Following a brilliant little micro-tour in the south west earlier this year I decided to take advantage of another public holiday weekend to go and explore some more of this magnificent state, Western Australia. Fittingly it was the designated WA Day weekend and I had mapped out a quick route inland from Perth this time towards the region known as ‘The Wheatbelt’. A few people have asked me how I manage to get so much time off work, the answer is I don’t! But whilst they are sleeping in on their Saturday mornings with a hangover in the mail I’m already up and on the road. The simplicity of starting an adventure from your doorstep requires less planning and is a cheap alternative to a grand adventure, don’t wait to go cross country, go overnight!

Winter has arrived in Perth which means cool, crisp mornings until the sun comes out and settles around the low 20’s. A dry weekend and light wind provided almost perfect conditions for cycling. Some other roadies out on their weekend rides quizzed me on my gear and destination as they zipped past, self-supported is a very alien concept to many cyclists. Touring, particularly bikepacking is a very niche activity and I’m seldom as animated about discussing any topic as I am when it comes to bike touring so I was happy to field questions. I climbed up into the Perth hills through Helena Valley towards Mundaring, beautiful forest suburbs. Stopping for coffee and cake at a Dome cafe briefly to re-engerise after the first 40kms(25 miles) I would eventually be riding about 175km(109 miles) each day.

Avoiding the Great Eastern Highway where possible I weaved up and around it on back roads where what looked like a cross-country running event was taking place. Each participant was being clapped and encouraged by volunteers, sadly I didn’t get the same treatment but gave the thumbs up to the runners as I passed. The aptly named Bakers Hill, a bakery stop on top of a hill was the first opportunity for lunch. The pies looked super greasy, in a good way, but I wasn’t quite ready to stomach lunch so instead accepted the glances from the motorcycle gangs and trucked onwards to Northam.

Northam was one of those towns remote enough to be classed as country but big enough to sustain the usual chain fast foods joints. It didn’t leave me with the most charming impression but that might have been in part due to a puncture I had just gotten. The culprit was a small piece of metal wire that i was unable to pluck out with my nails, not having any tweezers on me I resorted to filing the wire with a stone until it was smooth and recessed back into the tyre then slapped 3 tube patches over it for cushion. Replacement tube held perfect, it had cost me half an hour but I had plenty daylight left to reach my destination. The small town soon gave way to endless wheatfields, something about golden fields on a blue sky backdrop that is so idyllic and lazy. It made for a beautifully tranquil afternoon of cycling, only one dog chase of note but luckily it heeled at the end of the farm driveway.

Eventually I had to join the Great Eastern Highway, home to huge road train trucks heading back and forth to the mining super pit another 400km east in Kalgoorlie. There was a decent shoulder and the truckers were very courteous, a good riding experience to have as I look to do a Perth to Sydney when time allows. My final pitstop was Meckering, a town famous for an earthquake back in the 60’s, the town had to be rebuilt on a fresh site just south of the original area. On the edge of town was a remarkable building that had been modified to look like an SLR camera. There were two guys chatting outside and when i pulled in one of them began to unload photography history on me, I assumed he was the proprietor and asked him for the tour, there was a $12 charge to gain access to the backroom so i took the gamble. What I found was a large open room with row after row of impeccable camera models dating from the dawn of time to present, the collection was incredible and I spent a good 20 minutes scanning over everything, I could have spent longer but was keen to arrive in Cunderdin before dark.

For the last 30km(18 miles) stretch I was accompanied by a moonrise and long shadows. The surroundings becoming increasingly remote, less civilization and more outback. I made it to Cunderdin clocking on 170km(106 miles) and found the funky Ettamogah Pub, they weren’t open for dinner yet so I rode around town until I found the caravan park to pitch up town. There was a number to call for reservation, the owner Jim picked up and agreed to meet me outfront then apologised on arrival for taking so long because he was on the toilet! Pitched up and took a great hot shower before heading to the pub.

The inside of the Ettamogah didn’t quite match the vibe of the outside, tap choices were Carlton Gold, Carlton Mid, Carlton Dry…so i asked for a Carlton, sort of a lucky dip I guess. I promptly ordered the parma and chips, no salad in sight with the dish. I debated a second beer but the place was pretty dead and lacking atmosphere so I opted for some catch-up on my phone and an early night in the tent was a better option. Laying in this tent at the end of a long ride inevitably brings back memories of previous tours, especially this time of year when I have been on the road many times before so I had a glance back at old blog posts for a bit of a ‘where was i on this day’ type thing and found I was both here in 2012 and here in 2010.

I was perfectly warm all night in the tent, even had surplus layers but they were needed the next morning. My alarm was set for 5:30am and I packed up sharpish and hit the road for sunrise. As it broke a huge flock of Galah flew, screaming, around a tree top. It was an incredible thing to witness with the birds black silhouettes against the purple sky putting on a show in otherwise still surrounds.

The knitwear came in handy and was super comfy to ride in, my toes got a little cold but the day was getting warmer. I felt sluggish for some reason, the thick cut stone surface on the road certainly wasn’t helping to ease rolling resistance but I later found from studying my Strava GPS that I had been steadily climbing for the first part of the morning ride.

It would be 75km(46 miles) before I would have any services for breakfast this morning so I made the odd pit-stop to grab banana and chocolate bars from my pack. There were a few super old abandoned buildings along the roadside that I had been reading were left behind when a train line was built connecting the towns parallel to the north. They peaked my interest for a while until I reverted to iPhone for music, good vibes and the wind behind me I arrived in York, WA. I’d already picked out Jules Cafe on Urbanspoon as my go to and found myself a spot inside the cute cafe and inhaled my coffee with fried breakfast then proceeded to get a second coffee before tackling the last 100km (62 miles).

Unfortunately at this point the country roads bottlenecked into the highway and I was left with no choice but to ride the 120 back to the Perth metro area. The shoulder was tight but traffic levels just about manageable, it did mean I had to maintin focus rather then soaking up the landscape. I had not anticipated so much climbing for this section either, it was quite a long slog back up to the peak of the Perth hills. Salvation came at The Lakes service station, re-topped my bottles and had myself a donut and ginger beer welcoming ‘G’days!’ of every man and his dog whilst sat on the brick wall in the sunshine.

I knew the way home from here as this area forms part of a local loop I do from time to time which meant i was able to avoid major roads and span through quite tree lined streets instead. Today was the public holiday and apparently the day everybody had chosen to do excess leaf and wood burn-offs. The hills were thick with wood smoke but it smelt amazing and I enjoyed the screaming downhill back to Perth and connected onto a bike path that would lead me to my apartment. Mission accomplished, 347km(217 miles) total in around 32 hours! Sleepy and in need of shower, food, cold beer, in that order.

Footnote, if you got this far then thanks for looking. This year I have seen so much hatred towards cyclists on my Facebook feed of people sharing articles and rants about riders on the road. I hope everybody can learn some patience and chill, stop the aggression, share the roads and quit the pedantic arguments such as ‘He jumped a red light!’, ‘There is a bike path next to the road!’ If you have time to be enraged at a person pushing away with their own steam on two wheels then you are living a very pathetic life, get some hobbies and practice some compassion, maybe try cycling? 🙂