Day Four: Farina
Day Four – Copley to Hawker, via Farina. 280km
This day was designed to avoid 12 hours in an overnight bivvie at Farina. I don't think my back would stand that! I left Copley Caravan Park before dawn, intending to have a second breakfast at Farina Bakery. That would leave me with 220km back to Hawker.
It's actually not much further to Marree, but I decided to behave myself 😊
The plan after Farina was to return to Copley, top up water, grab a couple of frozen pasties for tea and head south. Given that Copley bakery makes the best pasties bar none, I decided to indulge in pies at Farina. I can recommend the beef, bacon and cheese pies if you ever visit! (It's only open 8 weeks a year.)
Despite the lack of people in this photo, Farina was hopping! I'd say there were 50 people stocking up on pastries. The official greeter was kept busy directing people! I met a bloke who had ridden "half way round Australia" 40 years ago, although given the places he mentioned, I reckon half-way was an underestimate. His mates went off to buy morning tea and eventually came back and told him to let me get on with my ride! A great conversation about shared experiences!
I was now riding into a south wind, although it was not much above 10km for a good deal of the day. I made good comfortable time back to Copley, stocked up on the pasties, and kept going. Heading south into the afternoon on this road is glorious. The sun on the ranges is a delight.
I stopped in the dusk and put on the night gear, but soon found I was very cold in the legs. At Parachilna I added a pair of light lined track suit pants, which made a huge difference once back on the road. But by the time I had eaten one pastie, still with a bit of ice in it, which indicates how cold the afternoon had been, and topped up the water bottles, I was shaking with cold. There was still 90km to go, and that included a continuous 80km of more or less gentle climb up to Hawker. The upside of this climb was that I was moving a bit more slowly, which lessened the wind chill, but it was still very cold. It got down to -7C before I reached Hawker somewhere around 3am. Needless to say, I was not planning to leave at crack of dawn!
Stats: 281.3km, 17 hours moving at 16.5kmh, Real Average Speed: 13.5kmh, Min Temp: -7C
You can see here that the actual road speed is only down a couple of kmh on the previous day. The difference is the time taken eating, talking (I also spent time talking to a birdwatcher) and taking the occasional rest. And each photo costs a few hundred metres you have to ride later!
The route begins at the green tear drop and goes 60km north to Farina. It is then 220km back to Hawker, with the last Parachilna - Hawker leg being 90km.
