Distance: 62km
Elevation: 279m
I packed up and was on the road by 10am. I felt tired right from the start. After a second breakfast, I followed mostly the TransCanada directly by the banks of the Long Reach River against a strong southernly wind.
I had the option to follow the official road with its steep climbs or to share the mostly flat trail with quads and ATVs. In most cases I decided for the flat version although riding the gravel was tough.
My body needed some rest and I was debating internally how hard I should push myself today. The internal agreement that was reached was „if we find a place with a dry shelter, a clean bed, access to a restaurant and a swimming pool, we stay there and we don’t make a fuss about it“
I knew that these criteria would be very hard to meet around here.
However, it turned out that Baird‘s campground in Lower Perth ticked all these boxes. So: I was having a break day!
I was welcomed by the 77 year old owner who let me sleep in a shed at no extra costs.
He told me how this place had been flooded and totally demolished in winter a couple of years ago. Half of his pension money went into rebuilding the place as good as possible.
This picture shows the level devastation. The white stuff are ice floes (Eisschollen).
I had a shower and a swim, washed my clothes and had an early dinner. By 9pm I was in bed in my little hut.
Funny enough, Facebook reminded me of a memory from 2017, the year in which I started this project.
It shows me in Edinburgh AirPort in front of the bike of Mark Beaumont who in this year managed to cycle around the world in 80 days.
For this project he was constantly supported by a crew but still that level of performance and perseverance is borderline superhuman.
It was one of the impressions that led to try this for myself – just without the time pressure.
