Blind Ride

 Yesterday,  I set off on Cliffy to see what I could  see.  The plan was to take all my gear as if going on a camping tour and see what unfolded. 

Two fully laden panniers,  a tent and seat atop,  as well as a handlebar bag, made the bike surprisingly heavy.  I initially thought i would get nowhere but after a while my legs warmed up and develo0ed more power.  Perhaps my heart lightened up a bit too? 

I received a very rude shock as Woodville store.  Cold and damp,  I wandered in looking for lunch,  metho and AAA batteries. For a tomato,  250g cheese,  12 x AAAs and a small coke set me back $30. I was to beat up to assert my need to understand the prices and left feeling depressed.  

Along the backroad from Woodville to Wallalong I pulled in to a hay barn to take lunch out of the weather.  Here I discovered that the cheese was in fact a "dairy free" type concoction,  no doubt responsible for the rip off.  I felt I understood the bill a little better, but I resented the fact that nothing on the shelves was priced.  I decided to not go there again. 

Anyway,  the ride was wonderful and i marveled at the way long paddock grasses waved in the gusty conditions.  I headed to Morpeth via Hinton, ignoring the stares from bar flies and showing rain. Eventually I stopped at a roadside veg stall to shelter and pour on my new rain jacket. The Old cocky Greg came out for a chat, talking about floods,  rescues and other antics, and growing veg. Interesting that he never user river water to irrigate due to acidic pollution from the mines.  

As I left Greg in yet another shower,  I turned away downwind and headed for home.  I attained home after 5 hours riding,  vowing to lighten my cargo and not tour pavement on my fatbike.