Booner Mundak campsite to Walpole

I continued to make good progress along the undulating sand Middle Road between Mount Roe and Mount Frankland South National Park.

The character of the ride changes rapidly as I cross Valley of the Giants Road.  Open woodland heathlands becomes first dairy farmland then mountainous forest land, wet beautiful and really steep.   Heart racing, slog to assent tens of metres then rest steep, but oh what a view.

The forest grows on a rich red clay soil, which after a day's rain becomes a sticky gloopy mud. I did not always succeed in staying upright.   Heading down hill on a path chewed up by a four wheel drive I grabbed a handful of brakes to no effect.  I lost control of the bike and faceplanted into the mud.  

Lesson learned,  feather the brakes.  Once the wheels lock up you are going wherever the mud takes you. Lesson two learned, on soft sand the compacted tracks of a car are your friend.  The opposite is true on clay.  Lucky picked this tip up quickly because the rest of the run involved a lot more steep down hill paths chewed up by four wheel drives.  And for my troubles my chain, derailer, front chain ring, rear triangle everything was gummed up with a gooey clay mud. 

When I reached the end of the Monastery Road I found a road closed sign reading "Slippery Road Conditions ... Vehicles not to proceed from this point, Walkers and Cyclists Welcome".   

Goes where even four wheel drives cannot, score one for the fat bike.

I arrived at Walpole a day earlier than expected, physically exhausted and covered head to foot in mud.  I had completed two stages in one day, but found myself wondering whether it was wise. Yes its do-able, but the need to make it to Walpole before dark gave the riding an urgency that detracted from the beauty of the country I was in.

Jinung Beigabup campsite to Booner Mundak campsite

Overnight it clouded over and started raining, taking about 10 degrees off the temprature, (from low 30s to low 20s C) with making for damp but otherwise ideal riding conditions.

The rain brought out a chorus of frogs who called all day as I rode.

(I recall brushing something off me in my half sleep - it may well have been a frog hopping onto my bivvy  bag) 

The ride was a relatively straight run along wide fire break tracks with occasional detours into bush for some technical riding.  The change in conditions had me celebrating - this was the riding I came for. I was in good spirits and making a cracking pace.

Part of the ride followed land recently managed with a prescribed burn.  Green shoots emerged from blackened tree trunks - and I found myself remembering calls to holiday this winter in towns affected by the bushfires, and with that mentally comparing the country to places I've seen in Victoria.

One of the little detours passes a granite outcropping and stream.  A beautiful place for a rest and a muesli bar.

The drop in temperature also brought the critters out.  Kangaroos and wallabies grazed on the fresh growth near the road edge and bounded away as I approach. 

Country is a heathland transitioning into an open woodland where the sandy soil transitions to a pea gravel podsol. 

Yes its hilly, and the drifts of soft white sand are tricky to navigate,  but today I just don't care. It's not a slog anymore.  This is the kind of riding.

I arrived at the Booner Mundak campsite at midday.  This was supposed to be my end of day destination. Today's riding has been so enjoyable I decide to have a lunch break then push on Warpole.  This ride is a test of my itinerary for a bigger ride, and after seeing the reported completion times in the camp books I want ot see how feasable it is to do 100km in these conditions.  Several riders in the hut log books expect to complete Mundaring to Albany in 20 days.  My first draft Itineary has me taking 30 days to complete).  I'm travelling well and if I can keep this pace expect to reach Walpole before dark.

Denmark to Jinung Beigabup Hut

There are two paths out of Denmark. The most direct path follows the Denmark - Nornalup heritage trail and avoids Mount Hallowell, the other follows the beach and is much prettier, but you'll work for the views.  Totally worth it.

After passing Ocean Beach (I totally regret not packing bathers - a lesson learned) the trail follows the coast along a 'Wonder Ocean Walk' WOW trail,  a twisty turny up and down technical ride throug the saltbush and dunes that is buckets of fun.

The WOW path ends at Lights Beach (another great swimming spot .... more swim regrets) before hitting the William Bay National Park path closures.  The detour via Lights Road and onto the rail trail is sealed, but does involve dealing with that mountain.   The best part of an hour in the late morning sun grinding up that sucker was a challenge. I hope the construction crew have clear days and get the work done quickly,

Early afternoon and another sealed road heading up another hill, anther grind in low gear using the road reflectors as goals as I inch my way up.  Its a good thing there was some shade at the top.  High summer hill climbing is really tough going. 

At the end of the road I found a works crew repairing the unsealed road, so I wasn't the only mad dog out in the midday sun.  They pointed me in the right direction in a spot where the markers got a little ambiguous and soon I was rolling down an unsealed winding down an unsealed road to the one bit of riding on the main road.   I turned into Scotsdale road to see a sign reading 'Wine Cheese 300m'  so of course paid a visit to the Denmark Cheese Farm.  An oversized sandwich, a glass of wine and three litres of refigerated water later and I was feeling almost human again. 

After 2-3km on Scotsdale Road, (which wasn't that busy) the trail turns to access paths into the forest - and then the technical riding starts.   Soft sand,  Steep switchbacks in gravel,  this was the stuff that justifies the extravagance of the fat bike, rather than just putting off road tyres on my touring bike.   That said  - there were bits where I had to get off and push,   I just reckon there would have been more of them If I had taken the tourer.

I arrived at the camp site around 4pm.  There was still plenty of daylight and I could have continued on, but I didn't.  I was spent.  I used tank water to make cups of tea and chocolate and relaxed a lovely spot - aware that yesterday and today's riding was the easy stuff - tomorrow it gets technical.

Denmark rest day

Munda Biddi Trail Closures are in place in January / February 2020 to allow national park staff to make repairs to the trail through Williams Bay National Park.  

The park as a whole will be closed from February to July 2020.

Andrea,  Otto and Griff took me out to the park to see what I was missing.  

It's stunning, and the closure times may change when I decide to return.  My current plan was to return for Easter,  perhaps this news makes a spring return more appealing.

Albany to Denmark

The path out of Albany is a a combination of back streets and a wide shared path following Carlisle St.  There's also a sandy track running parallel to sections of the shared path which I took for  abit of practice on the rougher stuff - with celebratory calls of "Fat Bike" every time is made it down a slippery bit.

The route is clearly marked with yellow sign posts with a blue triangular Munda Biddi logo, but of course cruising around the shared paths I missed one or two and found some interesting detours, like the Limeburners Distillery on Frenchmans Bay Road.

Somewhere to come back to.

Looking back over Princess Royal Harbour to Albany. 

Once out of town the trail goes through the horse country of Robinson and a bridal trail.  Its quiet undulating road, then you hit the road linking Albany and Denmark.   There's an off road track follwoing Lower Denmark Road so there's no mixing with the trucks. 

Riding in high summer is tough going.  At the Elleker general store I found a shady spot and I guzzled a 2 litre bottle of sports drink in one gulp.

The path follows unsealed farm access roads, former rail reserves and occasionally narrow tracks through bushland.   There's a lot of 'up a hill to go down a hill',  but the views from the top are amazing.

By the time I reached Talyors Siding I was knackered.  I had a late start, I was riding hard on a new bike and the first day of any long ride is the time when your body is adjusting.  As the sun was setting I found a bit of bush on the side of the road and called it a night.

In the morning, a few kilometres down the road I found what would have been the perfect camp site on the Hay River.  Again,  this is a reckkie run, and I'll remember that for next time.  

Although If I had left Albany on time I'm confident I could have reached Denmark by the end of the first day's riding.  I guess its all about how much time you want to spend exploring the detours.

The road into Denmark folwlows the Denmark - Nornalup rail trail and has spectactular views of Wilson Inlet.  Being a rail trail its also much easier riding.   I rolled into Denmark around 10am and chilled and organised a catch up with Andrea an old friend recently moved from Perth.  

A chance to wash,  Oh joy. 

Munda Biddi shakedown ride.

Its a new year, and with it comes a review of the 'epic rides' lists and a burst of enthusism that maybe this year we'll check a few off the list.  

The 1000 km off-road Mudda Biddi track from Albany to Perth was one of the rides on that list.

So with newly purchased fat bike in a box I headed west for a 5 day 'shakedown' ride from Albany to Warpole. 

My goals of the ride are;  

* To work out what I can comfortably ride in a day, to better plan an Itineray for an end-to-end ride in the cooler months (probably around Easter).

* To understand how 'fat bike' off road bike tour differs from road based tour bike riding.

* To justify the indulgent purchase of a 'fat bike' using my "If you ride 1km for every dollar you spent on it, it doesn't matter how much it cost" mantra.

So I put the bike in a box, got on a plane and headed to WA.

Getting to Albany

In WA the main public transport way of getting anywhere (Other than Kalgoolie or Bunbury) is via road coach.   Prices are very reasonable considering the distances involved.  One adult with bike via road coach from Perth to Albany - a distance of 415km - on a public holiday cost me $80.00.

Everything road coach departs from the East Perth terminal. It's a bit out of the way from the happening parts of town, but getting on the shared bike path network is easy.  A shared path runs straight past the front door.

To get the bike on the coach, a bit of bike deconstruction is needed to make it into the luggage storage area.  I had to remove the front wheel and lower my seat before I was ready to travel.  

When putting the bike in the storage area It's important to keep the bike upright - if the derailer receives a knock in transit that's a ride ending issue.  Tucking the front wheel between the wall and the rest of the bike should reduce this risk.