Today is a big day. 100kms from Shepp to Wang. The weather forecast is for a max of 18 and has favourable westerly winds up to 30km/h blowing all day which is the best possible conditions we could hope for. What could have been a slog just became a whole lot easier. There was also a prediction of up to 2mm of rain but were hoping we can outrun it. We had planned for an early start and were up at 6am and left shortly after 7am.
From the hotel we had a short distance to travel north and then turned east and the effects of the wind were felt immediately. This was going to be fun.
Our fisrt stop for the day was Dookie, 30kms from Shepparton. We pulled in to the sleepy town and found a general store that had coffees. As we left the shop there were two ladies waiting in (there was a limit of 2 customers in the shop at any one time). As is quite often the case, 2 men dressed in cycling gear with bikes loaded up on all sides is a good ice breaker to start up a conversation
and thats exactly what happened with Di and Marie. We had a great yarn about numerous subjects, where we were going, where we from, why the silos didnt have art on them, the great spring rains which ushered in a bumper barley harvest, local connections (with Jeff), occupations or past occupations in the case of Di and Marie. Two thoroughly lovely ladies who also happen to be the Editors in Chief of the Major Saddleback News. Rumour has it two good looking cyclists might make the next edition. What we intended to be a quick coffee stop turned in to an hour well spent.
From Dookie we continued on, westerly at our backs, to Devenish. If Dookie was sleepy Im afraid Devenish was almost in A shame really as the little town had lots of character. Most magnificent is the art painted on the silos in the middle of town. A tribute to the men and women of Devenish who fought in the wars. A special tribute to the women who volunteered was represented by nurses past and present. There was also a horse drinking trough donated to the town just after WW1 as a
tribute to the 3000 horses that left Australia for the war effort with only 1 returning home. Most of those remaining were redispatched by the British Army to India.
After Devenish we were meant to go through St James and see more silo art but somehow we missed it. We continued heading east wind at our backs.
Eventually the cycling gods extract a cost for their good favour and for us that was the Warby Ranges. I must say the gods must have been in a good mood because it was only about a 5km climb although most of it was in the 6% to 7% range. Up top we stopped at a picnic ground and enjoyed a short break and our packed lunch. We had been just ahead of rain all day and as we packed up we could feel the first drops starting to fall. The descent from the Warbys was just fun. The corners were smooth as was the road, nothing very technical at all allowing us to run up to 50km/h without any trouble at all. As we hit the flat again and closed in on Wang the rain finally caught us with about
We cruised into Wang and got the obligatory photo at the Ovens River (tick another one off) before finding a cabin for the night. We had gotten to Wang before 2pm and and were in our cabin by 3pm. Not a bad way to knock 100kms off.
