Sunday November 8, 2009, 35 km (22 miles) - Total so far: 672 km (417 miles)
Gowrie Park is the last stop before Cradle Mountain, and that's where I'm heading today. The route crosses the Gog Range and I'm expecting a hard day, although the distance is deliberately short.
Fine and hot weather is expected, with light winds from the south-east.
After an excellent dinner in the hotel restaurant, I had a comfortable sleep, and rose to my usual breakfast of oats and tea. Panniers packed I ventured out onto the street, which was deserted, looking for someplace to get food for the day.
It was Sunday, and the only activity was at the general store, which sold only take-away foods, but the ladies very kindly offered to make me a ham and salad roll, which is exactly what I wanted for my lunch. They also pointed me to the only location in town when there was mobile phone reception, so with second breakfast and lunch organised I wandered off to check my email.
I was delighted to find a message from Heather, who had returned from Everest Base Camp a day earlier than expected. It was really good to hear from Heather as I have been missing her a lot.
Ready to leave, I cast a look around. Mole Creek is surrounded by mountains, so apart from the route in, the only way out is up. The Gog Range sounds quite intimidating but I kept telling myself the days distance is short.
After cycling through pleasant pastoral scenes I arrived at the foot of the range and started to climb. In places the grade was as much as 18%, well beyond my capabilities on my loaded bike, so some walking was unavoidable. But the climb was short, and I was soon over the top. The descent was equally steep but seemed much longer, and was followed by another short hill with a 16% grade, so a little more walking was required.
Soon I reached the Cradle Mountain road, and with only a short distance to go, I stopped under a shady tree and ate my lunch, then continued through very rolling terrain to Gowrie Park, where I have taken a room in a lodge that was once the construction camp for the hydro-electric power station I'll be passing by tomorrow.
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| These freeloaders have promised to help today - we are are heading for that gap in the distance, where their promise will be called in... |
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| The Mersey River - the only way from here is up... |
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| The Tour of Tasmania bicycle race passed this way last year - the grade from here to the KOM line is 12%. Needless to say I walked the 200m to the line. How does the peleton get up hills like this with race gearing? |
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| I found Paradise... Where's Paradise? I'll give you a clue - name the mountain, and you'll find it too. |
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| Some of the HOG bikes look a little worse for wear - must be these Tassie roads... |
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