Lancelin to Gingin 1994

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.

Gingin

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.

I climbed the steep hill and rested at 57. The map showed a steep downhill run and then mostly level country before a climb just before Gingin. The winds seemed to have gone around to light northerly, as I had expected. The going was steady but I was feeling the effects still of days 1 and 2. I rested at 69 and 81. The country was very green and pretty, and it was a nice sunny day. The whole ride had been beautiful in that respect.

As expected, I met the Brand Highway junction at 85, but if I had been concentrating on my work I would have noticed that it was a straight T-junction, not matching the map, which was very accurate as far as it went BUT based on information 20 years old. I turned right and started bowling down the Brand Highway, putting on a bit of speed now with the wind behind me and the day’s journey, as I thought, nearly done. But the expected hill was some way to the east, my road was pretty level and the compass heading seemed wrong.

I reached 90, at which point I should have been in Gingin, but there was no town, no signs, just road and country. I stopped at 91 to check the map, stopped again at 92 to ask a passing motorist for directions. She was a young mum with two babies. She said that yes, the Brand Highway had been re-routed, it no longer went through Gingin, and that she thought the turnoff was a couple of km back – I must have missed it. I turned back and she went on her way. At 94 I heard honk-honk, the lady pulled in front of me and told me that in fact the turnoff was 3km back south! I thanked her and turned again.

I met the turnoff at 97 – the sign said ‘Gingin access road. Gingin 7km’. I had to push 7km mostly uphill into a headwind. Checking later made it clear that I should have turned left when I met the Brand Highway, then right to go into Gingin. I had added 14 km to the day’s journey. It was a learning experience.

I was really overdone this time, but rested at the motel (reached at 104, 2:29 pm), recovered, shopped, had a nice walk round this historic town and through the scenic walk round the brook, and enjoyed an excellent roast beef dinner (on special at $7.50) before retiring to watch TV in the room which with full facilities was only $25, the same as 4 years ago (see 1990 ride story).

I was looking forward to the next day – a tail wind, a good downhill run, level riding and only 66 km to do.

Reading at Gingin: 105. Day’s ride: 96km. Aggregate: 264 km. Km/day: 66. Speed to Gingin: 14.7 kph.

Lancelin to Gingin 1994

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