Wilsons Promontory to Cape York by bike - Griffith to Mount Hope

Day: 009
Date: Saturday, 5 August 2006
Summary: Riding from Griffith to Mount Hope .
Start: Griffith
Finish: Mount Hope
Daily Kilometres: 204
Total Kilometres: 979
Weather: Foggy and very cold early but mild and sunny for the rest of the day.
Accommodation: Royal Hotel, Mount Hope , NSW.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  An apple and a couple of pastries
  Lunch:  Pie, pastie and milkshake
  Dinner:  Chicken schnitzel.
Encounters: Saw some kangaroos and an eagle.
Highlights: I had a great evening at the remote and very original Mount Hope Hotel ($30 B&B).  It was run by Suzanne who is a part-time truckie and the bar was populated by a couple of truckies, two workers and a local couple.  The place was very basic but very authentic and everybody was very friendly and we discussed all sorts of stuff, although mainly trucking.
Lowlights: The first 90 minutes of riding was very unpleasant in freezing temperatures (-1°C) and thick fog.  Despite wearing plenty of clothes my feet and particularly hands were freezing.  It put me off early starts.

Journal:
Knowing that I had a very big day in front of me if I was to reach Mount Hope , 204km away, I got up at 6:00am and hit the road at 6:45am.  It was freezing and foggy and I really suffered from the cold for the first 90 minutes.  As the fog lifted it warmed up nicely and by the time I reached Goolgowi (50km) at 9:30am it was a beautiful day.

The countryside up to this point was mainly citrus orchards but it then gradually gave way to irrigated farmland although even those fields that did not seem to be irrigated were quite green and there were puddles around indicating that maybe the drought hasn’t been too bad locally.  The breeze was flukey although seemed to be against me quite a lot of the time and my average speed was slower than yesterday.  I reached Hillston at 1:00pm and bought some lunch which I ate in the sun at a picnic table in a park whilst reading the paper.  Very pleasant.  I decided to attempt to reach Mount Hope (94km away) but to be sure they had accommodation I called the pub there and was assured they would hold me a room and give me a meal.

The road, which had been quite busy, now had virtually no traffic, and passed through increasingly arid country.  At one point, a pair of kangaroos kept pace with me for about a kilometre as they bounded along the fenceline bordering the road.  I enjoyed the solitude, scenery and sunshine and cruised along at a good speed although, for the first time since the Strathbogies, I began to encounter some gentle hills.  The last part was bordered by some extensive nature reserves and the vegetation consisted mainly of small gums and acacias(?) on red soil with little undergrowth.  I finally reached Mount Hope soon after 6:00pm, having pedalled the last hour in increasing darkness, and found that they were all awaiting my arrival.  The pub was very basic with toilets and showers in an outside block and unpolished timber floors.  The bar had lots of character and characters and I enjoyed a pleasant evening chatting with my fellow guests.