Packed up tent early and had breakfast and brewed coffee Italian style with Simon and Chiara.
I checked with the Info centre about the possibility of riding the next 20km along the beach on the sand (as I'd heard that cars drove along it), tide times and camping facilities in the Coorong National Park where I was headed, filled up with 10 litres drinking water for the next few days and headed off at noon. Thanks to Jade at the Information Centre who was really fantastic and willing to help me get where I wanted despite me being on a bicycle.
Headed out of town passing a Giant Lobster on the Princes Hwy, riding on a small shoulder in maybe a 15-20kph headwind for 5km then turned down the gravel Long Beach Road just after the Blackford Drain and onto the beach to see how firm the sand was and check the tide information.
I knew that once I started riding along the beach there was only one place to exit across the dunes and that was 15km north along the beach at The Granites camping area.
According to the tide chart I got from the Information Centre, (which I learned to understand from Google), the tide was just turning, and low tide was in another 6 hours (6.30pm) when the sand would be at it's most compact therefore easiest for riding especially on my skinny tyres. Not wanting to leave my run too late I made the decision to try riding immediately, knowing that it would get easier as the tide got lower and if it was too difficult I could turn back and retreat to the Princes Highway.
Before starting off I couldn't help noticing a young guy driving up and down, doing wheelies and swerving the width of the beach so I retreated to a safe place to observe and hoped he would finish soon as I didn't fancy testing out my beach riding skills with all that going on. After a while he parked the car further down the beach so I set off.
It was hard going in the sand and even though I was only doing around 6kph at full effort, I was making some progress however small.
After a while I met Peter, Sharon and their dog Baci who were fishing and they offered to drive along the beach later to check on me which was very nice of them and gave me a sense of comfort.
I followed the car tracks but it was very hard going at 6kph so I tried riding on the shore line where the sand was more compact, and as the tide receded my speed increased to 7-8kph. The sun was beating down and I was glad of all my drinking water.
There was nowhere to stand the bike up along the beach so filling up my water bottle from my reserves at the back of the trailer was a challenge.
I had lunch by holding the bike by the handlebars, reaching into one of the back panniers to fish out a bread roll with my other hand, jamming a banana into it and eating it along the way, as stopping for more than a minute meant that the tyres sank into the sand and getting the bike moving again was difficult. Locating any other food was out of the question! I was hoping that my chocolate was not in the front pannier facing the sun.
It wasn't until I was half way, having covered 8 kms in about 2 hours with some walking, that I felt I could make it to The Granites and wouldn't be turning back. The views along the rugged ocean beach were stunning and for most part I was alone with my thoughts and the roar of the waves.
After about 3.5 hours, around 5.30pm I finally reached the 2 large granite rocks in the water, giving the name to the camping area. The sand was too deep to climb the track so I dumped all the panniers on the beach, unhitched the trailer, walked the bike up to the camping area, then carried everything up by hand before returning to stand and recover in the sea, much to the interest of the family who were fishing and drinking beer.
I chatted to the motor home and caravan travellers while setting up my tent on the only flat sandy area at the top, as the camping area was just a bitumen car park with no water or other facilities, before cooking dinner, watching the stunning sunset and falling into bed by 8.00pm. What an amazing experience!
