Day 31 Young to Yass

Sorry this blog entry is late, but the arrangements in Yass were that we were picked up by Yass folk and taken to their homes for showers and dinner, returning in the early evening to the church hall.  This didn’t leave much time for fiddling with computers.

A touch of frost around and about in Young as we set out.  To get out of Young you have to go up!  There’s about 15km worth of climb on the way out, and of course that set the tone for the day.  Much more hill work than we’ve had to date on the trip.  From this day (and for the rest of the ride) we split into two groups for portions of the journey, to give those wanting to kill themselves on the hills the chance to do so.  (There are cyclists who think hills are the greatest invention since sliced bread, and there are those who don’t.)

The countryside along the road from Young to Harden where we stopped for morning tea in the park is spectacular, although it doesn’t look so spectacular in a photo.  And of course its the rolling countryside that makes for hard work on the bikes.

The important thing about morning tea in Harden is that at this point Edna decided the head cold (or whatever it is) had got the better of her and she got off the bike and into the bus.  After we arrived in Yass she visited a doctor who diagnosed sinus infection, put her on antibiotics and ordered her off the bike for at least two days.  She’ll likely get back on for the last portion of the last day.

We stopped in Bowning for lunch before a quick 12km run into Yass along the Hume Highway.  Because the church hall was in use by the local school for a yoga class we could not get into the hall until 2:45 and were due to be collected by our hosts at 3:00, so there was not much we could do until then.

Mark, Gary and I were hosted by Jo and here two boys Joseph (3) and Dominic (1).  (Her husband Cliff was not home from work until after we’d been returned.)  Someone made the remark that we were treated to dinner and a show, because once they got used to us they became very boisterous as we entertained them while Jo finished dinner.  And what a fantastic dinner we had.  All three of us had to raise the white flag when we were stuffed to the gills.

Our heartfelt thanks to Jo for taking on three strangers while looking after two youngsters at the same time.