Berrigan to Corowa via Savernake
Sunday October 4, 2015, 55 miles (88 km) – Total so far: 307 miles (494 km)
Daylight savings started overnight. So technically, first light is at 6.20am. But I don’t care what the clock says, I’m packing in the dark and on the road as the purple of the sky goes grey, then white, then pink. It is supposed to get quite hot today and I want to take the main highway back east for about 20 miles to start the day. It is fairly heavily travelled and has no shoulders for much of the distance, so I want to get down the road and back on quieter roads before everyone gets up.
The pavement on the highway is okay but fairly coarse. There are heaps more horse floats heading into Berrigan, but not much traffic going my way. I have front and rear blinkies going and everyone gives me room but one guy towing a trailer.
The road undulates gently through open cropland with patches of native pine on rockier hills. The ENE that helped me yesterday is hindering me today. I’m only pedalling at 11.1 mph. Still, I knock off the miles to Savernake – a pleasant locality in forest and open woodland. They will get a mobile phone tower soon after years of lobbying about the blackspot. There are a couple churches and a community hall where you might be able to source water.
I turn off here down the Savernake Road. It is a gorgeous ride with very little traffic. I see four cars in 17 miles. The road reserve is wide with considerable vegetation growing within it. Tall pine and box trees mix it up with an open mid-story or sections with scrubby regrowth. I am also happy to have the wind as a crosswind for a bit.
We turn off down a narrow laneway that has ancient paving and lots of recent patching. This takes us down between cropped fields to the Bull Plains Road. We head north for a couple kilometres to catch the Merton Road. It is a one-lane road and I have to get off in the dirt for the three cars that pass me. It is more pleasant agricultural scenery with cropped fields and patches of bush. It’s not the smoothest road ever, but there’s not much traffic as I dig in and pedal into the wind.
I stop for a snack at Freyer’s Road and contemplate how to get home. I don’t really want to retrace my steps, and Redlands Road can be quite busy because it is a cut-through from Corowa to the main highway. However, I’m tired, it’s hot and I’m not overly enthusiastic after riding into the wind all day. My alternatives all include riding gravel into the wind. So I pull the plug on adventure and just take the pavement back into town. Being a Sunday around 11.30 am means Redlands Road isn’t that busy, so it’s quite fine to take into town. I’m home and out of the heat by 12.30pm. Overnight rides really make you feel like you’ve done something with your weekend!
