(written by Dave)

Not much to report today. We both woke up feeling like we rode a century yesterday. And I guess in metric terms we did. I’m generally sore and Nancy’s achilles tendon is sore. Ice, lounging around and limited walking have both of us feeling better this evening. The Royal Hotel, where we are staying, is a very nice place and Walcha is a nice little town with some nice cafes.
I also cleaned the bikes. I’ve been having a bit of shimmy so I flipped my stem making the bars sit higher. I’m not sure it will help but we have lots of time to sort these things out. Other than a lot of dirt from two days of rain there was no damage – my front tire was low but it was only a loose valve.

For those worried about our running out of water yesterday, I should make a couple points. We have a Steripen and tablets. We could have gotten water from any number of creeks or rivers, results of all the rain this year. For that matter, there were quite a few country home doors to knock on. And lastly, lots of caravan motorists that we could have flagged down. The visit the 88 year old retired rail worker where we got the water actually turned out quite fun. We are traveling on major roads and we can always ask someone for help. Not having a tap to fill bottles from (the normal way of getting water) was all that we were missing. Of course, more awareness of water is a good thing before we head out into the outback where resources are more spread. And better planning will also help – Nancy will keep me straight there!

We both realize that yesterday was a bit long for us with the hills as we were too tired by the time we got here yesterday to consider all the accommodation options – all we could think of was getting somewhere warm and dry. The place we are staying is quite nice so we made a good choice and it was a welcome respite from the rain and cold of the last couple of days. We walked down to the local caravan park to do a load of laundry and it was a very nice park as well. Rest days in hotels are a bit of a hit to the budget but, no complaints, I am sure there will be days when we are staying out in the bush when we will look back on these days very fondly! And, there is a lovely dog named Rex here that adds to the ambiance – pictures to follow.

Tomorrow we are heading towards Armidale and Warmshower host. Warmshowers is a cycling hosting internet group of which we are members. We’ve had a few folks stay with us in Sydney but we’ve never actually stayed at other another member’s home. We are a bit torn over the route beyond Armidale so we are really looking forward to some local knowledge from our hosts.

No pictures today – sorry – back to regular posts tomorrow.