Day 8: Walpole to Albany

The temperature is a bit warmer this morning and it looks as if it will be a great day for riding. The route today is supposed to be quite hilly to start with and then flattening out after about 40 kms (so the locals tell us). Therefore Collis has called the morning tea break at 40 kms with a lunch break at Denmark which is 65 kms.

The three campers left around 8 am even though we did try to get them away a bit earlier. The backpackers seem to have left at around 7.30 going by the text received from Di. Doug and Di have decided not to stop for morning tea but to go straight through to Denmark for lunch. All other riders will be stopping.

Dennis told us at morning tea that he has decided to leave the ride from Albany. He has not been happy since day one and it appears that this ride was his second choice and he did not do enough research as to what the ride entailed. He is much happier now that he has decided to go home and maybe spend more time with his family in a warmer climate. It is a shame to see him go and he is a good rider but he really was concerned that he would not cope with the cold and then rain on top of this. Some of the riders are really concerned about the rain forecast and we are very surprised as I think I have often commented on the very few times it has rained on our rides that the cyclists always seem to accept it and just get on with it and there are very few times when they complain. They will always complain about the wind direction but the rain does not seem to faze them.

The scenery today has been fantastic with rolling hills, that didn't actually stop after 40 kms, and sheep started to appear. There are lots of tourist spots in this area. The ride down into Albany was very impressive also. All riders are camping and Collis and I have taken a cabin. The bush camps start after the rest day so I need to be able to do some preparation.