Kangaroo Island Day 8 – The Last Day

The last day, and of course what felt like the longest! The day started pleasantly. The wind had dropped, patchy cloud meant it wasn’t hot, and all in all it was a lovely day to be riding a bicycle.

After a social coffee with a fellow cycle tourist I made my way along the East-West Road to Cape Willoughby. The road itself is a lovely track through farm land, is well graded and generally a very nice ride. As the track cuts across the middle of the eastern end of island the views aren’t spectacular, but this was more than amply compensated by the experience of chasing a flock of turkeys down the road for 500metres.

: Chasing a flock of dinosaurs on a touring bike is fun!

: A much nicer road to ride than the pervious day.

At Cape Willoughby I had a light lunch before going on the light house tour which was fantastic. The national parks guide was so excited about everything, especially his pride and joy the 3m tall class 1 fresnel lens from an old light house, that it was infectious. I want a light house lens!

: Cape Willoughby Lighthouse is at the end of a long dirt road, and the end of a long island.

: I want one!

: View from Cape Willoughby Lighthouse

Anyway, after the tour I started out towards Penneshaw the end of my ride. Normally I think that the last day of a ride the hardest for mental reasons, but this time the hills were intense and I spent most of the first 20km in my lowest gear, or at most one from.

For anyone thinking about riding this road I would suggest thinking carefully before doing so because some of the steep sections really are impressively steep, irrespective of the direction you are approaching from.

I eventually made it into town, ate, swam and set myself up at the YHA for some much needed sleep and stretching. Next time I will get fit before I start a multi day ride!

*******

Note: The fish and chips at Penneshaw are possibly the best fish and chips in the world! make sure you get some!