September 2008 Saturday 6th - Tuesday 9th
Sep 12th, 2008 by steve
Saturday - 40 kms to Ongerup - no rain but total cloud cover and cold. Camped campground under horse shelter. for $10 pn
Sunday - 30 kms to Borden - no rain but again total cloud cover and cold. Camp at the tennis complex in spectators enclosure.
Monday - 45kms Borden to base of Stiriling Ranges via the Amelup roadhouse. Shame about the roadhouse - pretty sad really. A million dollar view but not even a plastic chair to sit on to admire it over a cup of tea. Similar for the Lilly Windmill Cafe - now not open for morning teas anymore but the next roadside cafe was great- friendly people, even a range of groceries and a nice area to sit and enjoy ‘the outside’.
The Ranges are beautiful and now have World Heritage Listing but quite frankly if you are a cyclist or towing a caravan I would think twice about traveling through them. The pass road is without doubt the most dangerous and stressful I have ever encountered. It is the feeder for the South West for grain shipments out of the port of Albany and there is an almost continual stream of B tripple and B double trucks using what is a narrow shoulder less winding road with frequent blind crests.
There is one passing lane only the entire length and the edges in some places slop so acutely down away from the roadside there is effectively no safe place to get off the road at all.
Such a shame one of the most picturesque valleys in WA, if not Australia, is also the most dangerous and stressful to traverse.
Tuesday - another day camping at the base of the ranges. I need the rest and to get away from the stress of the road trains.
