Day 69: Sun 3 Jul - Cumberland Historic Chimney to Croydon

Day 69: Sun 3 Jul - Cumberland Historic Chimney to Croydon

Towed 127km

13-20 Deg, It rained most of the night, and cleared enough by morning to go for a short walk down a dirt track and return to pack up and leave by 08:20am without getting wet. It remained overcast and drizzly all day, and became quite cool. The temperature dropped noticeably from about half way to Croydon when we stopped for mornos at a roadside rest area - the breeze was so cool we quickly put on warmer cloths. The road to Croydon was fantastic - I cannot believe how good the Savannah Way has been. There were a few more stretches of single lane sealed road with very wide dirt shoulders, and because of the heavy rain overnight, I was pleased I didn't have to pull off the road to let any oncoming traffic past, as it looked quite soft and muddy. We arrived in Croydon in good time before 10:30am, stopping briefly at the True Blue Visitor Information Centre to register and pay a donation for our two night stay at the nearby Free Camp. Just 1km further down the road to the Croydon Freedom Camping park, located next to the rodeo grounds, we picked our spot for the next two days and finished setting up just as the drizzle got heavier. We went for a short walk to the Rodeo Grounds to see what all the loud noise was, and luckily, we've arrived on the last day of a three day 'Poddy Dodgers' rodeo and campdraft event - all afternoon was motorised events - trail and quad bikes, so we suspect the horse and cattle events were on previous days. Between the various types of bike races and the PA commentator (get set - go... every few minutes), it was pretty noisy and annoying afternoon, but it all came to end by 6:00pm. Too windy and wet to ride, Greg and I eventually decided to get out for a quick walk into town for a look around. Croydon was once an important gold mining town and has a number of significant and interesting old buildings. Tomorrow, we're hoping the weather holds out so we can walk the 'Incredible Croydon Walking Trail' which includes an array of old mining machinery, a heritage precinct and a number of wonderfully renovated historical old buildings. If the weather holds out, we also hope to ride out to Lake Belmore 4km out of town. We settled down for the evening in the van after dinner, listening to the sound of the increasing winds which always make me nervous with the awning out, and the partying of a few left over cow-cockies from the rodeo. Unfortunately the weather forecast for tomorrow is very wet, windy and cool. Fingers crossed the BOM has it wrong again.

Morning view of the Cumberland Campground - it filled up well into the evening

Morning walk along a bush track

Returning from my walk to the campground - a lovely place to stay a night or two - except for all the annoying insects attracted to the white lights at night