Narrogin to Williams 2007

Narrogin to Williams day 6, Tuesday 18 October 2007. I left the motel at 10 am but didn’t head for Williams straight away. I took the opportunity to ride into Foxes’ Lair, a nature park on the other side of the road from the motel. The motel brochures encouraged guests to visit it. There were gravel tracks going in to a car park, where there were information boards about walk tracks of different lengths. I took one of these and took some pictures. The wildflowers were splendid. At one point the walk track ran along a cliff edge and there was a view of the woodland and country.

Williams

The wind was behind me as I turned back onto the main road and headed for Williams. I rested at 547. I moved on a few metres from where I had initially stopped because there was a pile of small stones in the orange gravel which signified an anthill. The ants had a super-highway extending about 30 metres so I got clear of that. A big pipeline ran along the side of the road. I couldn’t get over it or sit on it so I leant on it while I took my rest. There was a peaceful pastoral scene of hundreds of sheep in the field opposite, munching away in the sun, so I took a picture of that.

Further on was a ruined house with half its roof missing, surrounded by tall weeds and a barbed wire fence. I assumed that the fence would have been pushed down in one spot and this turned out to be so. I climbed over and stepped up onto the broken verandah and looked into the rooms. The front door was locked but a door at the side allowed entry to one room. Through the broken windows of the others I could see linoleum, wallpaper, beds, an old TV set, a fan. I took a picture of the house before leaving. It looked quite old.

The road from Narrogin to Williams used to run right past the motel and caravan park and join up with the Quindanning Road on the other side of Albany Highway. But a few years ago, between 2003 and 2006, a bypass road was built south of the original road, so the road past the motel is now a quiet cul-de-sac a few hundred metres long. I looked out for this as I approached the town, and rolled off to the right and easily onto it to reach the Williams motel, at 562, about noon.

At Reception I asked if they had a unit available and they said they sure did. It was a quiet day for them and they were glad to have a customer. I asked about Mrs Henderson, and they said she had stayed there the night before, and she had been very tired, and she was gone now. I hoped she was all right and hadn’t had any problems at Tenterden.

I got into Unit 10, at the end of the building, $75.

A ginger cat came trotting up crying while I was settling in and making a cup of tea, so I gave it a cuddle and let it in for a while. It jumped on the bed and made itself at home. I had to kick it out later. With the warm dry wind I had an opportunity to wash my jumper, which still smelled of smoke from the leaky wood stove at Tenterden. I washed the back pack too, since the warmer trend in the weather had caused it to become damp with sweat. This hadn’t happened during the first three days of cool weather and winds.

I rode back into the town and went to the Woolshed cafe to see if they had anything I could buy for breakfast, but there was nothing much there so I went to the shop in Brooking Street.

While I was having my shower the hot water system went ‘clunk’ as it usually did when going on, and the water went cold. I turned it off then on again and pushed a few handles but it stayed cold. I thought maybe a circuit-breaker had tripped so I decided to leave it and check it later. I hung the washing outside my unit in the convenient sun which shone on that end of the block, and the dry wind, while I walked up into the town to shop and look around.

I passed the old homestead built in 1860 and noticed that the door was open and a family with children was sitting outside. I asked if the house was open, and they said that it wasn’t officially yet, but I was most welcome to go in and look around and I should be careful not to trip over anything. I had never been in this house before. I looked around the cluttered rooms and took some pictures. There was a lot of authentic old stuff and also the family’s stuff and tradesmen’s stuff lying around. The Facey house in Wickepin is more interesting, being more basic and authentic. This one will be good when it is ready.

After that I went, then I noticed that the Telecentre was open, so I took the opportunity to go and have a session of emails. I paid for half an hour, then paid for another to give me a full hour, $6. I told everyone where I was and how well it had gone, so far. I was indeed feeling very healthy, having cycled well within my capacity and having nothing to do for a week except ride, eat and sleep.

By this time it was after 5 pm so I went back to the unit and took in my washing, which was dry enough. The little cat tried to come in again. I checked the hot water but it was still cold and didn’t go ‘clunk’. I went to reception to tell the lady, and she tried to ring her husband on his mobile, but there was no answer. She said he must be on his way back from Narrogin and would come and look at it when he arrived.

I sat outside for a while and talked to the cat, who was very friendly and purring. It wasn’t long before the man came over to look at the hot water system. He noted that I had made a new friend, said it wasn’t even his cat, didn’t belong around the motel. All that was wrong with the hot water was a blown fuse, and the box was right on the wall at the end of the block of units. After a couple of minutes I had hot water again.

I went to the roadhouse restaurant and bought a pie, a cheese sausage and a sausage roll and went back to my unit to watch TV and lie around. During the evening, every time I went out for a smoke the cat was there wanting to come in. I used the mobile to ring Liz and find out if she were all right and why she had gone home a day earlier than planned. She was fine, she had had a great time and had benefited from the break and having a few days to herself. She was very happy and relaxed and we had a good chat.

Reading at Williams, end of day: 565. Day’s ride: 34 km. Aggregate: 282. Km/day: 47.

Narrogin to Williams 2007

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