Corrigin to Quairading 1995

Corrigin to Quairading, day 8, Thursday 2 November 1995. The day was still overcast with some showers possible. The wind had at last backed SSW. This promised an easier day, though it was to be the longest yet at 64 km. Rain had decreased to localised showers, and in the country these can be seen coming a long way off, and the likelihood of avoiding them assessed, on the basis of your own velocity and the fact that the squalls travel from north-west to southeast at 20 – 30 kph. I had fun dodging the showers, and was successful.

Quairading

I left Corrigin at 8:00. I had drink stops at 3180, 3196 and 3212. My gear adjustment had changed during the ride, I had had the back wheel off once, so the chain came off at 3215 while I was trying to get into ‘easiest’. I got my hands black.

The wind backed southerly and over a long straight stretch of road going due north I had a perfect tailwind. This brought another problem – the warm weather and rain of the past week had helped fly breeding, and as I rode along I could not escape a swarm of flies. Until then I had always been able to escape the flies while riding, due to contrary or side winds. This was going to be a problem during the days to come when I would have even better tail winds as they moved around to the east and I continued to head west. I resolved to buy some insect repellent in Quairading, and include it in my luggage for future rides.

My luggage has grown ever heavier since 1977 as different things have happened and I have had to include things to counteract them. A broken chain in 1978 led to my carrying a chain-unlinker and some spare links. Broken spokes on the cluster side of the back wheel in 1985, 1988 and 1994 required me to start carrying a bundle of spokes, a cluster remover and the heavy spanner, and fortunately I have always been able to find a piece of pipe to add leverage. The crankshaft working loose caused me to need the socket wrench as well. The luggage weighs more than the bike.

For 10 kilometres near Quairading I headed due west, feeling unaccustomed relief at the headwind. I reached Quairading at 11:50, 3226.

The hotel was a bit disappointing. The man said that they normally charged $50 for this room, that had its own bathroom, because the rooms with bathrooms were ‘doubles’, but since I was on my own he would only charge me $40. This was the same as the excellent Kondinin motel, but this room wasn’t up to that standard. There was no TV, only the connections for it. That wasn’t a problem in the end because Room 1 had a TV, and was open, so in the evening when it was clear that no-one would be occupying that room I pinched the TV and a chair to put it on, replacing them in the morning.

The room was small; it had two beds, but there wouldn’t have been much room to move with two people. There were no flyscreens, the bathroom extractor fan didn’t work, there were no hooks or rails. But at least, in a common area, there was cereal, bread and other things for guests to help themselves at will at any time they wanted to have breakfast. I put my milk and drinks in the fridge, labelled.

I had a rest, then looked at my Quairading town map to find the swimming pool. I went down there and had another excellent swim. The diving board wasn’t so high, though.

I showered, dressed and went to the co-op. I did have a look for some tyres, but there were none of the right size to fit my bike. I was still checking the back tyre each day, and it worried me a bit, but there were no actual bald spots, just a lot of small cracks in the rubber. I assumed the canvas would be all right. I bought some new headphones for my radio – the $2 show special headphones had failed on the right channel. I also bought the insect repellent and the usual sustenance.

I looked around the town, saw the Anglican church rectory in whose predecessor I stayed in 1957 and the area where I used to play with the other kids.

As I was making my phone calls – I had decided to make the short trip to Beverley the next day, and the long hike over gravel to Mundaring the next, a fateful decision as it turned out – a motorbike roared past, then back again, then back again. It made the calls difficult. When I got out of the phone box I walked down to the road junction to check the signs for the York/Beverley road, and noticed that the man riding up and down was hangin’ ten on high handlebars, that he was wearing black leather and that there were a couple of dozen like him and that a policeman was parked beside the road watching them all. Indeed, the Coffin Cheaters were in town and were all gathered outside the hotel. I hoped they weren’t planning all to stay. I wanted a peaceful night.

I went in to dinner and had a prawn cocktail which was quite nice and fresh, and chose the ‘Tropical Chicken Delight’ which turned out to be a hard, dry, overcooked (maybe pre-cooked and frozen) breast of chicken with a slice of pineapple and of kiwi fruit on top of it. As an afterthought they brought out a basket with ‘a bun for you’. But the service was friendly. During dinner a prolonged, fading roar followed by peace suggested that the ‘Cheaters had decided to move on.

The day ended with TV, paperwork and batting the mozzies and moths that managed to get past the lace curtain I had stuffed in the narrow space by which I had opened the screenless window.

Reading at Quairading: 3226. Km for day: 64. Aggregate: 393. Km/day: 49. Speed to Quairading: 16.7 kph.

Corrigin to Quairading 1995

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