Muchea

Gingin to Guildford, day 6, Saturday 30 October 2010. I left Gingin at 7:51 on a cool sunny morning with moderate E-NE winds. I rode up past the railway station and started the mainly downhill run to the Brand Highway, which I reached at 284. Brand highway is straight and flat, so that you can look back and forward a long way and see distant traffic reflected in the road as a mirage. It was easy to get into a rhythm cycling along and the lack of hills meant that I didn’t lose much energy. Hills take it out of you when you climb and you don’t get it back on the downhill run.

I rested at 294 and the road began to curve around to the east, into the wind, as I passed through Muchea, 305.  ... Read more

Gingin to Cottesloe, day 5, Friday 9 September 1994. The day was sunny and mild with NE winds shifting NW later. I left the Gingin hotel at 8:34 and went down the hill and onto the Brand Highway. I didn’t stop for my first rest until one hour later, having done 22 km (127).

I went through Muchea and joined the Great Northern Highway at 134. I took further rests at 145 (opposite the Air Force base) and 159.

An easy and pleasant day’s ride ended, with this whole ride, at Midland railway station at 12:06, 171. I boarded the train that had just come in and went home to Cottesloe.

Reading at Midland: 171. Day’s ride: 66km. Aggregate: 330. Km/day: 66.  ... Read more

Midland to Gingin, day 1, Monday 29 October 1990. I left Midland rail terminal at 9:25 and went up the Great Northern Highway. Winds were strong from the side, sometimes with and sometimes against me. There was intermittent rain. I stopped for a drink at 19710. As I passed through Bullsbrook a Macchi Trainer passed so low over me that I could smell its exhaust. I rested again at 19724.

A shower of rain passed over the road but I missed the worst of it – most of the rain fell ahead of me, as I was to find splashing through puddles some time later. I turned on to the Brand Highway at Muchea. On this last stretch to Gingin a noisy thunderstorm approached from the west, but I was able to get ahead of its path and could see it passing behind me.  ... Read more

Muchea is a suburb of the Shire of Chittering. Its postcode is 6501. The towns name comes from the Aboriginal word “Muchela” which means in Nyoongar ‘water hole’, referring to the abundance of water in Muchea.