Gravel roads – Clare to Port Broughton

It was damp and misty in Clare this morning. We took the bus from Adelaide yesterday afternoon to commence a 3-day trip from Clare to Moonta. After several days of rain our garden can look after itself and with mild temperatures forecast for the days ahead it was a good opportunity.

Breakfast in Cafe 1871 where the young proprietors always seem delighted to see you

Despite the low cloud there was a good view from the top of the hill looking west across the plains to the Hummocks Range.

We took the Old Blyth Road, steep and gravelly.

Blyth is a charming town with its famous cinema which appears to be going strong. It was initiated quite a few years ago by local artist and general action man Ian Roberts OAM (no relation, no resemblance).

The Wool Trail starts on the edge of Blyth. Apparently the council thinks that the creation of a rail trail merely involves removing the old sleepers and smoothing out the ballast, which is like giant gravel. This is not so! We didn’t ride on it. Not sure how long it is.

We took a Dry Weather Only road. I obviously need to re-learn the lesson about avoiding these roads after wet weather. Most of it was perfectly ok but I struck a sticky section with predictable results. My wheels ceased to go around and I gained a couple of cm in height due to the mud adhering to my shoes.

Fortunately a bike wash station was located nearby so I was back on the road in a short time. We encountered several kangaroos who raced ahead of us. One leapt right over a fence from a stationary start! A long silver line appeared in the distance, looking at first like a big farm shed. It was actually Lake Bumbunga, the large salt lake that features the Loch Ness monster made from car tyres.

We arrived at Snowtown for lunch after riding along Magpie Creek Road and Bogaduck Lane. I didn’t mind the duck part but the bog part was concerning. Turned out fine!

Snowtown is laid out similar to Adelaide with North, South, East and West Terraces bordering the town. I have discovered that this is common to many SA towns in the Mid North, Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula. We went to the IGA to buy drinks. These shops do not stock enough strawberry milk. This is a serious problem. I had to buy a tiny bottle with pictures of Bluey on it intended for small children. Better than nothing though! I had an iced coffee as well. The customer before me bought 2 packets of cigarettes that set him back $96! I am out of touch with smoking costs and was rather shocked at this.

Snowtown stobie poles!

We went to the road house to get some curry (Sikhs have taken on several roadhouses in these parts). There was a convoy of giant road trains with radioactive cargo parked opposite.

We took another Dry Weather road (the earlier lesson was quickly unlearned!). This followed the railway line for a short stretch and was ok for me with my fat tyres but not so good for Ian’s standard ones as it was quite soft and sandy. The flies came out obliging Ian to put on his Cyclist’s Fascinator (aka fly net).

Google Maps indicated that the next segment was ‘mainly flat’. Not true! We had a long steady climb to at least 250m elevation over the North Hummocks Range. We rested in a shady spot just below the top.

This is the top of the hill with wind turbines on the ridge and a long descent about to begin.

Ian was taking a photo of me photographing the scenery so I switched into selfie mode and caught him out!

Shingle back skink on the road.

Quiet gravel road with grain silos and The Bluff on the horizon.

Port Broughton Hotel – grand old building overlooking the Mundoora Arm, a sheltered inlet of Spencer Gulf.

Our humble cabin in the Port Broughton Caravan Park.