Great ride to Cooktown :)

[quote="just us"]Well we are just home after a terrific few days conquering the road to
Cooktown from Mareeba.

Great ride Kathy!

Mike

just us said:

Well we are just home after a terrific few days conquering the road to
Cooktown from Mareeba. Highly recommended! The road is first class, used by
a lot of big trucks and travellers but all very courteous. 300kms of first
class touring country 🙂. We rode our trusty old tandem - camped out for 3
nights under clear skys, cold nights and clear days although yesterday and
today the wind was blowing in gusts up to about 30knots! (OMG that slowed us
down!) Great feeds are available along the way although water is a little
short in places. We were very lucky in that we had some contacts who left
water beside the road hiding in a couple of spots.
We enjoyed it - planning our next jaunt now.
Kathy.

Was up there a month ago but didnt ride it all. Did the Townsville to Cairns Childrens Cancer Ride, had 2 days rest then rode bits up to Cape Tribulation then back to Mossman and up the Rex Range. How do you go with cattle grids? Never had to cross them before and found them a real challenge on road bike and shoes. Road shoes do not grip on grids. Didnt ride up to Bobs lookout. It sort of snuck up on us. Couldnt find the name of the range on any maps so suppose that its the Great Dividing range. Rode from Palmer River Roadhouse to Lakeland Coffee House, 31 km of rolling country with the best 3 km descent ever - wheee, 81kmh. Did the 31 km in 1hr 2 minutes which is great for me and the coffee at Lakeland is great, grown locally.

Your right its great riding with little water. Was glad that the YF was supporting me. Want to do it again next winter. Thinks, could do a supported group ride from Mt Molloy next year after the cancer ride. Cooktown is well worth visiting.
Will try to attach a pic. ---- Nah cant do--- its me n bike at Palmer River Roadhouse.

Cheers

Hugh

just us said:

Well we are just home after a terrific few days conquering the road to
Cooktown from Mareeba. Highly recommended! The road is first class, used by
a lot of big trucks and travellers but all very courteous. 300kms of first
class touring country 🙂. We rode our trusty old tandem - camped out for 3
nights under clear skys, cold nights and clear days although yesterday and
today the wind was blowing in gusts up to about 30knots! (OMG that slowed us
down!) Great feeds are available along the way although water is a little
short in places. We were very lucky in that we had some contacts who left
water beside the road hiding in a couple of spots.
We enjoyed it - planning our next jaunt now.
Kathy.

Hi Kathy,

I have just returned to Canada. I DID get to Darwin after about 7 lost
days due to mechanical breakdowns (busted derailler etc.) Doing the dirt
road on the Savannah Way is a REAL TREAT.

I went slow (at most 60 km on the dirt and about 103 km on the Bitumen)
and met incredible people....... tea, water and "beeah" were all offered
- not to mention energy bars and energy drinks (Going to Darwin?? You
mist be mad - here is a drink and a bar...). Water was never a problem -
ever. The most I carried was 6 litres. I never asked for anyone to leave
some ahead for me as there was always lots on the road. I drank from
rivers and creeks (always flowing ones). Even aboriginal people told me
where there was water.....

I will eventually send a PM and a CD of the trip - but the latter will
take a while as work is now my major preoccupation ;-) I DID see Ross
Wilson, the Urban Legends and Mondo Rock in two different venues - quite
a change from the dirt road between Normanton and Borroloola ;-)

Regards,

Ken Pisichko

just us said:

Well we are just home after a terrific few days conquering the road to
Cooktown from Mareeba. Highly recommended! The road is first class, used by
a lot of big trucks and travellers but all very courteous. 300kms of first
class touring country 🙂. We rode our trusty old tandem - camped out for 3
nights under clear skys, cold nights and clear days although yesterday and
today the wind was blowing in gusts up to about 30knots! (OMG that slowed us
down!) Great feeds are available along the way although water is a little
short in places. We were very lucky in that we had some contacts who left
water beside the road hiding in a couple of spots.
We enjoyed it - planning our next jaunt now.
Kathy.

Was that you I saw on the Bloomfield Track driving back towards Cape Trib? I was on the dual susp MTB at a water crossing.