Perth To Yallingup Tour via Nannup 1983

Perth To Yallingup via Nannup, 6 day bicycle tour, 1983. This is the sixth of a series of retrospective bike stories, of rides taken before 1987. 1987 was the first ride to be fully documented in the current format, with distances, speeds, rest stops and so on, moreover written as soon after the event as possible.

Up to 1983 these rides had not got further south than Balingup, along the SW highway. In 1983 I had recently bought a new light alloy racing bike, had made a record (for me) time on it in the Cycle Touring Association’s 40 km time trial, and was determined to push the limits of my riding southward and eastward.

This was the first ride since my accident in January 1982, referred to in the 1981 ride story, Perth to Augusta Tour via Nannup 1981, (being a retrospective story, I could refer to events that hadn’t happened yet in 1981). After that accident I cobbled back together the old clunker bike with its twisted frame and did a lot of riding on it, but before starting another long country ride I decided to buy a new bike, my first light-weight bike with an alloy frame. I bought this on September 9, 1983, the same as the day in 1972 when I stopped learning to ride a bike and actually rode one to work.

The head injury in 1982 was also significant in that my life took a turn, a change in direction and emphasis, that was to become more noticeable as the years went on. It wasn’t so apparent as early as 1983.

There are no odometer readings given for this ride because I did not keep a written record of these until 1987. The distances mentioned are from subsequent experience.

The dates are correct because when looking through some old Bike Ride scraps I found a receipt for dinner in the Nannup hotel dining room. 22 November 1983, Room 5, Mr PEARCE. Bringing up the Calendar from 1983 on Google, and tracking back from dates nearer to that time that I remember, I found that this was the Tuesday. I began the ride as I always did then on the Monday and finished it on the Saturday, so the 22nd was Tuesday, which was the night of my stay in Nannup. This receipt is mentioned in my account of Day 2.

Charles A. Pierce

Other Days on this Tour:

1. Perth To Yallingup Tour via Nannup 1983 (This post)
2. Perth to Greenbushes 1983
3. Greenbushes to Nannup 1983
4. Nannup to Busselton 1983
5. Busselton to Yallingup 1983
6. Yallingup to Busselton 1983
7. Busselton to Cottesloe 1983

Daily Locations for this Tour:

Related posts:

1. Perth to Cape Leeuwin Tour via Nannup, 1981
2. Yallingup to Busselton 1983
3. Busselton to Yallingup 1983
4. Greenbushes to Nannup 1983
5. Nannup to Busselton 1983

Tags: Busselton, Cottesloe, Greenbushes, Nannup, Perth, Yallingup