South Western Highway

South Western Highway is a highway in the South West region of Western Australia connecting Perth’s southeast with Walpole. It is a part of the National Highway 1 network for much of its length. It is about 406 kilometres (252 mi) long. From Perth, the highway, signed as State Route 20, starts from the Albany Highway junction in Armadale, 28 km from Perth, and follows a north-south route 20–30 km inland from the coast.

Cottesloe to Harvey, day 1, Monday 27 November 1978. I hoped that this ride would be better than 1977, learning from the mistakes of the previous year. Unfortunately I didn’t know what all the mistakes were. But one had certainly been, starting too late on a hot morning. So I decided to start at sunrise, which at that time of year is not long after 5 am. I had no definite objective, I was just going to see how far I could get in one day.

I rose at 4:30 and I always remember the cacophony of bird-song in the summer morning twilight. I got my stuff together, the same bags as before, the same hat, the same clothes, then set off as the sun rose.  ... Read more