March 8, 2024
Kiama
It was a bit of curate's egg of a ride today. Some really nice sections and others that we could have done without.
It was a grey and humid start to the day with clouds blowing in from the south. It started to mizzle as we were packing up and continued to do so for the first twenty kilometers of the ride. Later the clouds burnt off and the mecury was close to thirty degrees by mid afternoon.
We joined the cycle path immediately on exiting the campground. Getting through Wollongong was easy riding despite the congestion on the cycle path that is shared with pedestrians, many of whom were happy to walk four abreast.
Then it became very industrial but the cycling was still easy with far fewer users on the cycle path than in Wollongong itself..
The ride improved again after Port Kembla where we stopped to photograph some birds and enjoy the view of the coastline to the south from the Illowra Gun Emplacement built during the 2nd World War.
Just before Shell Harbour we stopped for an early lunch of Chinese fried rice and chicken Chow mein. At this point we started struggling to find the signage for the cycle path which culminated with us being spat out onto the M1 highway south of Shell Harbour. Fortunately there was also a cycle path on the highway but it was very unpleasant cycling. We managed to escape the highway only to have to struggle through the short but very steep hills of Kiama Downs. I'm guessing that if we had managed to stay on the coastal route it would have been an easier ride.
As we entered Kiama itself are hearts sank on seeing a sign advertising a jazz and blues festival for the whole of the weekend. Our fears were confirmed when we were turned away from the first campground because they were fully booked. But miracles never cease and the second campground, at Kendalls Beach, had a single free site for just tonight. Chatting to the staff at the campground drove home the need to book ahead for weekends while this close to major cities and while on the coast.
First business after the relief of finding a campsite was to enjoy an ice-cream followed by our first swim on the Australian coast.
We made sure to book tomorrow night's accommodation but all we could get that was on our route is barely fifteen kilometers further south. So we have another short day planned. We were hoping to stay in Berry further inland on our route to the escarpment but on phoning to book we were told they are fully booked most weekends.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 150 km (93 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 8 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |