Latest News and Updates

Day Twenty Two : Port Pirie to Clare 109 km

It is really strange we had been counting the days down towards the finish line for about ten days now but as we got close to the end of the trip, it was starting to become sad as this epic journey is almost over.

We were enjoying the trip, the people were great and we were having lots of laughs. It is just really tough mentally and physically and we wanted our own time back where we could do what when we wanted to. I guess it is just fatigue and exhaustion.

Richard still wanted to avoid riding on the Eyre Highway so he drove us back to Laura where we rode to Clare through the back roads.

Clare is set in the Clare Valley, a well-known winery region with rolling hills and stunning scenery and it is cold this time of the year. It was going to be a short day which started off predominantly flat and easy until we started to hit the rolling hills outside of Clare. Three weeks ago this section would have worried me but I am a lot fitter and stronger so the hills weren’t that much of a problem.

It was a fresh and cold morning and didn’t really get any warmer during the day. It is still really dry up this way. I expected to see green hills as we got close to Clare but it was brown and looked more like summer than the start of winter.

We arrived at Clare about 1.30 pm after our casual late start of 9.00 am. We had lunch at a beautiful café. They served us beautiful potato and leek soup which warmed us up then a massive plate of frittata. For once, I couldn’t eat it all.

We rode 3 km to the Clare Country Club. It was really nice, the rooms were huge with a balcony, overlooking the golf course. It was more like an apartment than a hotel room. They even had a spa bath which I tried later on at night, but I lied still for long enough and got bored. It ended up being a bit of a waste of time.

After we arrived I had a quick shower, then thought I would go up to the lounge room in the country club and sit by the open fire, have a beer and reflect on the trip sitting in the leather chesterfield chairs (what a change from Nundroo). My solitude was broken when Richard walked past and decided to join me and we watched the last 20 minutes of the St Kilda versus Sydney match on his phone which was good although he is a St Kilda supporter, so not so good for him.

This was our second to last night and we all relaxed a bit and had a few drinks, it didn’t matter that the next day was still 147 km as we were nearly home.

The night at Clare was really relaxing and enjoyable, it’s a beautiful spot.