What a contrast. The rain closes in your horizons. Not only the eyes can’t see, but the mind turns inward to escape the rain. Today the sun shone on the wide, wide open expanses. This country feels huge, and I – the little ant – roll down from the mountains into the endlessness. Cycling through, I feel a tiny part of this huge planet – this little blue dot in the universe – the little blue dot I call home.
The wild west
Today was a day for a side trip – to Sharyn Canyon. Recommended by everyone, it involved leaving the main road and going cross-country on a little corrugated sandy path. This was a highlight. No traffic. Just a little sandy line continuing onto the horizon, traversing the vast open plains of low-lying grass.
The long, straight road
The sandy road
The lonely road
The canyon is an amazing valley, carved out of the flat surrounding landscape. Views from above abound. Getting down to the water with the bike was impossible (as the road was too steep to push the bike back up).
Sharyn canyon
Sharyn Canyon
Sharyn Canyon
I met my camping companions David and Isabella at the canyon. They are also cycling around, and, together, we found a wild camping spot neat the Sharyn River.
For the record, in case people are looking for the information I was unable to find on the internet: it is not possible to cycle along the length of the Sharyn Canyon. The photos that are to be found with cars on roads at the bottom of the canyon, are all within 5km of the Sharyn Canyon Park entrance. The park entrance is 10km along a dusty corrugated road from the main road. It is a further 22km along a dusty, corrugated road to reach the main road near Shonzy (there are lots of different spellings for this name).
arctic-cycler.com 