Donnybrook to Bridgetown 1985

Donnybrook to Bridgetown, day 2, Saturday 16 November 1985. I had breakfast in bed and got going as early as I could. This time I was prepared for the climbs that lay ahead, both mentally and with a well-prepared bike with the proper range of gears. The going was still hard but I think I managed to get up the hill after Balingup, and Hester’s hill before Bridgetown, without getting off to trudge. I remember definitely at some time having got up both those hills without having to get off and walk. I took some rest stops along the way, at Kirup and Balingup and after Greenbushes.

I had booked into a motel some way down Hampton Street (which was just the South Western Highway re-named for its passage through Bridgetown) from the centre of Bridgetown where all the old hotels were. This was to be the first time I had spent a night in Bridgetown for 25 years.

I went through the usual routine of rest, laundry, shower, change, walk around the town. I saw the old Anglican church where my father had taken me in 1960 and the rector’s daughter and I had got on well. She is a major international speech therapy expert now. I went down to see the river. I forget what I bought for dinner, but eventually I settled into the motel unit, which faced a courtyard over a flower-bed. I remember watching an episode of a miniseries about a Jewish family named Oppenheim and their suffering under the Nazi regime.

I wasn’t feeling well. I was tired, with a lot of aches and pains. I had brought some Foot Balm with me so I rubbed that on my feet and legs. This was the evening that I first noticed my varicose veins all up my left leg. When I look at them today I always remember that scene sitting on the bed in that motel unit. They worried me a lot then but they haven’t got too much worse in the ensuing quarter century.

I can?t remember how I slept that night. The next day would bring some new road.

Charles A. Pierce

Other Days on this Tour:

1. Perth to Windy Harbour Tour 1985
2. Perth to Donnybrook 1985
3. Donnybrook to Bridgetown 1985 (This post)
4. Bridgetown to Pemberton 1985
5. Pemberton to Northcliffe 1985
6. Northcliffe to Windy Harbour and return 1985
7. Northcliffe to Manjimup 1985
8. Manjimup to Greenbushes 1985
9. Greenbushes to Donnybrook 1985
10. Donnybrook to Cottesloe 1985

Places Mentioned in this Post:

Related posts:

1. Donnybrook to Bridgetown 1991
2. Donnybrook to Bridgetown 1996
3. Bridgetown to Pemberton 1985
4. Bridgetown to Donnybrook 1998
5. Donnybrook to Cottesloe 1985

Tags: Balingup, Donnybrook, Greenbushes, Kirup