No hurry this morning with only 65kms planned for the day. We got up without alarms and we were off just after 8:30am. We left from Yackandanda and travelled through Osborne Flat and then on to Allans Flat, a slight over shoot of our had us double back a couple of kms.
We are riding in the Kiewa Valley now which is very different from the Goulbourn Valley. We are flanked on both sides by mountains with the really big ones behind us. The valley is very quite and tranquil. Cows grazing in paddocks and moving on as we ride by. Hay sheds slide by on both sides of us either very quickly or oh so slowly depending on the angle of the road and the Sulpher Crested Cockatoos explode out of trees as we spin by.
On the approach to Lake Hume we go through Tangambalang and rise up on a large (11%) hill to a great vista of the lake and then a real buzz hurtling down the other side. Once on the Lakes edge we have a rail trail the whole way to the Hume Weir Dam Wall. This makes the travelling easy and more
We stopped for lunch just after 1pm and realised we had overshot our again by a couple of kms so back we went and got back onto the correct road. Just below the spillway we crossed over the mighty Murray River into NSW. It almost felt like we were sneaking across the border, no doubt the barriers were only removed last week. The Murray was about 100m from bank to bank and we were right below the spill way.
Another steep climb of 11% on the other side of the river took us up to the top of the Dam wall. Looking out over Lake Hume you can see the huge expanse of water. This is the source of the irragation for most of Souther NSW and Norther Victoria, an integral part of growing our crops. No wonder there always seems to be haggling over water rites.
From Lake Hume it was only 15kms to Albury, a few more steep climbs and thrilling descents before getting onto a bike path for the last 7km into Albury. Our little diversions had added 10kms to our ride today so we finished with 75kms for the day.
Tomorrow were off to Corowa which is also about 75kms so well take advantage of the Continental Breakfast at the Motel that starts at 8am.
