This guest post, possibly the first in a series, comes from Glyn the bike packer. Now most bike packers seem to be a little on the crazy, but Glyn’s adventure seems to be positively enjoyable, and I can’t wait to try out his route myself when time permits.
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I really like the type of work I do. It brings me in to contact with the most dedicated Australians. But every now and then I like to get away on my own. My chosen method is bike-packing. Even with a minimalist approach I can be self-sufficient for three days with water being the limiting factor.
My latest trip around the NSW South Coast took in Nowra, Shoalhaven Heads, Gerroa, Gerringong, Berry and the hills beyond. The frequency of towns and villages along this route made resupply of water easy as well as providing numerous quality café stops. All up the trip was about 200km with a good combination of flat coastal plain and some challenging hills. The roads offered bike lanes or wide shoulders. When the shoulder was tight the cars gave me plenty of room. I think the 1m passing campaign is having an effect.
This was my first decent trip for about 12 months so I used day one as a shake out, sort out weight distribution and some new kit. Rather pleased that I did as it made the rest of the trip that much better. I have taken on loads of advice and tips from the Bike-packing Australia Face Book Page and this has paid dividends.
While I can live comfortably with what I carry and sleeping in the bush doesn’t bother me at all I use caravan parks when the opportunity arises. On this trip I had really good weather and really bad. Peddling 20km into a 33 knot head wind made me question what I was doing and the thunderstorm that came with the wind made life a little uncomfortable. Seeing a caravan park sign before the rain got to heavy was a relief. Staying in a caravan park also offers the opportunity to meet new and interesting people.
Some of the stretches I road along where remote and nice and quiet which gave me time to contemplate. Here are three random thoughts that I had.
- 9 times out of 10 the most boring person at a meeting will win an argument. This person has the ability to suck any innovation out of inspired people. They care so little for progress they are prepared to out wait everyone else.
- Message to marketing agencies: there is no need to put the letter ‘I’ in front of anything. Just because one company was successful with this gimmick doesn’t mean every other product in the future need start with an ‘I’.
- Who decided to change signs from ‘For Sale’ to ‘Selling’? All I can think of is that it is a cost saving exercise to save the printing cost between seven and six letters and a space.
Some people do this sort of traveling far harder than I do by staying right away from civilisation. But I like seeing different things and this includes a variety of settled areas. Each town seems to offer something new in terms of food, coffee, drink or other produce. So I choose to explore these options.
I was in no hurry on this trip and came home feeling very relaxed.
Categories: Guest Post, New South Wales
Tags: adventures, bikepacking, National Parks
The Graceful Cyclists 
Reblogged this on Bikepacking Australia – The Collective Blog.
Sounds like a lovely relaxed trip – luxurious to have cafes etc. The random thoughts can be scarey cant they? The things our minds do while ambling along ……
I have just done a short trip with my Dad. It is a different way at looking at bike touring. I carried far to much. Each town was close enough to get supplies. Could have cut the load down by 4kg. Found myself carrying to much water and stand by food. Doing less km per day made it quite a pleasure. I enjoy your blog keep it up.
Sounds great. I always find judging water hard, I’ve run out of water carrying 10L before so I tend to always carry more rather then less.
If you ever feel like writing up a trip let me know and I’d be happy to add it to one of the blogs