Northern Tassie Tour – Day 2

Legana to Beauty Point

Up at before sunup. I was a bit stiff and did not have a good nights sleep. Often the case for the first night in the tent but the rorty cars out on the highway in the early hours didn’t help. Someone was having fun!

An AeroPress coffee and a cup full of muesli and I began to feel human. Then I saw it. A flat rear tyre on Bluey. Bugger. To work.

The wheel came out ok and I broke the seal around the rim but I couldn’t get the tyre removal thing happening. Eventually I put the wheel in the rays from the now risen sun and, after 10 mins, it began to allow itself to work with the levers. 

Tyre off and we found another — Hawthorn!  This one was deeply embedded in the rubber and was crumbly when Colin used pliers to try to pull it through. It didn’t want to go backwards but eventually it did.  A fresh inner tube was installed and the tyre replaced. Putting the wheel back on the trike took a while. The cables working the Nuvinci were a problem once more, wanting to sit where they don’t actually go. Finally all was fixed and I loaded everything back on Bluey. We finally started today’s ride at 10.30am – after I had found my keys for the Ablutions. They had hidden themselves in an infrequently used pocket and obviously didn’t want to be handed in at the Office.

While I was replacing the wheel a couple of interesting things happened elsewhere.

The first was the lady travelling in the large motorhome. She had difficulties getting on her site last night clipping the bin but this morning she really fixed it up. Backing out she drove straight over and hit it properly. Then she backed some more and squashed the metal bin completely, knocking it’s post out the ground! The bloke in the old bus had a lot to say – mostly “look, no damage” (to the motorhome) and “Off you go – quick”!

The bloke then went back to his bus and started it up in a cloud of black and blue smoke. The bus sat there idling and stinking for the rest of our visit, presumably charging the batteries as he was having a cup of tea and not looking like he was going anywhere.

After the entertainment, the cycling day started with us continuing the ride up the West Tamar Highway. There was not too far to travel on it today. Around Lagana there is not a lot of room on the road for trikes so we used the footpaths when available. After the climb up to the busy roundabout leading to the shopping centre, we headed downhill to the junction with Rosevears Drive. The Drive is a small road that parallels the West Tamar Highway, running along the edge of the Tamar river. 

The speed limit here is 50kph and there were many Saturday cyclists out enjoying the road on this fine, sunny, wind free day. We received many encouraging waves and verbal advice. 

The views were great and traffic light (and careful) but there are a lot of ups and downs involved. Riding a road routed above the flood level, it seems necessary to descend to sea level for every little creek. And then climb back up. Not long descents or climbs but lots of them. 

At the end of Rosevears Drive we rejoined the Highway for a short distance. Unfortunately this stretch of road is being upgraded and traffic controls were in place. Single lane available so you line up waiting for the green light knowing that you will be pissing off every driver behind you with your slow progress though the blockage. We survived!

BTW: the upgrade will be good – it includes a footpath between Rosevears Drive and our next turn – Gravelley Beach Road.

Next, we turned onto Gravelley Beach Road to continue cycling by the side of the Tamar. This road is not limited to 50kph so we were seen as a bit more of a nuisance. At Gravelly Beach we saw a cafe was open and stopped to get a cup. With our slow pace today it was gone 12 (noon) so I had a home made cottage pie too. Colin had his coffee and then returned to his trike to make a sandwich. I joined him after a really quite delicious pie. 

We lay back in the seats, resting. Quite bemused. At Gravelley Beach there are two cafes separated by a private house which is set back a bit . The private house had an elevated front deck on which a small band was playing amplified music. Sort of soft folk style. The lead singer had a voice with good tonal qualities but she couldn’t hold the notes in the tune!  There were 3 or 4 people playing instruments but it sounded like a simple Uke strum. What was it all about?  Don’t know. Didn’t like it. We rode off.  Grumpy old bastard!

The road took us onward through Deviot then up to the junction with the Batman Highway. This is a fairly busy road with no hard shoulder. I was hooted twice by people who thought I should not be there. 

After that it was a turn right and back on the West Tamar Highway for the run up to Beaconsfield. Here we had a hard shoulder we could fit the trikes in. Just.   More hills on the last two stretches slowed us down some more and I waited for Colin in Beaconsfield. I checked for open cafes – none. 

After Beaconsfield there is a shared path connecting it with Beauty Point. This was ok to ride on the trikes but, on entering Beauty Point, the driveways cut across it at weird angles, so we took to the narrow road. 

After seemingly hours on the road, we finally turned into the caravan park and took possession of our pretty good site. 

We are staying here 2 nights – tomorrow cycling out to Greens Beach leaving the loads at the park. 

There will be more tomorrow….