Camper Away !!

Yes. Finally. I take the bicycle camper on an overnight trip.

Not just any old trip either. I decided to once more cycle up to Quamby Corner caravan park at Golden Valley. I did this trip last year using the trailer I built to haul the camping gear rather than using panniers. My idea was I can check battery usage this trip against that from last year with a smaller, lighter trailer.

The significant facts are that the trip is 53 kilometers long with 605 meters of climbing involved. Ride with GPS reckons the steepest bit was 8.6% and I took just over 6 hours to complete the ride out. So, how was the ride ?

I loaded up the final bits and pieces and lifted the tow bar to attach to the trike. Hmmm. It seemed a bit heavier than on the test run I did. More gear inside !! Attached and all ready I set off. There was an odd noise immediately. A sort of metal being stressed sound. I stopped and checked everything but could find nothing. Perhaps it will go away .. but it didn’t. On past Pete and Debbie’s place and still the noise. Nothing was falling into place or falling off. Stopped and checked again. Ah, the security strap for the trailer was touching the trike’s rear wheel. Off we go; wait; there’s another noise now!!

This time is was still the security strap but it was hitting a new place. Totally repositioned it and off we set once more. Ah – silence apart from whirring wheels and chain. Beauty.

It was good to get out onto Wilmore’s Lane and cruise along in peace and harmony. I was beginning to think I would have to cancel the trip with the odd noises. It would have been sad to cancel on such a delightful day. We had blue skies, little wind and all signs of the previous night’s frost was gone.

Last week I did some trike maintenance. New chain, swapped over the 52 tooth chainring for the 46 tooth job and greased the gears of the motor at the same time. The new chain was whisper quiet indicating that the old one was just that – old and worn out. Wilmore’s Lane gave me the opportunity to see what the reducing the size of the chainring had done. Yes, as hoped for, I now had gained approx 2 lower gears while losing 2 top gears. A good swap for towing a heavy trailer. Practising hill climbing along Wilmore’s I geared down and sought a good power level to hit that sweet spot where I was pedalling, the motor was pushing, we were climbing and not too much power was being pulled out of the battery. That sweet spot turned out to be quite slow when climbing – 5 kph.

My intention for the trip was to go for a non-powered site with no need to recharge any battery. I did this with last years trailer – could I do it with this year’s version? And TC legs one year older!!

I pulled in at Bracknell to swap out battery 1. I had 3 loaded all charged to the max. My plan was to swap one here and another before the climb up Bogan Road. That would knock all 3 off that max charged position which Lithium Ion batteries should not sit on for too long.

I also refreshed sun screen at this point. Last week I rode using sunscreen for the first time since before winter. I got sunburnt! The date on the sunscreen bottle showed me it was out of date by almost a year. Let’s see how some in-date cream goes.

So, onward.

Cycling down to the Clean Road junction I was surprised at the amount of timber that has been harvested recently. It looks like it was probably plantation timber – eucalypt – but it’s hard to tell. There is a lot more dairy around this area so I suspect the trees will make way for pasture. If so, it will be interesting to see how well pasture goes on land used previously for tree farming.

By this stage I had seen a bit of bird life. Swamp Harriers quartering sheep paddocks full of lambs, Larks ascending, Black-headed shrikes, white Cockies, Kookaburras, Tassie Ravens munching at roadside roadkill and one Wedge-tailed Eagle up high.

The traffic had been light and everyone respectful. What would Cluan Road be like? Especially at the set of 5 peaked hills with blind crests? The wind had picked up a bit and was now in the face. Cluan Road is a bit of a switchback so I wasn’t looking forward to it but it turned out to be OK today. Traffic remained light. Some of too fast for the road but they kept well away from the idiot towing a bicycle camper enjoying a slow pedal checking out the countryside.

After a while there was a suitable pull-over spot out of harms way, ideal for a lunch stop. So I did.

It was by the entry to a farm and, as I lunched, I saw the signs. We have a Referendum in October asking whether or not Australians want to recognise the First Peoples of this country in the Constitution by providing them with a Voice to Parliament. It’s a hotly debated issue. Along Cluan Road the posters were stating (if I recall the wording correctly) “Vote No to the Voice of Division”.

Mulling over the Referendum “debate” full of truths, untruths and a plethora of ideas both good and bad, I packed up, made sure I left no rubbish and continued on my way. For the record I am a Yes man.

Through the wooded areas I heard the usual run of birdsong plus Magpies and the Grey Shrike-Thrush commonly known as the Joe Whitty interspersed with Pardelotes calling “Pickitup”.

The 5 crests in the road were climbed, finding that sweet spot where gears and legs share the load and no vehicle careered over the top in the middle of the road endangering people coming up the other side.

Cluan Road ended and the run along to the start of Bogan Road began.

I spotted two Echidnas at different times. They are so hard to get a decent picture of and this time I knocked the setting knob of the camera as I grabbed it out of the bag. Didn’t realise at the time but things didn’t look right in the viewfinder as the pictures were taken. Luckily I got one reasonable shot. Yes, the one above!

Down to Bogan Road and the last battery change. I had pulled both of my larger batteries down off max and now it was the turn of the smaller battery. Like last time I thought, if it gets me up there and back down again all will be good with enough battery to get me home. I guess I was feeling “range anxiety” but not really as I expected the system to have enough power to get me home. It’s a heavy 10 kilometers from the base of Bogan Road to the campsite with a lot of uphill. The campsite is in the foothills of Quamby Bluff.

I was in no rush and just sat back to gently pedal the 10 ks. The bush we passed through was lovely. Back lit by the afternoon sun and looking very healthy. The birdsong kept coming and, at my climbing speed of 5kph, the song was easily heard. The trike was going well, the trailer towing well and I was enjoying myself, especially as traffic remained very light.

Yep. 5 k to go, practically all uphill. The ride remained enjoyable spinning the pedals in almost bottom gear to preserve power and eventually we got to the turn into the caravan park.

I had hoped to get the same spot as last time but recent rains have left the park very boggy in places. Non-powered sites were limited so I had to make do. And I did.

The camper worked well, was easy to put up in camping mode and the ground wasn’t too damp. I had some extra pieces of Coreflute which I placed under the front legs to help distribute the weight. The setup of the awning was a bit of a pigs ear. There was a drop off just ahead of the awning and it was tricky to get ropes in the spot needed. Oh well, it worked OK enough with little wind to trouble it.

I cooked tea and settled down for the night by converting the awning into the camper vestibule. The fall-away land made it hard to really peg it out so it remained rather saggy. Organising the boxes to come out of the camper (so I could fit in) and sit under cover of the vestibule made the point that it doesn’t really work with the entry point at the rear of the vestibule. We will have to make changes.

The air cooled down quickly once the sun disappeared behind the Bluff. I inflated the air mattress, poked my 39 year old cold weather sleeping bag into the unit and settled in for a read of a book on the phone. Much more comfortably than ever in a tent as I can now lean back against the camper wall to read and sup a Guinness.

Around 9.30pm it was cold enough to warrant a teeth clean and fully retiring for the night.

How did the night go ? All will be revealed in the next instalment.

’til then – Goodnight.