>
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Local bus driver Greg was there to take us and the bikes to the Sunrise Comfort Motel on the outskirts of town, just a few yards from the beach. The rooming arrangements were a bit odd! - Family rooms with, in our case, one married couple in the main part, and two others in another room to the rear. We were sharing the bathroom and had to walk through the main bedroom to get in and out or go to the bathroom. And we'd only just met - hardly been properly introduced!</div>
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The rest of the afternoon was spent putting the bikes back together (no problems there), followed by a walk to the beach and Mersey Bluff, where there's a lighthouse. I got an introduction to the birds of Tasmania including Galahs (a noisy grey and pink parrot), Wattle-birds, Sooty Oystercatchers, Pied Cormorants and the incredibly common Masked Lapwings.</div>
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Finally we went for an evening meal in town at the RSL (Returned Servicemen's League) - a bit unusual but our bus driver Greg was keen for us to go there. At least I was quickly introduced to the local brew - James Boag's Draught from Launceston. On the way back we commented on the upside-down moon and stars, and then I was baffled at the fact that Orion was the right way up. How could that be? Well, the answer is, it's the same shape either way up, but of course Betelgeuse and Rigel swap places, and Sirius is in the direction of 2 o'clock from the belt, not 8 o'clock!</div>
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Off to bed. Don't expect any cycling in tomorrow's tale - we'll be having the usual settling-in rest day - but there'll be plenty to report about Devonport, its people and its wildlife.</div>
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-76723154366379950632015-01-26T20:53:00.000+00:002015-01-26T20:56:08.487+00:00<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b>Time to fire up the
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600 hilly miles...<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Four months since the end of the epic cycle tour of
Yellowstone, Wyoming and Montana last September. Four months of cool, damp, windy British
weather, some of it nice, most of it not.
It’s late January. Down on the
other side of the world, it’s the equivalent of our late July. Sounds good to me!</div>
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I knew at the end of Yellowstone that
tour organiser and good friend Richard Dugdale had arranged a three-week tour
of Tasmania for February 2015, but at that time it was already full (12 people
maximum). Then in late October Richard
rang me to say that one of the cyclists had had to drop out. Would I be interested. Just under a second later, I was booked
in. The next day flights were booked,
but the tour seemed a long way off.</div>
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I leave a week today – Manchester,
Dubai, Melbourne, Tasmania (Devonport).</div>
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On my previous two long tours I’ve
carried too much gear. Because of
inexperience the first time (Spain), and then the need to carry clothes for all
seasons in Yellowstone. This time I’m
going ultra-lightweight (for me, that is!)
I’ve been doing a bit of reading, a bit of thinking, and come up with
some ideas. I know I don’t need much
warm weather clothing (although it can still get chilly at night). I’m taking fewer clothes and planning to do
more laundry. Arm and leg warmers
instead of cycling longs and long-sleeved jerseys. And, most radical of all, no cycle shoes or
clipless pedals. I can save over a
kilogram just by using ordinary open pedals and lightweight outdoor trainers
(that’s a kilogram even if I take a spare pair in case we have a soaking wet
day!) I know all serious cyclists use
clipless pedals (a bit of a misnomer that, as you’re clipped to your pedals
with clipless pedals! No, don’t ask me,
I didn’t invent the terminology!)
However, when I cycled the Western Front last August, I forgot to take
my cycling shoes, which meant I had to fit plain pedals and wear ordinary
trainers. When I think about it, it
hardly made any difference. And a kilo
is a kilo, so that’s what I’m doing.</div>
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This week is a case of getting as
much as possible straight, checking check lists, checking the bike, checking the
routes – all in readiness for a getaway next Tuesday. Long-suffering Val will be on her own again,
although no doubt she’ll be off to see new grandson Alasdair pretty often.</div>
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I’m just hoping we don’t get snowed
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-90756957632135249762014-10-29T09:27:00.003+00:002014-10-29T09:27:44.252+00:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Where next?...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Several readers of this blog have asked when my next cycle tour will be. Until this week I had no idea, although I was looking into the possibility of touring the Tuscany region and exploring historic towns like Pisa, Siena and Florence. Or perhaps risking the weather and spending some time in Ireland.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Then, out of the blue, Richard Dugdale, who led the Yellowstone trip, contacted me to say that someone had had to drop out of his next 3-week tour in February 2015, and would I be interested?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Well, sometimes you wonder, when an opportunity presents itself like this, whether the hand of fate is playing a part, and on the basis that it's best not to argue, I've agreed to go.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I honestly don't know how Val puts up with my long absences. Or perhaps I'm so difficult to tolerate when I'm at home, she craves a decent break now and again. I daren't ask, in case she gives it too much thought!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Now my mind turns to whether I should try front panniers instead of rear, whether I can get lighter clothes and / or simply take less, and to swatting up on the birds, beasts and geography of another place that so far I've been nowhere near - Tasmania!</span></div>
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Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-73967015675442587622014-10-23T20:17:00.003+01:002014-10-23T20:17:58.699+01:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yellowstone
and Grand Teton Cycle Tour, September 2014. Day 20/21<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i>Thursday – Friday
24-25 September – Jackson,Wyoming to Manchester, UK – 5,530 miles<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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No sooner had the alarm gone off
than I heard the coach. Good job
everything was ready to go. Bikes and
all other bags in the coach and off we went, along with a surprising amount of
traffic, all headed to the airport a few miles north of town. Bike bags are the most ungainly things and
very difficult to manoeuvre, and mine
was especially so in view of the amount of luggage I’d stashed away in it!</div>
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The automated check-in wasn’t
really up to checking us in with all our gear, so eventually the one and only lady
behind the desk came to ‘help’,
immediately declaring that all bikes were sporting goods so we would all
be charged an extra $200. Sighs all
round. When she got to mine she also
informed me that it was overweight and would cost an extra <b>$400</b>! So I set about
emptying all the luggage that I’d squirreled into various corners and put it
back into pannier no 2, until I got the weight back down below 50lb.</div>
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So, $200 lighter each, we all filed
through security and grabbed a coffee and bun (no breakfast) before boarding
the plane for Denver against the fine backdrop of dawn beginning to light up
theTetons. Well, not quite ‘we all’ as
Jeff and Kathryn were to catch separate planes for Sydney and San Diego
respectively. Goodbyes were said, with
promises to keep in touch and share photos.
Tony and Deborah, on the other side of the aisle, announced that a
vehicle had arrived with our bike bags, the luggage operator had scratched his
head, shrugged, and gone away again without loading them, so for the rest of
the day we worried as to whether our precious cargoes were in fact sharing
their journey with us. It’s only 500
miles to Denver so it was a short flight.
The lady sitting next to me had her head completely covered by a blanket
for the full one-hour duration of the flight, which I thought was a pretty
strange thing to do!</div>
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<b>Goodbye to Jackson and the Tetons</b></div>
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At Denver we all managed to grab a
little breakfast before the next, rather longer flight to Washington Dulles
airport, flying over miles and miles and miles of flat country divided into
endless rectangular fields. We had a
longer wait at Washington (and time for something else to eat). All our flights were with United Airlines –
friendly enough but very basic. First
class is at the front, where the privileged passengers have leather seats, a
bit more legroom, a curtain to separate them from the <i>οί πολλοί </i>and a separate toilet.
Hardly worth the bother, if you ask me.</div>
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<b>Shoe-shine at Denver Airport</b></div>
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<b>Miles and miles of prairie fields</b></div>
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As we set off for Manchester at 6
pm, we were looking forward to a 7-hour flight with the clock going forward 5
hours – so ETA at Manchester 6 am on the day after we set off. It’s a long flight, but of course (so I’m
told) nothing like as long as flying to Australia. Being an overnight flight it was interesting
seeing just how many people were fast asleep.</div>
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<b>Interesting passenger on the seat in front of me!</b></div>
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Manchester arrived at last. We had plenty of time as we waited for the
luggage carousel – and worried as to whether our bikes would even appear – so goodbyes
were said, and then to our relief and a little surprise, the bikes appeared,
none the worse for their journey. And
so, after an hour’s taxi ride, I was back home.
Only one hour to go before my appointment with the dentist to repair
that filling!!</div>
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Well I hope you’ve enjoyed this
account of our epic Yellowstone Tour.
The Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons National Park, the John D
Rockefeller Parkway, and the nearby areas of Wyoming and Montana are simply a
spectacular part of the world, with their amazing geology, history, wildlife,
and – last but not least – people. If
you get the chance to go, take it with both hands – you won’t regret it!</div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-21911546403248213582014-10-22T21:07:00.001+01:002014-10-29T09:11:03.059+00:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yellowstone
and Grand Teton Cycle Tour, September 2014. Day 19<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i>Wednesday 24 September
– Signal Mountain Lodge to Jackson –
39.5 miles<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The dawn view of the Teton
mountains across Jackson Lake was quite, quite stunning. After recovering from this amazing sight I
once again went for the calorific option of blueberry pancakes, not quite
managing to finish the two monsters I was served. Signal Mountain Lodge had been a wonderful
place to stay – cosy cabins, friendly staff, a fabulous setting (including the
dining room) and a beautiful star-studded sky last night.</div>
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<b>Simply knockout views</b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p>Almost immediately after setting
off, an obliging mule deer posed for photos as it fed among pine trees at the
roadside, whilst later, at the Mount Moran turnout, six Pronghorn Antelopes
were grazing in the sage brush. The
views continued to be spectacular, especially as the autumn colours were now
advancing quickly. Retracing our steps
of two and a half weeks ago, past Jenny Lake and then on to the cycle path
along the Grand Teton Highway, I began to think that if views were alcohol I’d
be seriously inebriated by now!</div>
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<b>One of many views of the Tetons</b></div>
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<b>Mount Moran</b></div>
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<o:p> </o:p>At Jenny Lake there was an
‘overlook’ (viewpoint), where a man was taking a picture of his
girlfriend. I offered to take a photo of
them both, and once I’d done this he asked to take my photo too. Not being a big fan of being photographed, I
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“No thanks, I don’t really like my photo being
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“Ugh?”</div>
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“It’s for security reasons.”</div>
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“Really?”</div>
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“Yes, UK Social Security...”<br />
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This is not a joke that your average American understands, which is understandable without a detailed knowledge of the UK benefits system! (It WAS a joke, by the way. The last benefit I claimed was unemployment for two weeks in 1971).</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G8POKGu9p_o/VEgMVOqRlrI/AAAAAAAAD0w/3DKX8L_bZec/s1600/24-205%2BJenny%2BLookout.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G8POKGu9p_o/VEgMVOqRlrI/AAAAAAAAD0w/3DKX8L_bZec/s1600/24-205%2BJenny%2BLookout.JPG" height="210" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Jenny Lake</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65d8QatMZvrti47Fxnqo4TruGsaJ4vd9dVF-ERoV6A6YuOehdknIIexC_NiXv2BBDvNag7S931Uoz_2Xmkz7AQ4mqX_xiC_AP4Zq5_E1EL0Vn0CZ69-WdA4byq7iJS3jsZomqkgbwSYYU/s1600/24-220+Tetons.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65d8QatMZvrti47Fxnqo4TruGsaJ4vd9dVF-ERoV6A6YuOehdknIIexC_NiXv2BBDvNag7S931Uoz_2Xmkz7AQ4mqX_xiC_AP4Zq5_E1EL0Vn0CZ69-WdA4byq7iJS3jsZomqkgbwSYYU/s1600/24-220+Tetons.JPG" height="217" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7vsDSPxZqp8/VEgMVUXTRbI/AAAAAAAAD1I/DFQpau2gUmQ/s1600/24-240%2BTeton%2BAutumn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7vsDSPxZqp8/VEgMVUXTRbI/AAAAAAAAD1I/DFQpau2gUmQ/s1600/24-240%2BTeton%2BAutumn.JPG" height="193" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Autumn colours</b></div>
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By the way, there's a frequent sign on the cycle tracks which at first I thought was for the benefit of Chinese tourists - it reads XING HWY. It took me a long time to realise it means 'Crossing Highway'! Numpty.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i9tLGTOWO_0/VEgM-EtUm-I/AAAAAAAAD1Q/X_Q5pAggotg/s1600/24-275%2BXing%2BHwy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i9tLGTOWO_0/VEgM-EtUm-I/AAAAAAAAD1Q/X_Q5pAggotg/s1600/24-275%2BXing%2BHwy.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>It's not Mandarin...</b></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_xldgmdqm5A/VEgMWEiz7zI/AAAAAAAAD1A/QbMHLIkgJT0/s1600/24-262%2BTeton%2BFence.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_xldgmdqm5A/VEgMWEiz7zI/AAAAAAAAD1A/QbMHLIkgJT0/s1600/24-262%2BTeton%2BFence.JPG" height="201" width="320" /></a></div>
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At Moose, engineers were working on
resurfacing the cycle track (in the notes I’d mentioned to take the cycle track
through a tunnel under the main road, then bear right, to which Andy replied
“How do you know there’s going to be a bear on the right?. Now, ironically, we couldn’t use the
tunnel!). While Helen decided to go to
Dornan’s (where we’d called on the first day’s cycling) I decided to detour
back to Mormon Row to try and get a better photo of the classic view of barns
and the Tetons. I don’t think I was very
successful but after a 7-mile detour arrived back at Dorner’s whilst most
people were still there.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-korTUSsGGHY/VEgNEOMJT9I/AAAAAAAAD1Y/0P-QwQrZ_EU/s1600/24-300%2BMormon%2BRow.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-korTUSsGGHY/VEgNEOMJT9I/AAAAAAAAD1Y/0P-QwQrZ_EU/s1600/24-300%2BMormon%2BRow.JPG" height="219" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Mormon Row</b></div>
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Sadly the next long section had to
be on the shoulder of the main road, as the cycle track was closed for some
miles for resurfacing. I had to continue
past the airport and over the Gros Ventre River before I could get back on
it. There were more stunning autumn
colours here.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PBShFOV_5sA/VEgNKcW8B3I/AAAAAAAAD1g/8Tigx_M2-Q8/s1600/24-325%2BGros%2BVentre%2BRiver.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PBShFOV_5sA/VEgNKcW8B3I/AAAAAAAAD1g/8Tigx_M2-Q8/s1600/24-325%2BGros%2BVentre%2BRiver.JPG" height="227" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Gros Ventre River</b></div>
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No sign of elk as I cycled along
the edge of the National Elk Refuge (nor the Sandhill Cranes seen by Kathryn a
little earlier). From the outskirts of
Jackson I followed the cycle route through town back to our original starting
point – the Rawhide Motel. After
retrieving all the bike bags, and giving the manager her living room back, it
was a matter of disassembling the bikes and packing them. This time I packed a full pannier’s worth of
clothes in with the bike in an attempt to save the $100 excess baggage charge
I’d had to pay on the way out (this was to prove a BIG mistake!!).</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ipHNVpp5lX8/VEgNQPwA4-I/AAAAAAAAD1o/juQKHgAy53s/s1600/24-500%2BRawhide.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ipHNVpp5lX8/VEgNQPwA4-I/AAAAAAAAD1o/juQKHgAy53s/s1600/24-500%2BRawhide.30.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Then a quick shopping expedition
(more ear-rings, a new wallet and an ice-cream). The wallet was priced at $49.50 but with
sales tax came to $51.48. Haggling, as
usual, I offered $50.00 cash and was rebuffed with “You’re in Jackson, not
Morocco, sir!” $51.48 it was then. We all went out for a final evening meal
together, and found there was a quiz in the restaurant/bar. Much too biased towards the US, but managed
to win a couple of spot prizes – one of which was for my answer to the question
“What is the largest dolphin in the world?”
No other team knew the answer. In
an attempt to gain some ground, I wrote “The Killer Whale or Grampus, <i>Orcinus orca</i>”. The question master, in his wonderful western
drawl, said “The guy hasn’t just got the right answer, he’s written it in <i>Latin</i>!!”</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OUp1wLwOcx0/VEgNX9BHBkI/AAAAAAAAD1w/4IQ2IE4qNFE/s1600/24-700%2BCrazy%2Bcar.06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OUp1wLwOcx0/VEgNX9BHBkI/AAAAAAAAD1w/4IQ2IE4qNFE/s1600/24-700%2BCrazy%2Bcar.06.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Look at the pedestrian-conscience bonnet mascot!</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6oEM0NoOHQQY11DJ0SEehs_v7hViCgjbxKm1z4uhAwPQFfbWR_7lc9-xIDdIRzDvQhcbjz0zeXdtuVE7ySiYUKkcCRdFfo8jKVcFrC29UFWlxelqTYfIl-_LpM9P_N_pgWsIvhRlSSpn/s1600/24-710+Quiz.51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6oEM0NoOHQQY11DJ0SEehs_v7hViCgjbxKm1z4uhAwPQFfbWR_7lc9-xIDdIRzDvQhcbjz0zeXdtuVE7ySiYUKkcCRdFfo8jKVcFrC29UFWlxelqTYfIl-_LpM9P_N_pgWsIvhRlSSpn/s1600/24-710+Quiz.51.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>'Fun' Quiz?</b></div>
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Then an early night – tomorrow
we’re getting picked up at 5.00 am for our ride to the airport and a 16-hour
flight home. Not before problems at the
airport – details in the last episode tomorrow!</div>
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<i>Total, final mileage 777.0 miles (1,258 km)</i></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-1850533390450382932014-10-22T08:32:00.002+01:002014-10-22T08:32:33.400+01:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yellowstone
and Grand Teton Cycle Tour, September 2014. Day 18<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i>Tuesday 23 September –
Lake Village to Signal Mountain Lodge – 71.8 miles<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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After last night’s self-service
dinner came this morning’s self-service breakfast – not that bad actually, with
French Toast (available in every American restaurant for breakfast, apparently)
but perhaps not always accompanied by strawberry sauce (I thought I’d try it - it was pretty good!) and oatmeal (aka porridge) with banana.</div>
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As we left, Tony, Deborah, Shirley
and Joy were lucky enough to spot a lone wolf, between our cabins and the
lake. We saw them just afterwards and
kept close to the shore, hoping to catch another glimpse, without success of
course, although we did have a close encounter with a couple of bison. Further along the road another bison held up
the traffic as it slowly ambled along, seemingly oblivious to the outside
world. Not for the first time, my
technique was to place another vehicle between me and the bison for safety: drivers seemed to quickly understand what I
was doing, and cooperate.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiamqqkRRz36L5sDjkbqlNswWksj2RCAaYUTYlIDlewhTVEOG6xBBgr1oCff3CbPR_X_8fINqJquO0QKHH26iusdkX5BN-ZTofnik7-so3NyOZcXlCucTYuYOoyGzQlON8tIhOLL0W4GAKj/s1600/23-050+Yellowstone+Dawn+Lake.33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiamqqkRRz36L5sDjkbqlNswWksj2RCAaYUTYlIDlewhTVEOG6xBBgr1oCff3CbPR_X_8fINqJquO0QKHH26iusdkX5BN-ZTofnik7-so3NyOZcXlCucTYuYOoyGzQlON8tIhOLL0W4GAKj/s1600/23-050+Yellowstone+Dawn+Lake.33.jpg" height="217" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Yellowstone Lake near Gull Point</b></div>
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Joy and I then took the loop road
to Gull Point, a worthwhile detour with beautiful early morning views across
the lake, where there were Canada Geese, Goldeneye and American Coots. I looked towards the sound of some splashing
near the shore and saw that an unfortunate Lark Sparrow (I think) had somehow
fallen in the water and was struggling to get out. With every splash it got nearer to the shore
and was eventually able to haul itself out.</div>
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<b>Goldeneye Ducks</b></div>
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<b>A lucky Lark Sparrow - it shouldn't be in there!</b></div>
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A quick-ish run along the side of
Lake Yellowstone took us to the West Thumb Geyser Basin – after just missing a
fine bull elk (again! people were getting back into their cars as we got
there). I caught Jeff and we to the next
turn into Grant Village, hoping to find someone for an early brew stop. Much of the place was now shut down – things
happen quickly at the end of the season, and like the General Stores at Lake
Village, places that were open two weeks ago were now closed. But we did eventually track down Helen and
Joy at the store by the service station: they were sharing a massive cinnamon
pastry, and I took the chance to buy some more provisions for lunch.</div>
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<b>Thanks to Andy for this photo of the elk I just missed</b></div>
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Soon after setting off, we spotted
a squirrel right by the side of the road and stopped to take a few photos. Passing motorists also stopped, each time
asking “What are you looking at?” – no doubt hoping to see a bear or elk. When we replied “A squirrel” they were
definitely underwhelmed!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OmV1TYVd0G8/VEdbd6P7maI/AAAAAAAADxA/Y50jb5BdVlY/s1600/23-175%2BSquirrel%2BGrant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OmV1TYVd0G8/VEdbd6P7maI/AAAAAAAADxA/Y50jb5BdVlY/s1600/23-175%2BSquirrel%2BGrant.JPG" height="261" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>A very cute squirrel</b></div>
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The next section was hard work – a climb
to the Continental Divide, then undulating roads past Lewis Lake and Lewis
Falls, after which I stopped to eat my Grant Village sandwich. After what seemed like too many flat miles, I
could finally enjoy the long descent to the South Entrance gate, where I met up
with Andy and Jeff again. </div>
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<b>Lewis Lake</b></div>
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<b>Ravine on the Snake River near Moose Falls</b></div>
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<b>Goodbye to Yellowstone - the South Entrance (exit!)</b></div>
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Passing Flagg Ranch, Joy was just
coming back out on to the road and told me that a few others were still there,
but I decided to carry on, to be faced with another long steady climb. The skies had now cleared so finally I could
get rid of a few layers of clothing and my full finger gloves. Two cyclists, a few miles apart, passed in
the opposite direction, fully loaded with panniers and apparently on a
trans-continental odyssey. The road
entered the Grand Teton National Park at the top of the climb, and I put a
jacket back on for the next long descent.</div>
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At the bottom, Jackson Lake
appeared: I stopped to take a photo of
the lovely fall colours and as I set off a Downy Woodpecker flew on to a tree
just to my right. Soon afterwards,
looking down to the right I was amazed to see a massive bull moose wading knee
high. As I watched him, he waded out
into deeper water and then began to swim, parallel to the shore. I continued to watch him, as various cars
stopped to watch too, until he re-emerged on to the shore and walked off,
dripping, into the woods. Amazing! Lucky timing is everything, I thought, pleased
with myself for not stopping earlier at Flagg Ranch!</div>
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<b>Series of photos - moose gives a swimming lesson</b></div>
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Feeling strong now, I pressed on
past Colter Village, looking all the time for bears, elk, anything, without
success. Just before the Jackson Dam I
caught Andy, who was taking a photo of some pony trekkers, then stopped at the
dam to watch a pair of Horned (Slavonian) Grebes. After over 70 miles I arrived at Signal Mountain
Lodge at around 4.00 pm. A lovely place
to stay, on the shore of Jackson Lake with wonderful rustic cabins. There were signs warning us NOT to leave out
any food in case it attracted bears, but I was thinking “Well, we haven’t seen
any bears yet” and was tempted to disobey, but thought better of it.</div>
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<b>^ Beautiful Fall colours - what a difference a fortnight makes! ></b></div>
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<b> ^ Looking over Jackson Lake to the Teton Mountains ></b></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0QULvz5hiT8/VEdcNoCqauI/AAAAAAAADys/iwECStnHAiU/s1600/23-650%2BSunset%2BSignal%2BMountain.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0QULvz5hiT8/VEdcNoCqauI/AAAAAAAADys/iwECStnHAiU/s1600/23-650%2BSunset%2BSignal%2BMountain.10.jpg" height="154" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>^ Sunset from Signal Mountain Lodge ></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6Tl2VYDCardaWLiRZ_ClsSk1wVsXk1Qf_kpE_MYijuY2e69SjLT3F3pF3ATlDp9iWD8c22tv44ZGwhCQyBzNOmtEbqr4bU054gvc7Ka7RnFQ65HFOH3VkJ8F5S3C64apCE8NMCJ82FpS/s1600/23-660+Sunset+Signal+Mountain.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6Tl2VYDCardaWLiRZ_ClsSk1wVsXk1Qf_kpE_MYijuY2e69SjLT3F3pF3ATlDp9iWD8c22tv44ZGwhCQyBzNOmtEbqr4bU054gvc7Ka7RnFQ65HFOH3VkJ8F5S3C64apCE8NMCJ82FpS/s1600/23-660+Sunset+Signal+Mountain.38.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></div>
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The best beer on offer that evening
was the wonderfully-named Dirty Blonde.
And now we only had one short day left before we returned to Jackson.</div>
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<i>Total
Mileage 737.5<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7472432945779590910.post-7365455953280986972014-10-20T11:19:00.002+01:002014-10-20T11:19:38.466+01:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yellowstone
and Grand Teton Cycle Tour, September 2014. Day 17<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i>Monday 22 September –West
Yellowstone to Lake Village – 59.2 miles<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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As we arrived at the Running Bear
Pancake House for breakfast (after our now customary early start!), another
large group turned up. Richard was on the ball and got inside first so we
didn’t have to queue, and got served first – we wanted to be away quickly as
today was yet another longish day. Two enormous pancakes (buckwheat this
time) with fruit, maple syrup and boysenberry syrup were enough for me.</div>
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<b>Entrance to the National Park just outside West Yellowstone</b></div>
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It was another cold morning.
Our first stop, just outside town, was the West entrance of Yellowstone
National Park. I produced our annual
passes and to my surprise the ranger wanted to see my ID! Luckily I had my passport handy. Once
through, I turned around to take a photo and the bike decided to twist and fall
over. A fully loaded touring bike isn’t light, so it took an effort
to get it vertical again, by which time everyone had disappeared. After
four or five miles there was a loop road to the left (Riverside Drive) which
took us off the busy main road and led alongside the Madison River.</div>
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<b>Madison River, Riverside Drive</b></div>
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Once back on the main road, the
cold weather was producing ribbons of mist on the hills and the river, which
looked very atmospheric. I don’t know whether the river water is still
warm from all the hot water which pours into it several miles upstream at
Excelsior Pool. When we arrived at
Madison Junction we were back where we had been almost two weeks ago, and we
repeated our original route up past Terrace Springs (dozens of Japanese
tourists with cameras on tripods) and Gibbon Falls. Soon after the falls
I heard a familiar-sounding bird call from the river and turned just in time to
see an American Dipper flying downstream.
It was about the same size as its European cousin, but a uniform
slate-grey colour.</div>
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<b>Madison River</b></div>
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<b>Canada Geese at Gibbon Meadows</b></div>
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When we reached Norris Hot Springs
this time, we (Jeff and I) turned off to look at the hottest geyser basin in
Yellowstone. Porcelain Basin (it sounds
like a bathroom fitting) is quite spectacular with turquoise pools and several
steaming vents. As we were returning to where
we’d left the bikes, we wondered why so many tourists were taking an interest
in them – and then found that they were watching a Raven which had opened Jeff’s
saddlebag to get at the biscuits inside.
Everyone except Jeff was very amused!</div>
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<b>^ Porcelain Basin, Norris Springs ></b></div>
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We carried on along the
now-familiar Virginia Cascades route and this time Jeff managed not to fall of
his bike. It had taken some time to find
out what was causing his chain to jam, but eventually he found a cycle shop in
Bozeman a few days ago who fixed it by re-spacing his chain rings, so now he
could pedal in the granny gear with no worries.
After the long climb to over 2,500 m above sea level came an exhilarating descent
towards Canyon Village.</div>
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As the road got steeper and started
to leave the heavily wooded area, a movement on the right caught my eye. I looked across and saw a BIG bird flying
into a tree. I hit the brakes hard and
left two black lines on the road as I stopped, then looked back to see... a huge Great Grey Owl perched on a branch
next to a tree trunk. It even stayed
stilled and looked right at me while I got out the camera and took a
picture. A magic moment, and the best
bird of the tour. Five seconds earlier
or later and I would never have seen it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGt135KZBcugxHLZma4fy4yQppCNopUHLaITk04SBdgL3eO3toJ60ghdbJ2tGCo7A98ZQYciceIQwEC1NVj-I3OI9g0dCvbf-9YIb4YbHUEZZm0L7mtG4vmOG409Kl6rMHm3-P86Fyddm/s1600/P1060855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGt135KZBcugxHLZma4fy4yQppCNopUHLaITk04SBdgL3eO3toJ60ghdbJ2tGCo7A98ZQYciceIQwEC1NVj-I3OI9g0dCvbf-9YIb4YbHUEZZm0L7mtG4vmOG409Kl6rMHm3-P86Fyddm/s1600/P1060855.JPG" height="320" width="247" /></a></div>
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<b>Great Grey Owl -wow!</b></div>
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I arrived at Canyon grinning from
ear to ear, bought some lunch from the general store and ate it with Joy, Andy
and Jeff outside while tourists admired (and chatted with us about) the bikes. As i set off, a shower wetted me, but not too
badly. There were a few Bison about but
otherwise not much, although I had high hopes that the Hayden Valley might
produce something really noteworthy like a bear. I passed Joy who was stopped overlooking the
river, not realising that out of my sight were Trumpeter <u>and</u> Whistling
Swans. An obliging Snipe partly made up
for this.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLhonF5mbcM/VETg3HyIupI/AAAAAAAADwE/eywL7IXm1dM/s1600/22-240%2BYellowstone%2BR%2BPano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLhonF5mbcM/VETg3HyIupI/AAAAAAAADwE/eywL7IXm1dM/s1600/22-240%2BYellowstone%2BR%2BPano.jpg" height="139" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Hayden Valley Panorama</b></div>
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But my wildlife hopes were to be unfulfilled
–several times I came across tourists gazing across the nearby countryside, and
stopped to see what they were looking at, but on every occasion it was either
nothing or another distant Bison. No bears. Tony and Madeleine, much later in the day,
became the only tour members to see one when they spotted a distant Grizzly
along this section much later in the day.</div>
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Arriving at Lake Village I stopped
at the Hotel, assuming (correctly) that there would be others at the Deli. At the counter I asked for a banana and a
carton of milk.</div>
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“Yogurt?” </div>
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“No, milk, please.” </div>
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“Do we have that?” </div>
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“Yes, it’s there.” </div>
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“Where?” </div>
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“THERE!” </div>
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“Oh yes. That’ll be $3.65.” </div>
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“Could I have something to drink
the milk out of?”</div>
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“Would you like a bag?”</div>
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“I’d rather have a cup to be
honest.”</div>
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Not the sharpest knife in the box,
as they say!</div>
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We finally checked in at the Lodge,
which is a fine building, but the cabins don’t even have a proper footpath
leading to the door. Deborah’s bike
needed fixing – the gear cable was completely knackered, but Richard got it
fixed with a minimal amount of assistance from me and Tony.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OxpmkrNhc1U/VETg-hvswBI/AAAAAAAADwQ/hSbzSXQ8mII/s1600/22-600%2BLake%2BLodge.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OxpmkrNhc1U/VETg-hvswBI/AAAAAAAADwQ/hSbzSXQ8mII/s1600/22-600%2BLake%2BLodge.13.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>^ Lake Lodge ></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_YyWGvhxKVg/VETg-VzGdtI/AAAAAAAADwM/W3OpttdAT9g/s1600/22-620%2BLake%2BLodge.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_YyWGvhxKVg/VETg-VzGdtI/AAAAAAAADwM/W3OpttdAT9g/s1600/22-620%2BLake%2BLodge.19.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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We enjoyed another clear sky after
dinner, then off to bed for a good night’s sleep before the last long day of
the tour, and one which would bring another special wildlife moment and some more great photos...</div>
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<i>Total
mileage 665.7<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Bill Honeywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433867307721415113noreply@blogger.com0