Wagin to Narrogin 1993

Wagin to Narrogin, day 6, Monday 25 October 1993. The day was fine with a light westerly, sometimes going WSW, not helpful but not too opposing. I cleaned and oiled the bike and left Wagin at 9:40. I had slept in after a Panquil but still felt a bit challenged by the mere 50km to Narrogin.

Narrogin

I got a bit lost on my way out of Wagin, because the main highway resumes after going along a street to the northwest of the town. I rested 27653, passed Piesseville without stopping at 27656, rested again at 27668 and 27678. I arrived at the Hordern Hotel, Narrogin at 12:55, 27688. This is a big dark old-fashioned country pub which like many of them is past its best. The room had been converted to have its own private plumbing, but rather hastily. When you had a hot shower the shower curtain blew out and the floor got wet. Ventilation was through a dirty window with a clogged flyscreen. Tiles were coming off the wall.

Usual rest, shopping, look round the town. This was when I had to make the decision whether to try for Brookton, 71km away, the next day. I had made such heavy weather of the last two shorter days that this distance loomed as the stumbling block of the trip. To stop at Pingelly was going to lengthen the whole ride by a day without adding any overall distance. I feel a strong need to keep a level of discipline on these rides, a decent daily average. Finally I stopped at a ‘phone box opposite the Cornwall Hotel and booked Brookton.

I got chicken’n'chips hawaiian for tea from Chicken Treat and went back to get the all-important weather forecast on TV. The TV was in a guests’ lounge, and I had trouble watching the news and weather because people kept coming in and out expecting to see soap operas on GWN. A large dark man with a pony-tail kept walking in and out, round the room, muttering and singing to himself, opening and closing the window in his desperation to shut out the horror of ABC-TV. When I had seen the weather and felt vindicated by my decision about the next day, I left them to it.

I decided to try to sleep without the benefit of any pills, but it didn’t work. Finally at 1am I gave up and took a Panquil. This made me feel groggy when it was time to wake up and try for Brookton.

Reading at Narrogin: 27688. Day’s ride: 50 km. Aggregate 372. km/FRD 60. Speed: 15.3 kph.

Wagin to Narrogin 1993

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