A trip down memory lane

On the second day of the walk I woke to a couple of unexpected messages in the group. Unexpected because I’d disabled replies in the group, well, I thought I had. One of those messages was from Anna.

Anna — originally from Germany and now living in Australia — was cycling from Cairns to Darwin when we met, almost five years ago. I was around four months into my circumnavigation of that great dusty frying pan. That “old ladies cosmetic bag” (visible in the fifth picture below) was a permanent fixture in my front basket for most of my seven month trip, large enough to hold my camera and the littany of little things I wanted to be able to grab without taking my feet off the pedals.

By the time we met — November 17th, 2018, a very windy day — in the rare shelter of a roadside awning, I’d long since gotten rid of my tent. It was the middle of the hot season, even in the middle of the night it rarely fell below 30°c, and in the heat of the afternoon the air temperature above the sticky black road read 53°c The tent had been taking up space on the bike that I needed for water instead. On the rare occasion that it did rain I was more than happy to cycle in it, through the night on one occasion, the only time I recall being truly afraid of lightning. The strikes came frequently enough to light the way through the darkness, the fear came from knowing that out there on the dirt there wasn’t anything standing taller than me.

Anna walking toward a very welcome roadside water tank Red ochre cave paintings by the indigenous Bulwundji people of what is now called Queensland in Australia My bike lying beside a red dirt road as I cycled to the tip of Cape York on my trip around Australia Anna cycling ahead of me in the Northern Territory My bike propped upright in the dry outback, Australia Looking out over the outback in the north of Australia

So thank you for your message Anna, a welcome trip down memory lane, thinking about the first of my ‘big trips’ as I embark on a third. In those seven months I cycled well over 20,000 kilometres, further than the walk from here to India, though this will take a little bit longer, with only my feet beneath me and not a magnificent mechanical horse.

Me standing with my bike at the tip of Cape York, the northern most point of Australia

It’s just gone 5.30am and I’ve been lazing about for an hour with a book. Bit damp beside the canal first thing this morning and possibly small showers due in the afternoon too. I’ll set off soon.

Oh and holy chafe batman. Been piling on the pounds these few months back in England, savings in the old belly bank account, well that’s coming back to bite me now :( Good thing I brought the Sudocrem that mum said I ought to! Or rather, I wish I had. Oh well