meander

we met up with rob and pete again at the sightseers cafe at 9:30 for a quick and early start to the day. after we all had coffees, cake and pies, i think we were on the road by 10am.

we headed off along the mawson trail hoping that the track had dried out and luckily it mostly felt ok bar a few squishy creek (silty/mud) crossings. we hit the highway and decided to keep pressing on with the trail. we cruised along hard gravel tracks feeling confident and happy. then we climbed a little ridge next to mern merna hill and onto the valley of hell! we managed to get stuck in another mud patch.

initially it wasn't too bad so we kept pressing on, but as we kept going it got worse and worse. pete ended up carting his panniers by pairs then carrying his bike, dyon and rob went on ahead pressing through the mud together helping each other, and i spent time digging mud from between my tyres and mudguards. in the end it was easier for me to get into granny gear trying to ride through the thick mud. my mud biking skills have improved immensely! the worst was trying to clip in with pedals and shoes full of mud.

after taking 4 hours to complete 4-5km, we had a rocky descent into another plain which was slippery and slidy but at least we could ride. we finally came back on to a dirt road and decided to head to the highway as quickly as possible. we got to the highway as dusk hit so we bush camped by the wonoka creek which was thankfully running as dyon and i hadn't brought any spare water.