The wifi in Bicheno was very poor, extremely hard to get a connection and then so weak you couldn’t do anything. So these are catch up posts from St Helens.

Awoke in Swansea to a fine sunny day and by departure time at 9.00am it was already very hot. A very flat ride today but into head wind all the way, just to keep us honest. We stopped at the tiny hamlet of Cranwood, about 5 houses, a fire station, a community building and a vineyard. We had stopped here three years ago to eat our lunch we had bought in Swansea. Talked to a philosophical guy who was cleaning up his devastated garden.  They had 200mm rain in 24 hours, average is 200mm in a month, and one district had 60mm in an hour.

The only hill today was Cherry Tree Hill which used to have a small scruffy car park with views out over Freycinet and the Hazards.  This car park is now closed and at the bottom of the hill at Devil’s Corner Vineyard they have built a very nice modern, architectural cafe, tasting room and look out tower. We stayed here quite a while for their coffee and muffins, the beautiful clean toilets and the futuristic tower. And to get out of the heat.

There were lots of farmers and road workers out today, mending fences, clearing culverts and picking up carcases etc. As well as the frogs the tiny black flies are having a feeding frenzy. All day we cycled through them. They attacked in squadrons, coming out of the sun, and got in our mouths, ears, up our noses and we’re plastered all over the front of our fluoro vests. Maybe the are attracted to yellow? They get under your glasses and crawl around your eye lids and eye brows. Brian says we need cycle helmets with a circle of hanging corks! We joked with a lady at the Freycinet Info Kiosk that we had already eaten our high protein lunch.

The accommodation at Bicheno is palatial and much too good for us. It is a large two bedroom fully equipped unit, 3km out of town located high on the side of a hill, looking out over a stunning beach and the ocean. In the afternoon we walked down the hill and had a refreshing swim. The surf was very boisterous but the water was crystal clear. The sand is that very fine white silica kind that sqeaks when you walk on it. We had this lovely little cove, that is part of a much larger bay, all to our selves.

In our fridge we have been left a dozen eggs and a large container of delicious looking bacon. Enough to feed the three of us for a week. There is also half a tub of cookies and cream ice cream. We have decided we can’t be bothered cycling or walking 3km back into town so it will be bacon and eggs for dinner.

Today was only 45kms and tomorrow is a rest day so a good opportunity for my sore ribs to heal a bit.

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.

Yes a wet day from Richmond to Orford. Rained probably 90% of the way, drizzle and light but a few heavier showers. When the forecast says 90% rain I’m not sure if means 90% chance of rain or it will rain 90% of the time. And we were into a head wind all the way. It was warm though and the only time we got cold was when we stopped at the Buckland Roadhouse for a coffee and vanilla slice (custard square to kiwis).  The roadhouse was nice and warm but putting our wet jackets back on and cycling into the wind and rain we were cold until we warmed up on the next Hill.

And hills there were many today. We started out from Richmond flat farming country on a bypass before joining the A3 highway. We were able to turn off this and use an abandoned road for a few kilometres. This was great with zero traffic but a rough deteriorating surface. Back on the A3 we had some big climbs, the first to 260m at Charlie’s Opening, then to 336m on Post-me- Gall Hill, and finally up Break-me-neck Hill. From there it was fast downhill to Buckland which has a pub, a church, a roadhouse and 3 or 4 houses. The roadhouse was busy as it sold petrol and diesel and seemed to be the gathering place for the locals for Sunday brunch. The fare was pies and fries and surgery sweet treats. The coffee was large and hot and a saviour for three drowned rats. Or is that wallabies over here?

Through some rolling farm land, up one more little hill and then down a spectacular gorge with the Prosser River on our left and rugged rocky cliffs on our right. The road was narrow with no shoulder or pull offs but being Sunday traffic was light.

Finding our accommodation in Orford was at the time perplexing and infuriating but in hindsight a bit funny. Manfred’s notes are generally excellent and very detailed but the bit about entering Orford was written as if you were coming from the north and going south while we were doing the opposite. We couldn’t work this out until we realised all his landmarks were on our right instead of left and coming at us in reverse order. So reading it all backwards from the bottom of the page up it was obvious. Manfred lost a lot of brownie points while we did an extra 5kms and 15 minutes in the rain. That would have been a massive reduction in his tip!

Earlier in the day just out a Richmond there was a cycle race and we saw some of the pelaton , all of whom didn’t look any younger than us. We did meet a young man from China on a touring bike with panniers and we played leap frog with him all day as he is doing the same route as us. Chatted with him a few times and he loved the pies and fries.

Accommodation is in a nice cabin in a quiet suburban street about 200m from the beach. The cabins are quite large with full kitchen and can sleep 5. And we have two of them!

Orford had 24 hours of torrential rain two days ago and suffered a lot of flooding. The pub is closed and the school needs new carpets before school starts on Wednesday. There are only three dinner options in Orford: a stylish pub (closed due to flooding in bar), Scorchers wood fired pizza or a seafood takeaway. So it was pizzas and Tasmanian ice cream. The pizza was yummy but we all went home hungry and raided some of the breakfast provisions. We needed something more like the meal we had in Richmond, a good old fashioned farm roast with roast beef, brown gravy, potatoes,  peas, pumpkin and courgettes,  and lots of it.

Pat the proprietress was very kind and offered to clean and dry our sodden clothes in her washing machine and dryer. The panniers were fantastic and kept all our gear in them absolutely bone dry.

The cabins and Scorchers have no wifi so this is being posted a day late.