Mandurah to Dwellingup 1994

Mandurah to Dwellingup day 2, Tuesday 13 September 1994. I LEFT Mandurah at 9:25. West wind, fine morning but clouding up. I rested for the first time in Pinjarra, reaching it at 10:25, 294. Then north over the bridge past the old hotel, turn right onto the Dwellingup road. Now there was a steady climbing trend, which was preferable to an easy runup followed by a steep long ascent.

Dwellingup

I rested again at 306 and at last met a sign saying STEEP CLIMB at 309.5. I got up nearly all of this without having to walk, and it levelled off at about 314. The hilly country was very pretty. 315-317 was downhill and I arrived in Dwellingup at 318, 12:14. Rain only just began after I arrived. After a rest I went for a walk round the town and through the forests.

When I got back to the hotel all my stuff had been moved out of my room and someone else’s moved in. Three old couples had arrived during the afternoon and found that their booking, made 6 weeks before, had been forgotten. Anyway, once I was sure that none of my stuff was missing, my new room was a better one.

Room, 3-course dinner, light breakfast, $37, not bad, though the place isn’t as well run as the Brighton. The bar, dining room and games area are all in one big room, and during dinner a team of women walked in all wearing black tracksuits with gold badges and lettering saying RAVO THE RAVENSWOOD HOTEL. They were the darts team from Ravenswood, some 40 km to the west, come to play the Hills, or Dwellingup team. I watched the match which was very serious and took a couple of hours. A RAVO lady called Val explained the game to me.

At 10 o’clock they had their supper – the Ravoes had brought a plate of sandwiches – and had more beer. Drinks had been flowing all night and now someone had the idea of playing another informal game. The barkeeper reminded them of the time, upon which one Hills battleaxe started to tell him fuck this, and fuck that, which inspired the retort “You talk like that and I’ll chuck you out now!”

Reading at Dwellingup: 318. Day’s ride: 44 km. Aggregate 113. Km/day 56.5. Speed to Dwellingup: 15.6 kph.

Mandurah to Dwellingup 1994

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