Cottesloe to Lancelin 1994

Cottesloe to Lancelin, 5 day tour 1994. Cumulative distance 330 km.

Charles A. Pierce

Other Days on this Tour:

Daily Locations for this Tour:

Cottesloe to Yanchep, day 1, Monday 5 September 1994. Left home 9.49, speedo read 29841. Mild, NE headwinds. I went up Railway Street to the Napier Street foot-crossing, then up Curtin Avenue to Servetus Street, where I turned left to take the main road up the coast. North of Scarborough I bore left to continue up Marmion Avenue.

Rested 29858 (Carine) -875 (N. of Burns Beach Road) -888 (shop on Wanneroo Rd). Marmion Avenue comes to an end at Hester Road and I had to turn right and go 3 km east to join Wanneroo Road.

I reached the Yanchep Beach Road turnoff at 28896, by which time the winds had shifted NW, still against me. Took a wrong turning when I meant to join Lagoon Drive, so didn’t reach the motel at Yanchep till 29904, at 1.55.  ... Read more

Yanchep to Lancelin, day 2, Tuesday 6 September 1994. Left the Yanchep Lodge at 8:17. The wind was NE, and it would shift to NW as I approached Lancelin, so it was a headwind all the way. I estimated the journey to be 83 km, so I should arrive at Lancelin at 29990. I reached Wanneroo Road at 29914 and headed north. I rested at 29923, then started off again, feeling quite optimistic because the wind wasn’t too bad and I felt able to complete the task.

Then at 29924, one km after my rest, I heard a familiar snap, looked down and saw the back wheel going wibble, wibble, a broken spoke. I stopped briefly to check and sure enough, it was on the cluster side.  ... Read more

Lancelin, day 3, Wednesday 7 September 1994. This was a rest day. It was sunny with a fresh southeasterly. My decision had been right. I rode around the town and down to the surf beach, not protected by the reef, and had a pleasant boisterous swim. Back at the car park the speedo read 0000 for the fourth time, so after 11 years and 30,000 kilometres it was time to retire it and fit the new one I had brought with me in expectation of this moment.

Went back to the motel for lunch and a sleep, then had another swim at the hotel beach. This time I walked up to the point closest to Lancelin Island and after deliberating, tried to swim across.  ... Read more

Lancelin to Gingin, day 4, Thursday 8 September 1994. Left the Lancelin Inn at 8:01. The winds had come around so rapidly since Tuesday afternoon that they were already North-East, but not too strong, so I expected (rightly as it turned out) that they would moderate and back around to the north later. This actually helped me, at least it did not hinder me.

I passed the Ledge Point turnoff at 43 and the Guilderton Turnoff at 50. It was clear by now, checking against the 5-km posts, that the new speedo was highly accurate and needed no correction. I came to the Gingin Road turnoff at 56. At last I would be riding on new road, the possible mental hardship of retracing the 45km struggled over on Tuesday was behind me.  ... Read more

Gingin to Cottesloe, day 5, Friday 9 September 1994. The day was sunny and mild with NE winds shifting NW later. I left the Gingin hotel at 8:34 and went down the hill and onto the Brand Highway. I didn’t stop for my first rest until one hour later, having done 22 km (127).

I went through Muchea and joined the Great Northern Highway at 134. I took further rests at 145 (opposite the Air Force base) and 159.

An easy and pleasant day’s ride ended, with this whole ride, at Midland railway station at 12:06, 171. I boarded the train that had just come in and went home to Cottesloe.

Reading at Midland: 171. Day’s ride: 66km. Aggregate: 330. Km/day: 66.  ... Read more