A blog about cycling...especially the long distance stuff

Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Melbourne to Sydney: Day 1

Its tour time again! I'd originally planned to do this ride last year, but had a few less days available so ended up opting for Adelaide – Melbourne at the time instead. So now, this tags along rather nicely from where I'd left off anyway.

Departure day loomed a little too fast in the end. I'd come down with a good hearty bout of man flu and was feeling really very flat all week...not to mention all the other delightful symptoms that come with flu. But loom it did, until suddenly it was 'tomorrow' and I still wasn't ready. So one final scramble as always, and got my crap together ok to roll out of the door this morning on time...just.

I gave myself a kick start on this one to ease into the trip. I got a train out to Frankston and started from there, this way avoiding crossing the whole city with a laden bike and limited camping options after doing those miles. So a slightly late start from Frankston and the roads over to Crib point were bloody busy. I ended up detouring off the planned route which I hadn't remotely researched, and used a series of 'D' roads to cut round the worst of it.

When I got to Crib Point the next Ferry was several hours away so I doubled back a bit to explore the foreshore reserve about 10kms back, which was quiet and a nice place to pause in the sun and get in touring mode.



Heading back to the boat, the banter with the crew was good fun. Of course they thought I was a nutbag for riding so far. They asked what I would do if I made a wrong turn and had to ride extra. I to said standard procedure is to sit by the road and have a bit of a cry.



Its a 30 min ferry ride from Crib point to Cowes on Port Phillip Island. No cars are allowed but bikes were cool. A nice trip to, especially nearer Cowes. The problem for me now, though was that with the delayed departure it was now 5.30pm – I 'd hoped to get much further along the coast before camping...but only had an hour or so's light left to play with.



Having said that, on this trip I'm aiming to spread out the riding a little more than my last efforts...so just had to remind myself not to worry about it. The camp grounds at Cowes were all closed up so I made sure I had plenty of water for camping wild before leaving town.

The sun was going down on my back and the land was bathed in beautiful twilight colours...it was all a bit to open for what I needed right now...so I had to keep going. In the end I got lucky hear at Kilcunda which has a beautiful view out eastwards along the coast.



Quick and easy lentil curry for dinner, and I look forward to seeing that view properly tomorrow in full daylight. It looks like I have 2 good days then maybe some rain. Hell what does it matter, will be pedalling either way!

Day 1: 93km
Route map



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