At Last A Signal…..

WTF…. Wednesday, Thursday,Friday!
I’ve been ‘bush’ for a few days so had, among other things, no signal. So here’s three days in one post 😊

Wednesday- Never trust a French man with a map!

After a reasonable night in Adelaide Rivers Frenchman and I decided we would get off the highway and do some gravel riding, head to Batchelor then go our separate ways – him to Darwin, me to the Lichfield National park. Before we did we paid our respects to the fallen at the Adelaide Rivers WW2 cemetery which honoured those who died in the Japanese attack on Darwin and surrounds in 1943.

Right from the get go on leaving the Stuart highway the road was incredibly quiet and beautiful and….undulating. Then we hit the red stuff and….and went off course almost immediately 🤣….frenchy had his e-maps and despite his (misplaced) confidence in them, we got hopelessly lost. What followed was epic – kilometres of the harshest roads imaginable, corrugations that shook bike and rider to pieces, hills so steep we had to push our bikes and the piece de la resistance – wading across swollen creeks in bare feet with the water over the wheel axle and half covering the panniers. We got to Batchelor once I took over the navigation -it’s 27k from Adelaide Rivers…but .we clocked 47.4!. Usually in these situations I’d get quite annoyed and I found myself, after getting us lost for the umpteenth time, starting to throw out my usual exasperated l, passive aggressive comments. But I quickly realised – shut up buddy. We are both in this and it is what it is. Be positive. That felt a much nicer place to be.

Anyways….I thought that was the tough bit behind me. WRONG. Very wrong. Off I trundle after saying our farewells and straight in to an unrelenting road of head wind and small but crazy hard hills. On and on and on. It very nearly broke me. Then a short 15% blew me completely …..4.2kph! I was dangerously low on water and had 45k to go. Time to reset. Stop. Breathe. The whole 79k from Batchelor took the best part of 5 and a half hours. But gloriously, the final 14 were downhill/flat with a tail wind. I pitched up at Litchfield Safari campsite absolutely buggered. But I was re-reminded, if I ever should need reminding, of the kindness of fellow travellers – I was handed a home made quiche and someone else gave me a plate of rice. Both consumed with fervour. There’s absolutely no phone signal, it’s off the road by a few kilometres of gravel road, no food or amenities. But it’s glorious in its simplicity with stunning night skies with no light pollution.

Perhaps the toughest day today….it really did nearly break me. The gravel roads buggered my back and sapped my energy. But ….as with all things that test us, looking back I’m glad I experienced it. The bike is caked in mud and grime and I had my first puncture. But… man and machine survived 😊

A restful rest day
Thursday – I think! I slept like a baby last night! After yesterdays hammering I had a very restful day. After breaki I fixed a few things on my battered bike then headed for the ‘Cascades’ – a round walking trip of about 5k which, as anyone who knows me well will attest…is impressive for someone who is allergic to walking. But the waterfalls and water pools were simply divine. I dared myself to swim and sit under one of the cascading waterfalls….after a bit of mental persuasion I did…and I’m so delighted I did as it was the most invigorating shower I’ve ever had!! A wonderful treat after yesterdays pain.

The rest of the day I slept and read. And in the evening had myself a small fire in one of the many fire pits at the site, and was treated to the BEST pizza ever, cooked by the couple in the outrageously massive ‘caravan’ next to me. Just another gesture of goodwill among travellers.

Without phone signal, it was also a day of reflection away from the pull of the internet. I was able to think deeply about putting stuff I had taken on as my own back on to those where it actually belonged.

Friday. I awoke to Gil, the guy in the mobile hotel next to me, grinning with a hot cappuccino for me – his mansion on wheels has a coffee machine! I could have kissed him. Then his wife whipped up three sandwiches for me of salami, cheese and coleslaw….perhaps it’s ‘Coles on Wheels’ as they seemed to have everything. Then I made the rookie error of listening to an old guy in a V8 telling me the road to Berry Springs is flat. Liar! Sweet god, the road was as unrelenting as Wednesday but with the bonus of a nasty cross wind which on a fully loaded bike is crap….holding the bike at a 15 degree angle is hard bloody work. I trundled on stopping every 10k or so to devour my al-a-carte sandwich’s. Eventually after what seemed like 200k (but in truth was 78k but I’m a cyclist so I’ll stick with an exaggerated distance!!) I got to Berry Springs and found a camping ground. The rest is pretty boring….tent up, food in, nap taken, food, bed! Got to talk to my Niamh – made those hills and head wind fade away!