Sunday 24 April 2016

Richmond and the Bonnet

Our run of beautiful weather in southern Tasmania continues and, with just over three weeks until we depart for our Grand Adventure we are keen to make the most of these wonderful cycling conditions. Here's the route we took today ...



With her sore hip/lower back continuing to improve, Di thought she might be up for a hundred today but wanted to ride towards Richmond to see how things were going before committing to the longer distance. If things were looking good we would ride through Taroona and on to Bonnet Hill before turning for home.

As usual when we are heading to the eastern shore, we set off north along the bike track. The wind was in our faces for the first 25 kilometres or so, but it wasn't too strong and we were cruising along at a pleasant pace so it didn't bother us much. After another 5 kilometres of side wind we had the breeze pushing us along from Pontville to Richmond via Di's favourite stretch of pavement: Middle Tea Tree Road. A short break at the Richmond Bakery, back on the bikes and on to Grasstree Hill. I got to the top a little bit ahead of Di so headed back down to accompany her the rest of the way. I wondered what my little loop would look like on the map ...


Hmm. As you can see, Garmin isn't 100% accurate in its tracking!

When we were relaxing at Richmond Di had decided that she felt good enough to go on towards Taroona, so we deliberately paced ourselves through the next part of the journey, including crossing the Derwent via the Bowen Bridge. It was easy to cruise along with this lovely view of Mt Wellington in front of us ...


The Bonnet is a really nice little climb, and once up it we turned for home. On the way down I shot a little video to show what the descent is like. Look out for a spot of road kill at 30 seconds, closely followed by the historic Shot Tower. If you're cycling here in Hobart someday and ride down this route you might want to stop at The Picnic Basket, an neat little café at the bottom of the hill. Once a petrol station, it now serves to assuage the appetites of Taroonians and interloping passers-by.


And that's about it for me tonight. Tomorrow promises to be another scintillating day. I need my beauty and brawn sleep if I'm going to do the ride I've got planned, so it's off to bed.

Bonne Nuit!