24th October 2023

Dawn chorus in the hut was extraordinary. More of a full 1812 concerto – with canons. Every single bird in the forest must have joined in.

Having set out at a sensible time it was a bit of up and down through pleasant green farmland, then a couple of miles down (& up!) on tarmac road. The trail then turned off onto a dirt road which inevitably turned into a push the bike steep hill. At the top I could see why they’d built a house as the views were pretty good.

Then various downhill bits. The day hadn’t really warmed up yet so the wind felt pretty chilly. But, in the distance, I was starting to get glimpses of the sea.

Naturally there was a tedious bit along a sandy road for a few miles but then the route undulated its way along through a mix of bush and side roads until we got to the ocean.

The bay was spectacular, the ocean a magnificent blue and the wind was howling. Way off in the distance you could see a couple of wind turbines whirling around. No particular desire to have a swim. It all looked a bit chilly and there was still quite a way to go.

The trail followed the coast road for a while as the path was closed and dived off amongst the dunes occasionally popping out at another viewpoint.

The dunes were covered in waist high vegetation (home to many critters I’d been warned) and bushland on the slightly more inland bits. Lots of short, steep, climbs and descents which everyone agreed later absolutely kill your leg muscles.

Eventually… The trail popped out under the wind turbines which were pretty big and pretty impressive, whooshing away in the wind.

And then a zig zag down and a tarmac road which seemed to go on forever until I reached the town of Denmark!

I’m now in a motel for a couple of nights. Partly to give my legs a chance to recover after yesterday but also because I’m not being picked up until Friday. I’m hoping it’s possible to split the trip to Albany, the end of the trail, into two or it would be another long tough day and I’d be there early but I’ll find out later.