Yealering to Narrogin 1989

Yealering to Narrogin, Day 5, Saturday 28 October 1989. The Yealering Hotel was the first on this trip, where they were willing to get up at 6:30 am to get me a decent breakfast.

Started riding at 8:07 am, went to look at two things Rosemary had recommended; the old manse built in 1912 and the mural painted by the children at the local school, on the outside of the school library. This shows the lake with some happy faces and in big letters “Yealering Welcomes You”.

Turned onto the Wickepin Road at 8:16 on a fine morning with a moderate north-westerly that helped me until I reached the turn-off to Wickepin. After this I had strengthening headwinds all the way to Narrogin.

I stopped at 17267, then again at Wickepin, 17282. I had a drink and a talk with the man who ran the deli. He told me about his bike-riding days and how lucky I was to have missed the big trucks that had crammed the town the previous week.

The road to Narrogin presented plenty of hill-climbing and increasing headwinds. I had expected the climb because my contour map of the area had shown how Yealering was at a low point and the country rose about 200 metres before falling again towards Narrogin. I stopped at 17295 and 17308.

It was good finally to come to the top of a hill and see Narrogin spread out ahead. This is quite a big town with its railway station in good order, I reached the Duke of York hotel at 1:20 pm, nice room, colour TV and private plumbing, $30. A window with no flyscreen overlooked the noisy main street but there was no problem.

Looked around the town, saw many flowering trees, old buildings, park and war memorial. After tea (takeaway Chinese food) I went into the bar of the hotel for the nightlife. A good loud juke-box played good tunes and the patrons at the bar, mostly young, grabbed buckets of ice from behind the bar and threw the ice at each other and at the bar staff.

In a hotel further up the street was a live band. ‘Paris’, with a lead singer who seemed to model herself on Pat Benatar. However she wore a tight yellow skirt that kept riding up, so she would pull it down with a jerk every few bars. Pat Benatar wore a short skirt slit up the sides and didn’t worry about it.

During the small hours I was woken by a couple having a loud domestic [argument] involving much obscene language. This went up and down the stairs, along the passageway, round outside the hotel, intermittently for two hours. The people didn’t sound young. Should have known better.

Reading at Narrogin: 17320km. Day’s ride: 70km.

Cumulative distance: 300km. Average km/day: 60.

Charles A. Pierce

Other Days on this Tour:

1. Midland to Yealering Wheatbelt Tour 1989
2. Midland to Wooroloo 1989
3. Wooroloo to Beverley 1989
4. Beverley to Pingelley 1989
5. Pingelley to Yealering 1989
6. Yealering to Narrogin 1989 (This post)
7. Narrogin to Quindanning 1989
8. Quindanning to Dwellingup 1989
9. Dwellingup to Perth 1989

Places Mentioned in this Post:

Related posts:

1. Midland to Yealering Wheatbelt Tour 1989
2. Pingelley to Yealering 1989
3. Narrogin to Quindanning 1989
4. Cottesloe to Yealering Tour 2003
5. Yealering

Tags: Narrogin, Wickepin, Yealering