A good and a bad day.

Rained again in the night and when Barb went out at 7.30am to get some supplies from the local store she got caught in a shower. 7km to Triabunna and it rained a bit but not too bad. We went in to Triabunna to check out the Maria Island ferry which we will do when we come back this way in the rental car.

While there we came across a group of about a dozen archaeologists digging and sifting through some trenches and foundations. They were at two naval barracks from the nineteenth century doing a “dig”.  Half expected it to be Tony Robinson from the TV Time Team.  We spoke to a very pleasant and enthusiastic young lady who explained what they were doing and invited us into the barracks where they had dozens of trays and plastic bags with coins, buttons, pipe bowls, glass, crockery, etc. It was all being methodically catalogued and stored. They had been there two weeks already. This was an unexpected and nice start to the day.

From Triabunna we cycled inland past farms damaged by the floods. Fields that were just muddy bogs and sheep that were all brown and caked in mud. Barb saw one sheep that had died pinned against a fence by the torrent of water. Other paddocks were lakes and the side of the road was littered with broken trees, rocks and mud.

With the plentiful new lakes and the warm temperatures there was a frog breading frenzy. Not just the odd ribbit but a wall of sound. Continuous machine gun fire of croaks and it went on just about all day. They must have been very small frogs as we didn’t actually see any.

Now for the ouch bit.

About 20kms into today’s ride we came to some road works (the signs say Traffic Hazard here). The floods had washed a bit of the road away and left a gravely surface with pot holes. Brian, in front, mountain biker that he is, cycled straight through it. Barb didn’t see it till the last second and braked suddenly. Paul following too closely reacted too slowly and to avoid hitting Barb locked up front and rear brakes, skidded off the road and down a sloping rocky shoulder and came off. The result was bruises and scratches all down the left leg with a chunk of skin taken out below the knee, a sore elbow with skin missing on the fore arm, and bruised ribs on the left hand side at about arm pit level.

Two fortunate things: I didn’t break my collar bone (the most common cycling injury), and I smacked my head hard on the ground as I landed but the Giro helmet did its job otherwise I would have had a nasty injury to the side of my head. The helmet has a few indentations from stones.

Some workmen came over to see what had happened and stood around with hands in pockets grunting the minimum amount of sympathy they could get away with. Probably thinking “frigging stupid senile old git”. After regaining my composure we carried on about 10km to Mayfield Creek Park which is on the coast and has a beach. I was able to wash away the blood and get much of the road grit out of the wounds with sea water.

I could cycle okay and we carried on to Spikey Bridge. A 50m long and 10m wide mass rock bridge built by convicts over a tiny little stream. Next stop was Kate’s Berry Farm where we stopped for ice creams. Unfortunately it was on a very long uphill driveway. We had two flavours, a salted caramel and a bright lilac coloured lavender.

The shock and adrenalin were wearing off by now and I was feeling a bit sore as we entered Swansea. Fortunately the Swansea Motor Inn had a bath so while Barb and Brian went for a 90min walk around the headland I soaked my battered body in a lovely hot bath. Given the choice what would you do? Go for a hike or soak in the bath?

Unfortunately we had to spend our daily wine allowance on bandages and Savlon so just had to sit and watch Brian drink his beer. The bruises, scratches and grazes are okay but the bruised ribs are painful. I can cycle okay but it is hard getting on and off the bike and everytime I hit a bump, say getting on or off a bridge, my whole chest seizes up.

The weather cleared up nicely today and we had a hot sunny ride. Only saw the Chinaman once.

Cycling thought for the day: Stay calm and keep on peddling.