Monday November 16, 2009, 52 km (33 miles) - Total so far: 1,041 km (647 miles)
Today I'm heading for the lovely art-deco cottages of Tarraleah, a former hydro construction camp from the 1930's. It's only a short easy leg, but a welcome one after the last two days. There is of course a sting in the tail - the climb out of the Nive River Gorge to reach the settlement.
Forecast is for a cool showery day, but I have found the cooler weather very much to my liking and I'm quite happy to put up with a few showers rather than the heat of last week.
My room tariff included breakfast, and I was determined to have it, but the hotel dining room did not open until 8 am, so it was a slow start, and only a couple of kilometres down the road I stopped to look at the 'Wall in the Wilderness' a spectacular carved wooden wall depicting scenes from the pioneering days. When eventually completed it will measure 100 metres long. But whilst I admired the fine workmanship, the themes rather reminded me of the 'heroic' statuary of the communist era.
Shortly after leaving The Wall, the road turned downwards and I enjoyed easy running on the big chain ring down to the first crossing of the Nive River, and after a muffin break continued on through the lagoons and canals of the hydro system.
Approaching Tarraleah the road plunged down to the the river once more, passing by the two hydro power stations with their spectacular penstock pipes, then climbed steeply up to the settlement, where the only accommodation available was a cottage at a rather extortionate price, but it had started to rain and I was feeling quite cold and in no mind for the only other option, setting up my tent in the rain.
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| Sorry, no cameras beyond this point - or I'll rip yer bloody arms off... |
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| Penstock pipes at Tungatinah Power Station... |
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| Art deco cottages, Tarraleah... |
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