Three Days Parachilna to Angorichina Village , back to Parachilna and South to Cradock – 136 kms

My favourite wind site gave me the heads up that my long wished for wind change was going to happen in 3 days , so I elected to slow it down a bit and wait for my Tailwind , headed into this interesting gorge country ( The Parachilna Gorge ) stay 2 nights and spend a day walking a gorge . Nice to give the legs a bit of alt exercise and give the butt a break.

Woke early with my preparation for a big day and a plunge south , hoping that my wind forecast would come up trumps and help me . My big Keto breakfast was 3 fried eggs and a pan full of nice fatty bacon . This feed kept me going from 6 am till I next had food at Hawker after 1 pm . Options were limited at the Hawker cafe so I indulged in 2 very large meat pies . The promised headwinds came thru on schedule and I enjoyed the day with the kms seeming easy.

I was hoping to stop at Hawker however I had not counted on it being a big weekend with the locals having a horse race meet. “ sorry no room at the Inn” was repeated at all the potential accommodations. A local suggested that maybe Cradock , an old “ pub in the scrub” another 29 km down a dirt road might be worth a try. It was in the general southerly direction so I gave it a go . The dirt road was in pretty good nick and I arrived in plenty of time. Great pub , friendly locals many returning from the races and in high spirits.

Set off from Cradock at sparrows ( 7 am ) and had a good ride with threatening rains on the horizon. Met Charles , another cyclist who was heading north and had a very similar setup with a BOB trailer . We swapped yarns and compared appendages , like Kim & Trump .

The country is desperately dry hereabouts and stock are on the edge of starvation. They have autumn lambing here and it was heartbreaking to see huge flocks of sheep with lambs on the brink of starvation . Ewes need grass to provide milk . This is the second year that drought looks certain here.

Some rain did fall by midday just as I arrived at Orroroo , so I booked myself into the pub to stay warm n dry.

the end of the trip is now very much in sight , just another 250 kms of so will see me roll towards the city limits of Adelaide. It’s been great ride.