Kookaburras and cicadas. Starting a cycle tour from my front door rather than catching a plane to a faraway destination means the sounds are familiar. Kookaburras laughed all through the day. The cicadas chirped.
The cicadas chirped
Today I cheated. I pulled myself and my bike up to 900m altitude. My partner took my luggage in the car. My new COVID body isn’t what it was. I don’t cycle to work every day and I didn’t want the day 1 muscle cramp I always get make me abort day 1. So I cheated.
Today was an early start, along the beautiful Cooks River bike trail in the dark, through the Rookwood Cemetery at dawn, and past the impressive Auburn mosque in the early morning light.
Cooks River in the dark
Rookwood Cemetry
Auburn Mosque
Then it was the main road to the bottom of the Blue Mountains, and mostly sides streets up to Leura where I spent the afternoon with friends in their beautiful garden, bursting with colour in the glorious sun. Thanks Stephen, Felix and Aaron for the wonderful end to day 1 of ‘Route de NSW’. Now the hard part starts – with luggage.
A burst of colour
Thanks for the great evening!
Ā
arctic-cycler.com 
Great to see you back on the road again! How many weeks?
Selamat bersepeda dan menikmati alam yang indah. Keep going , Matt.
Terima kasih! Indah sekali.
Sensible way to start …. glad to see the great photos. Looking forward to next postings.
The last time I rode up the mountain (and I’ll do it next time), I decided to end my first day at Penrith. I then spent the next day, taking it easy, climbing up to Katoomba.
Lovely to meet you out in Orange! Safe happy travels š
Hey Kate. Great to meet you too! Lovely day’s cycling today. š