2002-Mar-29: Fri: Beaufort - Clunes

Get up, drizzle, coffee, shower, put bags in car, drive to Alexander parade, drive home, get on bike, shiver down Swan Street, get off bike, put bike in truck, get in bus, try and sleep through the two hour trip to Beaufort.

58km. Alternating drizzle and sunshine. Finally a terrific tail wind into Clunes.

Clunes resembled the set of a western movie, sometime after the cast and crew have all gone home. I half expected to see tumble-weeds blowing down the main street.

2002-Mar-29: Sat: Clunes - Daylesford

An incredibly strong southerly was blowing constantly, all day long. The 42km were covered at an average of 14km/hr! At each possible stop we gratefully sheltered inside, out of the wind.

There was an amazing feeling of culture-shock riding into Daylesford after the last two days of almost deserted country roads and country towns. There was traffic everywhere, the streets full of people, it seemed like we were back in Melbourne.

The campground is halfway out of town on the road south, an annoyingly long way to come back in for a coffee or a beer. We managed though, and found a cafe that filled the gap between the end of the afternoon and the start of the evening with coffee, fresh bread and home-made dips. This was followed by a brief exploration of the main street, then a lengthy exploration of the second-hand book store. The shop just seemed to go on for ever, room after room stacked from floor to ceiling with books of every conceivable subject.

Walking around to the restaurant for dinner we were just in time for a spectacular sunset, my photo doesn't do justice to the luminous colours that were glowing up from the hills to the west.

2002-Mar-29: Sun: Daylesford - Bacchus Marsh

Ah, Bacchus Marsh. Every time I ride in here, something happens. The something usually involves a pin headed yob and his mates, driving an old bomb of a car, and either screaming abuse or trying to run someone down. Today was no different, as a bunch of my friends rode down the hill into town, the local hero threw an egg at them from a car driving the other way.

Fantastic riding through the forests earlier in the day; lamingtons and date scones from the bakery in Trentham more than made up for the blast on the horn that an old geezer delivered because he thought he couldn't pass,, then an enormous hamburger for lunch in Blackwood.

73.7km

2002-Apr-01: Mon: Bacchus Marsh - Melbourne

It was an almost perfect day for cycling. Hardly any wind, not too warm, and deserted roads for the first forty kilometres. Even the remainder of the ride, along the Western highway then through Footscray to the city passed without incident.

62.81km, odo: 1036km