Sunday July 28.

Day 1  Perth to Northam.

104 km in 4 hr 48 min @ 21.9 km/hr.
Climbed 3386 ft.
Average Heart Rate (AVR) 113 beats per min (bpm)

Left at 8.15 am. In at 2.15 pm.

Didn't sleep much last night, probably due to to excitement about today's ride.

But I felt relaxed as we assembled at Bell Tower where we had our group photo and directions for today's route.

Pulled out at 8.15. It had rained during the night but it was dry now and calm at 10 deg.

We left on the cycle/walking path alonside the Swan River and cycled as a group for the first 10 km. It felt great to be finally on the road. The waiting over the last few days was the worst part.

We picked up the Great Eastern Highway out through the eastern suburbs of Perth, and we made our first stop at Midland as a group and were treated to a snack at McDonalds.. After Midland we broke up into smaller groups and immediately faced into Greenmount, a 10 km climb mostly at 5 and 6%.
The day was heating up (reached 18 deg. For the rest of the day the road ahead was undulating, a series of long slow climbs like the road down to Cork. By this stage a helpful tailwind was assisting us. By the half-way stage we were well out of the built-up area and into a very rural setting.

The roads had a good surface but the hard shoulder disappeared in places.

At lunchtime we sat about with coffee and cakes at The lakes as lots and lots of red-tailed cockatoos noisly flew above us.
For a long period today I cycled with Paul fron Sydney, but originally from Belfast.

Alongside the road for miles and miles ran the Kalgoorlie water Pipeline - an engineering feat by a Limerickman to bring fresh water from near Perth to the emerging goldfields of Kalgoorlie. Unfortunately he didn't live to see his completed project....suicide. The pipeline is overground (occasionally it drops down) and snaked overthe rollinh hillsides ahead.

Today we have climbed well over 3000 feet from the limestone plain of Perth to the sandstone land surrounding Northam. It took a while for us to locate Northam Caravan Park due to a detour in the area.

It was still warm and sunny as we set up tents and headed off for the hot showers.
A lovely day's cycle and also getting to know the other members of the group

.Thank God for the health and thank God for the energy.