No, we haven’t miraculously biked from Australia to Wales.  Today we biked to Swansea in NSW.  We left The Entrance on a great cycle lane on the road verge.  The cycle lane is called the Darren Smith Memorial Cycleway and was created after Smith, a local cycle racer, was killed in an accident with a truck.  The wide verge and cycle lane painting made our biking enjoyable and safe on a busy road.

We flew along at 22km per hour and quickly made it to Budgewoi when it started to spit then rain.  Remarkably there were no clouds that looked like rain clouds and sun was shining.  Fortuitously there was a bus shelter just as the rain drops got larger so we rested and waited 10 minutes for the rain to pass.  We then continued on a quieter road and turned into the pocket sized Munmorah State Conservation Area which was a nice quiet area before reaching the Pacific Highway.  The highway was dual carriageway had a mega-wide verge and again we felt very safe.

We made good time and arrived in Swansea before lunch.  We sat on a park bench and pondered our options for this afternoon as we’d arrived early and thought about pushing on to Newcastle.  The clouds were building and the forecast wasn’t good.  We then looked up and were greeted with a big ‘hello’ from a grey nomad couple we’ve met twice before.  The odds of bumping into them three times must be very low and we had a good chat about our progress.

As the weather wasn’t looking good, we decided to stay in Swansea and so we biked to the Caravan Park.  The managers were very friendly and even gave us a complimentary bottle of wine!  It poured down most of the afternoon, our wettest day in the tent.  Somewhat reminiscent of our cycling trip in France, we had nothing to do but drink wine and relax.

Highlights of the day:  Great cycle lanes and hospitality.

Doing the groceries after the rain