Today I was not motivated. The Mawson Trail was always beautiful, but bumpy in parts, and I just couldn’t be bothered. I was eyeing off the short-cut to Hawker, but was talked out of it. Cycling through the grassy fields with the rocky mountains as backdrop in the evening light made it all worth it. Still, a comfortable bed and a hot shower would be nice soon.
Mawson Trail in the evening light
The Mawson Trail is a bit fractal around Wilpena Pound going 5 steps forward and 4 steps back. We returned to the main road from Port Augusta to Marree only 50km from where we turned off at Parachilna to enter the Flinders Ranges. Before that, we skirted the outside of Wilpena Pound, and then passed between the pound and the Elder Ranges – another line of rocky outcrop mountains. When the rain-looking clouds were gathering, and the wind was again a headwind, I found my motivation dwindling to leave the beautiful smooth bitumen road that was only 30km from Hawker, to cycle down a dirt, corrugated road in the opposite direction. I am here to enjoy the landscape, and the main roads certainly aren’t as nice.
Elder Ranges Road
Maybe an early night will fix my blues.
