Leaving Port Wakefield at 6.45am we headed south on the A1 towards Adelaide. The weather was clear and the wind was favourable. Although it was a reasonable 90km we were aware of possible flooding on the road ahead and wanted to get an early start. 

At 10am, after 70km, we arrived at Two Wells to find yet another police roadblock. Apparently the road ahead was under several metres of water and the diversion was 25km east to Gawler. I spoke to the traffic patrol officers as they sat in their car and ascertained that the Gawler diversion and then the expressway to Adelaide was our option. I realised this time I wasn’t going go to get through this blockade. 

Our cycle to Gawler was along a busy single carriageway road with intermittent hard shoulder. We were pleased to reach the outskirts of the town and see signs for the expressway to Adelaide. Now we didn’t want to cycle on another busy road but the area was flooded throughout and the sooner we got to our destination the better. 

I did wonder whether we would be allowed to cycle on the expressway but that’s what the police officer proposed. At least it would have a hard shoulder. So we cycled up the approach road only to see a warning sign indicating no pedestrians, bicycles etc etc! Oh fantastic!

I will cut a long story short and say it took us another two hours to find the only available road out of Gawler towards Adelaide – that time did include a quick stop for an emergency cheeseburger. 

Our cycle into Adelaide was fraught -three lanes of fast driving cars who didn’t appreciate us being there. We didn’t appreciate being there!  It really didn’t help that occasionally a cycle lane would appear for a kilometre or so then disappear. It was if they expected cycles to arrive at the cycle lane by Star Trek Transporter, cycle for a kilometre then transport out again. Unbelievable!

When we were about 12km from our destination I set our hotel name into the Garmin Edge 1000 GPS. It was set to road cycling and minimise distance and still managed to turn a 12km cycle into 62km! Honestly, my experience using routing on the Garmin is dreadfully poor and that’s being kind. It’s just not fit for purpose. I then tried to set it to automobile driving but it took a huff and turned itself off even though there was more than enough power. It just packed in. So we turned to Google Maps and Susan sat in the back seat shouting directions from her phone. 

About 5pm after 121km we reached central Adelaide and the Adina Apartment Hotel. We arrived just as the rain started and the staff were great in getting us checked in with all our gear and getting the bike stored. 

After a week of storms and flooding we are now relaxing until Thursday. Yes it’s been a problematic time from Port Pirie to Adelaide but through all the weather the only time we actually got wet was walking back from the beer shop to our motel in Port Pirie 😃👍

I’m going to refrain from commenting on how government and other agencies of South Australia have managed to prepare and cope with the recent storms – I just don’t have enough knowledge to be properly informed. That said, it does lead me to more fully appreciate the standards and professionalism we have in the UK. 👍

The weather should start clearing for the start of our next stage from Adelaide to the red balloon at Melbourne. Oh but then we have lots of hill climbs. Happy days 😩

2,808km to date. 

• Uncategorized