Boddington

Mandurah to Wandering Tour 2011, nine days, cumulative distance: 357km.

I had planned to ride from Mandurah to Dwellingup on the first day, Monday 24th October, then to Boddington on the second and Wandering on the third.

On the Friday before starting the ride, I tried to book the first 3 nights’ accommodation. Dwellingup was all right for the Monday, but Boddington was fully booked for the Tuesday. So after fruitlessly searching Google and other sources for accommodation near Boddington, I decided to try to do the nearly 90 km from Dwellingup to Boddington in one day on the Tuesday.

The Wandering tavern does not supply accommodation, so I tried to book the Millfarm Bed and Breakfast. They were fully booked but were able to give me the number for the Wandering Brook Estate.  ... Read more

Dwellingup to Boddington day 3, Wednesday 26 October 2011.

I had a big breakfast and tidied up my unit and set off at 8:35. The odometer read 218 as I turned left onto the main road. The winds were moderate NE turning NW and there was occasional light drizzle.

I got along quite well and was encouraged by this. I stopped at 235 for a drink break and walk around. Eventually I got out of the forest and into open country, scenery, landscapes, sheep, crops. I preferred that. I rested again at 252, I was feeling all right and confident. I reached Boddington at 12:15, 252.

I checked into my unit, $80. There was a microwave oven, and a light breakfast of toast and cereal was included in the price.  ... Read more

Boddington to Wandering day 4, Thursday 27 October 2011.

I had the toast and cereal and a hot pie for breakfast. I set off at 8:30, 269. Here it was, Day 4 and I hadn’t yet done 100 km. In the old days I would have done over 100km in the first 2 days. There was a light westerly wind. The road was less up-and-down now that I was getting away from the coast and the going was all right with pleasant scenery.

At Crossman, 281, I rested, and light drizzle began to fall. I say at Crossman, not in Crossman, because there is nothing there but the derelict remnants of a roadhouse. I don’t know if I remember ever visiting that roadhouse when it was alive.  ... Read more

Perth to Dumbleyung 2007, 9 days, cumulative distance 455 km. The aim of this trip, the first since 2005, was to take an opportunity which probably won’t come again; to start deep in the Great Southern and ride home via Dumbleyung and see Dumbleyung lake, which was more full than for some years due to a reasonable season in the area. I had this plan some years ago, during the Stirlings ride of 1993, but didn’t feel able to go there on that occasion.

Again I took my digital camera on this trip. I took pictures of orchids again, reflecting my particular interest, and of the towns and countryside and of bodies of water that were in better shape than usual.  ... Read more

Williams to Boddington day 7, Wednesday 24 October 2007. The day was warm and sunny with north to north-easterly winds, a headwind for 40 km of my planned day’s journey. I left the motel at 9:26 and turned onto the Albany Highway and made my way over the bridge and past the hotel and the craft shop and the Woolshed and out of town.

There is some climbing to do until about 10 km north of Williams, then a view of country ahead and a downhill run for a while. I felt optimistic and energetic despite the conditions. They weren’t so bad and I had the left turn at Crossman and 12 km of wind-assisted riding to Boddington to look forward to.  ... Read more

Boddington to Dwellingup day 8, Thursday 20 October 2007. I ate the entire supply of breakfast stuff, meant for two. I didn’t feel too bad after having got a few hours’ sleep. The day was warm and humid and there was a NW wind now due to the movement of the low-pressure trough and the approach of the cold front, which last night had still been predicted to arrive at the capes ‘at dawn on Friday’. Some high cloud was coming in. The wind would help me a bit for the first 8km or so to the Marradong turn-off, but after that it would be a headwind.

I was amazed by the thousands of previously ‘rare’ blue orchids all along the road from Boddington to Dwellingup.  ... Read more

Cottesloe to Yealering 2003 – 11 days, 586 km cumulative distance.

The aim of this trip was originally to visit Kulin, not because there is anything special there but because I have never been there and it has always been just out of reach, round the corner, a bit further down the track, but never on my way to or from anywhere on previous rides. As the title implies, another wimp-out occurred and I ended up visiting Yealering again.

I took my digital camera on this trip so it is the best-recorded trip ever. I took 48 pictures, but about a dozen of them were of orchids, reflecting my particular interest.

Charles A. Pierce

Other days on this Tour:

Daily Locations for this Tour:

Dwellingup to Boddington, day 3, Wednesday 15 October 2003. I set off for Boddington on a cool sunny morning with no wind, but a helpful south-westerly was to arise as I proceeded.

The road was quite hilly, up and down through tall forest. I had only taken it once before, in the other direction, in 1999. I didn’t have a contour map of this region so didn’t know if the trend was downhill or uphill on this or the other occasion. I saw a big spider orchid beside the road as I rode along. I rested at 938 and 955 and arrived in Boddington at 971, 11:51. I felt as though I had done a good day’s work though the distance was only 52 km.  ... Read more

Boddington to Williams, day 4, Thursday 16 October 2003. The morning in Boddington was very foggy, thicker than you see fog in Perth, more like a good East Anglia fog in England. I didn’t rush to get going, I didn’t want to ride in fog, there were only another 50-odd km to do today and the road would not be so hard. The winds turned out to be helpful, moderate westerlies all day. The sun soon peeped through the dissipating fog and I left Boddington on a cool morning at 8:58.

I reached Crossman at 984. There seemed to be nothing there but a house until I turned onto the Albany Highway and looked north and saw the roadhouse beyond the house.  ... Read more

Cottesloe to Harrismith 1999 – 11 days, 726 km cumulative distance. The aim of this trip was not decided at the outset. It depended on weather and wind conditions, how I felt and how the new bike, built with some difficulty and finally with some haste, would go. I was clear that I wanted to reach Wickepin on Day 4, but after that I would be flexible.

Originally I had planned to start from Albany and come back through Denmark and Walpole, visiting the Valley of the Giants and trying the new tree-top walk, but the ‘Walpole Problem’ of a 120 km gap with nowhere to stay between Walpole and Manjimup made me realise that I would have to come back through Northcliffe and up the South Western Highway, which I had only done the previous year.  ... Read more