Training for Day 10 of Caesar

Risk and Reward: Riding into the Southern Highlands

and comparing a favourite loop in southern Tassie
with
a ride we'll do on our upcoming epic European tour

Yesterday's forecast was for light nor'westerlies becoming stronger in the late morning. Di had been wanting to ride from Granton to Bushy Park, up through Hollow Tree and on to the historic town of Bothwell for some time, but the risk in that was the possibility of having to endure strong headwinds for a long time - like the last time we did that ride. We hoped that if we got up early we might just beat the nor'westerlies before swinging around to get the benefit of having them at our back.

Emerging From the Fog

The Derwent Valley is notorious for generating a strong fog - often referred to as the "Bridgewater Jerry" - once it reaches the northern extremities of the estuary.

Here's a brilliant time lapse video of the jerry rolling down the river ...

We had fog all the way from Granton to Bushy Park, apart from those occasions when we left the river's side and climbed short hills from time to time. In this photo you can see the fog rolling down the river in the background ...

Warming the Cockles and Savouring the Sunshine

Arriving at Bushy Park we decided to pause long enough at the servo to fill our bottles and use the toilets, as the fog made us both feel the need. When we went to use the facilities they were locked and one had a sign on the door that said "Do not BLOODY open." We thought that maybe if we had a  hot drink we would be granted access. It turned out to be an excellent call, as not only were we able to relieve ourselves we also had a great hot chocolate before getting back on the bikes.

Leaving Bushy Park and heading towards the Lyell Highway we emerged into clear, eggshell-blue skies. Here's Di arriving at the top of a long hill ...

... before descending toward the turnoff to Hollow Tree Road ...

Hollow Tree has been considered a "settled area" for almost 200 years. The road through the area - which provides some gorgeous cycling - was completed in 1842 after many years of lobbying to create a link between the historic towns of Bothwell and Hamilton.

I paused as we rolled through Hollow Tree to take this photo of "Strathborough" a large old sandstone manor house ...

A little further along the road I paused again to take a photo of a more modest dwelling ...

It looks like both places were deserted, but clearly someone had been watering the lawn around Strathborough, whereas the small homestead looked like it had been pretty much abandoned. 

The Wind, The Wind

For once we managed to luck out as far as the wind is concerned (or maybe it was just good management, eh!). We did have to battle into a light headwind along part of Hollow Tree Road before arriving at Bothwell, our main stop for the day.  A coffee and a sandwich and we were back on the road, this time heading east towards the Midland Highway before turning south, where we were delighted to discover the wind building and driving us towards our finish line at Granton.

Here's an image of a large slice of southern Tasmania showing our complete route ...

Once we headed south we made brilliant time, with the wind even pushing us up over Constitution Hill, our last sizeable obstacle on the route. It was so nice to finish with a roaring tailwind rather than struggling against the southern Tasmania sea breeze!

April 29th vs May 30th

Yes, I know that sounds like a very odd heading. Well ...  here's the rational:

• yesterday (April 29th) we rode 145 kilometres and climbed  1676 metres

 ... here's a look at the cross-section of the ride ...

• on the 30th of May (Day 10 of Caesar) we will ride approximately 142 kilometres and climb about 1630 metres

... and here's a look at the elevation profile for that day ...

Although there is slightly less elevation gain it looks more lumpy!

One thing about this day of our great Caesar ride though is that there will be undoubtedly more history along the way. Here's the description that Sam and Dylan have put together for that day, which has us licking our lips in anticipation ...

So, although yesterday was a lovely day on the bike, the 30th of May looks even better!