Day 8: Bay of Fires to Branxholm
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Useful Resources
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Just after sunset yesterday it started to rain. It is still raining this morning. At least it is nice and dry inside my tent. Because it has rained all night, I'll be riding back to St Helens and taking the main road to Branxholm. As the dirt road I was originally going to take would most likely now be like riding in mud. So not much fun. Something to do next time.
After breakfast in the tent, the rained eased enough so that I could pack away everything. At least everything stayed dry, except the outside of the tent of course. I left the campsite at about 10am and stopped in St Helens for breakfast, again.
The weather has since dried up a little, so hopefully the ride will stay dry. I left St Helen's for the final time at about 11.30am.
About 5kms out of town the road began it slow climb up. After about a 100m of climbing it leveled out for about 15-20kms. Then the climb kicked in. The road passed a number of farms and small forests along the way. Plus the cloud was very low over the hills, which made the ride even more scenic. Pleased to say the rain held off and I got to the summit at about 1.30pm. Because of the cloud the views were not great, but the ride up was a lot of fun.
I had lunch at the top before beginning, mostly, my downhill ride into Branxholm. Along the way I stopped at a rain forest walk and also Derby. Derby is a small mining town with a couple of interesting sights.
I arrived in Branxholm just after 4pm. You can camp on the local park across the road from the supermarket for $5. You just need to pay the people in the supermarket and leave a $20 deposit for the key to the shower. What a nice hot shower.
There's not a great deal to see in Branxholm, besides the supermarket, it has a pub, cafe and outdoors pool. The pool looked a little cool though.
I was a little disappointed at first this morning not getting to do the ride I originally planned. But in the end it worked well as I got to enjoy some great scenery. Had a fun time climbing the hill. I always get a great buzz at the top.
After breakfast in the tent, the rained eased enough so that I could pack away everything. At least everything stayed dry, except the outside of the tent of course. I left the campsite at about 10am and stopped in St Helens for breakfast, again.
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| Breakfast in the tent |
The weather has since dried up a little, so hopefully the ride will stay dry. I left St Helen's for the final time at about 11.30am.
About 5kms out of town the road began it slow climb up. After about a 100m of climbing it leveled out for about 15-20kms. Then the climb kicked in. The road passed a number of farms and small forests along the way. Plus the cloud was very low over the hills, which made the ride even more scenic. Pleased to say the rain held off and I got to the summit at about 1.30pm. Because of the cloud the views were not great, but the ride up was a lot of fun.
I had lunch at the top before beginning, mostly, my downhill ride into Branxholm. Along the way I stopped at a rain forest walk and also Derby. Derby is a small mining town with a couple of interesting sights.
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| Part of the rain forest walk I did |
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| The old bank in Derby |
There's not a great deal to see in Branxholm, besides the supermarket, it has a pub, cafe and outdoors pool. The pool looked a little cool though.
I was a little disappointed at first this morning not getting to do the ride I originally planned. But in the end it worked well as I got to enjoy some great scenery. Had a fun time climbing the hill. I always get a great buzz at the top.