Narracorte Caveman

Audax Australia an Interstate Randonneur Award: Rides of 200/300/400 and 600 km all in a different state or region. In search of another trinket for the mantelpiece two of my riding mates, Greg Martin and Kevin Ware, and I headed over to South Australia for the Narracorte Caveman 400.

We drove over last Tuesday afternoon, and stayed the night in a cabin in the very pleasant Narracorte Caravan Park.  We got up at 04:00 AM Wednesday morning, and headed south to Mount Gambier in the dark at 05:00 AM.  The dawn was a little misty wet with rain, but that cleared to a mild overcast day with light westerly winds.

 The Coonawarra was really beautiful to ride through, with horizon to horizon well-trimmed vines with freshly mown green grass between the lines. There were no fences, and the scenery was very French, and unlike the paddocks of grapes alternating with paddocks of sheep or cattle in the NE of Victoria.  It was nice to see the names of wineries that I recognise well from the wine lists of restaurants, as I order the House Red.

We had a nice latte break in the Penola Bakery, then rode down to Mount Gambier for morning tea in the OK Pie Shop.  From there it was straight back to the Penola bakery, then the Caravan Park at 205 km.  Even with the lovely Coonawarra to ride through the rest of the scenery was quite beautiful.  There were large plantations of mature pines, and the roadside trees had not been cleared, so that there was generally the sense of Aussie bush around.  The road had some logging traffic, but also had a good wide verge, so we felt quite safe.

After an early tea in the cabin we headed of just after 4 PM for the second leg of the ride up along a minor country road through Frances to Bordertown.  The sign outside Frances boasted of a population of 32, and most of them must have been in the Pub that was open when we arrived.  We had a bite to eat outside the CFA shed, where there was a nice toilet inside a concrete water tank.  By now the temperature was down to 10 degrees, and the night pitch black.

We reached Bordertown just after 9 PM, and had lattes and huge bowls of wedges in a service station – café.  Then it was just 100 km back to the cabin in Narracorte. By now a bright full moon had risen, and the air was completely still.  Every few kilometres we would ride through an area where a farmer had been clearing up, and there was the beautiful smell of burning eucalyptus.  The moon was so bright that we felt we could see for miles.  The gums with their white bark were so distinct that every one of them stood in its own beauty. It was so bright that birds were awake and chirping in the trees as we rode by.

Back in Frances we revisited the Wonder Loo.  All 32 inhabitants, and their dogs were sound asleep.  The temperature was down to 5 degrees.  We were back in Narracorte just after 03:35 the next morning, finishing our 400 km in just over 22.5 hours.

Another Martin-Ware-Rogers triumph, and some of the most pleasant night riding I have had.