Cows rule the road

We took our time leaving, enjoying an extra slice of toast and homemade raspberry jam.  Turtle found his new home in Simon’s handlebar bag.  We detoured via the bakery to pick up some chicken and salad bread rolls for lunch as well as a treat for morning tea.

It was a climb out of Pemberton and we detoured via the Gloucester tree which was originally one of 8 fire lookout trees built in the south west. Foresters would climb these trees to the lookouts at the top to scan the area for signs of fires.  Until 2023, it was possible to climb the tree but was currently closed as the platforms are being upgraded. 

We avoided the steep switchback single track descent and took the road instead before turning off to initially wide dirt roads. We ran into a lone cyclist coming from Northcliffe and stopped to chat for a while.  She advised that the route was undulating until the long bridge when the route became easier.  It was a mix of dirt road and easy single track to the bridge where we stopped for our morning coffee and bakery treat.  We used our lightweight Helinox chairs for the first time - these had been a Christmas gift from Jonno.

Once across the bridge the route continued on a mix of single track and dirt roads.  We stopped for lunch in a clearing and made use of the chairs again. The bakery rolls were excellent and very filling - just what we needed.

It was a hot afternoon and the flies were particularly noticeable on the slow climbs so we didn’t mind when the wind picked up slightly.  We turned onto the final sealed road that would take us into Northcliffe and a woman in a car stopped us to let us know that there were 400 cows on the road ahead.  She encouraged us to ride straight through them as they were very road aware.  There was a caravan behind us so we let them go ahead and enjoyed the sight of milling cows who, as promised, moved out of our way as we approached them. 

We stopped at the Co-op in Northcliffe to buy some cold drinks and were pleased to be able to buy some smoked chicken to add to our bread rolls for lunch tomorrow.  The lady in the Co-op also let us know that we had missed the sole sight in Northcliffe, being the Understory sculpture park which had  closed at 3pm - it was now almost 4pm.  So we were too late for the Sculptures and too early for a beer at the Workers Club which opened at 5pm. We headed out of town to our accommodation some 2kms away and noted the big downhill ride from the Workers Club which meant that we weren’t keen to come back. 

We met Shaine and he showed us around the very little Airbnb which had a microwave and access to a washing machine, so we had everything we needed to eat our leftover butter chicken curry and there was just enough room in the little freezer to cool our local rosé.

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