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Xmas Tour 2002

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My plan was to spend a few days riding south out of Sydney along the railway line on minor roads. Naturally this didn't even really get off the ground - I ripped a cleat out of my only SPD shoes over the weekend I was due to leave, I took an extra day to prepare my bike, the excuses are endless.

Eventually I took the train to Campbelltown fairly late in the day and after a bit of urban navigation (roads on topo maps aren't necessarily open to the public) I managed the 20 or so km to the cement works outside Picton. While riding this I realised that I've ridden the road before - with Ian, when I was on my MTB and all keen to ride Audax. So that days training becomes more than a day of my touring. I've got old and lazy. I had a good day away from the city, and my annual swim. Yippee! And my new camera has arrived ;-) So future photos should improve a little over these ones.

Blah sort of weather - overcast, a few showers. Some alpacas (or I assume they are). Not interested in coming close enough for me to get a good photo with this camera. My bike, packed badly with the weight too far back. I decided to stick with this rather than take more time to rework the luggage space. The new trick - chain idlers one above the other to make the knee area narrower. Bit of string to hold them off the bellows for the shock. Now to repair the bellows. Anyway, riding along looking at the lifestyle blocks wore thin after a while. So I peeled off to have a look at the weir on the map, figuring that it might have a camp site. This is the bridge shown on the map, after I went past the "road closed" signs. Really closed. But what of the "bridge jump" signs? I wander round a bit and decide that the only camp site is on the other side of the river, and it'll be very hard to get my bike over there except on the bridge. Bridge looks ok, so I decide to cross it. I decide not to jump, despite the platform on the bridge. Under the bridge, from the other side. my bike nestled in to the bridge supports. And locked to them... my camp, taken the next day. Fly up because there was the odd little shower. from a hammock, most things look quite fine. One of the locals appeared right next to my camp. I wandered up to the weir and had a look. Seems that the locals slide down that on bread crates. Would be fun, but not by myself. This is the mighty Nepean River, by the way. All 0.001 cumecs of it. A semi-stagnant pool surrounded by blackberry. more introduced pests - pine trees, thistle and blackberry carpet the banks. This side is closed too. Weir from the road. the road leading out the other side. Moz at rest. I saw a couple of locals in the afternoon, but that was it. a very sad bicycle. Just before 5am on Boxing Day this large pump started up. So I left camp somewhat earlier than planned. I was in Woolongong before 9am, and it rained or drizzled most of the way. No photos of Mt Kembla because it was solid cloud down to about 100m. a panorama showing the countryside as I rode out. Over to the right of this photo is Round Hill, and just out of sight over the horizon is the Hume Highway. Hence the growth industry in this area: lifestyle blocks for commuters who drive three hours or so to the central city (or hopefully half an hour to Campbelltown. Want to guess how many do that latter?).
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