Now That's What I Call Music Volume 3

By -

Forgive me Father for it is over two days since my last confession.

Weak

After our 117 mile day we were feeling pretty heroic but next morning it was a very different matter.  We only had about 65 to do and it was a very good job because I was weak as a kitten.  Hills were taken at walking pace and, with the thermometer back in the hundreds, it was a sobering reminder that there is still a fair way to go.

In The Middle of The Night

Our destination for the day was Yarram, a very small town which, it turned out, was staging its annual show.  In other words.....no rooms available.  Bugger.  We have been hauling tents for 1300 miles for just such an emergency so put up our erections in the town 'tourist park' (camp site).

I have no problem with camping but was unprepared for the nocturnal sound effects.  At some point in the night a possum came sniffing round the tents and there was a whole orchestra of other noises to keep us on our toes.  At dawn a Kookaburra started up from about 5 yards away and I nearly fouled my sleeping mat.

You've Got A Friend In Me

Yesterday we pressed on to Melbourne where we are staying with Barry and Mary.  I worked with Barry 13 years ago so we had a bit of catching up to do.  Barry drove out to meet us and relieved us of our panniers, more useful than we expected as it turns out he lives half way up Mt Everest.  

Yet again we have been made welcome, fed, allowed to trash their bathroom and had our fetid rags restored to fragrant lovliness.  

We arrived early enough to head downtown where the annual St Kilda festival was taking place.  Basically this us is a huge beach party for the young and beautiful (so we fitted right in ;-) ).

Stop

I have a new front brake!

Baker Street

Ozzie Dictionary:  Bakery

A shop, usually run by Vietnamese, that sells all the things necessary for cyclists to live......except beer.  It is possible that they sell bread but i have honestly never looked!



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rage Hard

By -
Image
Leading a tour down the US West Coast isn't the worst way to spend 4 weeks and it has many compensations.  The weather is lovely, the scenery is off the scale and you get to drink magnificent craft beers and eat well.  Putting out the odd fire and springing pillocks from jail is all part of the sport. BUT, and it is a big but (you get a lot of big butts in Merica), the daily hotel check-in is absolutely the worst thing.  Regardless of how carefully you have checked the reservations there is a clenching of the buttocks as you approach reception.  Today the first contact was good....they had all 15 rooms and cats were allowed.....but they weren't ready.  No problem, I was 30 minutes early.  30 minutes later.....still no rooms.  Cyclists were arriving; hot, tired grumpy cyclists.  The receptionist had run out of fucks to give several years ago.  I asked to see the manager.  Out walked a thing that was once the manger but was now a barrel of lard with a head.  We exchan
Read more

Now That's What I Call Music Volme 4

By -
Image
Won't Stop Running/Golden Brown The 24-hour dysentery that has been working through the group has now reached me.  Bugger. Invisible  When making any on-line transaction in Merica is necessary to provide a telephone number and a valid zip code.  If paying by credit card this must match the zip code the card is registered to.  There is absolutely no provision for anyone without a US phone number and a card registered to a US address.  It's like non-Mericans don't exist or, maybe, just aren't worth bothering about. Some hotels and supermarkets have devices to scan photo-id. You've guessed it....these only recognise US driving licences.  For hotels you have to piss off and find your passport and in stores you have to wait while the manager is called to authorise the purchase.   We should retaliate and only serve Mericans in the UK if they can correctly pronounce Leicester Square. Wonderful Copenhagen Today we have ridden
Read more

Drinking in L.A

By -
Image
We are starting to entertain the very remote possibility that we will make it to the Mexican border! It continues to be an uphill struggle with mechanical and logistical challenges but we battle on. On Tuesday night our hotel was several miles from restaurants so we cleared a few seats in the van and sent out the simplest of instructions......form yourselves into a group of 6 and another of 7, decide whether you want to go to the harbour or downtown and pick a time.  What could possibly go wrong?  We had groups of 4, groups where most wanted the harbour but others wanted downtown, both groups wanting the same time...........I finally got off duty at 9pm, another 14 hour day! Yesterday we rode down through Malibu, Santa Monica and Venice Beach, the latter portion on a superb bike path through the beach.  Despite some heavy traffic in Malibu everyone enjoyed the day and we all arrived in Redondo Beach in high spirits.  Despite an already very high bar in terms of hotel in
Read more