A day of rest and then back on the saddle.

I decided that one week in Sydney was enough so I took a day off in Batemans Bay. Did not do much, went for a walk and sat by the sea reading, but on my way to the sea I stumbled onto the most amazing spectacle: 10,000 flying foxes hanging from the trees.

I had to leave after a while, being also worried that they might drop on me with possible severe health consequences.

I went down to the town and bought a new and better heat torch as well as some more Bushman’s cream to take home with me. After that I just sat on the sea front admiring the view and getting on with my current book: Prey by Michael Crichton.

In the evening I had the last instalment of the kangaroo burgers and this time I had got buns for them as well as cooking them in the gas BBQ outside, the result was far superior.

In the morning I left not as late as I thought I would. The route today was only a bit more than 30 miles so I did not want to leave at a time that got me to the destination too early. As I passed through town I took a last picture of the bridge and reminded myself of the fact that I was in fact taking a picture of the bridge over the river Clyde.

The ride from Batemans Bay to Ulladulla was a tale of two halves, the first half quite relaxing, filled with music and nice forest scenery, the second half full of stress, without music and with my eyes firmly trained onto the bicycle chain.

 

As with the tyres the chain is coming to the end of its life. It was fitted more than 4000 miles ago and, given the load and the mountain roads that it has seen, it is due for replacement. Just past half way, while derailing to get to a low gear the chain got tangled and when I stopped to disentangle it I noticed that it was bent in one of the links. I took the tools out and straighten it and I believe I corrected the fault. The fact that this happened though made me worry that I might not get through the next 150 miles with the chain in one piece and not manage to get it changed once I get back to Italy. I’ll keep it closely monitored and hope for the best, after all I am now in a very populated part of the country so I can always get some help and support.

I made it to Ulladulla by 13:00 and once I was set up and clean I ventured to the harbour for a walk. I did not know what to expect and in the end I managed a close encounter with a giant sting ray and a superb milkshake in a bar in town where I also finished the book.

I will have a relaxing afternoon, probably starting my next book and starting to do some planning fro the summer and autumn. It is always important to prepare lots of plans otherwise what is there to change.