After having the tent severely bent out of shape in wind gusts of up to 90km per hour last night, I really was hoping that it may have blown itself out overnight. Or at least, have swung around as a wonderful tailwind.

But that was not to be.

From the get-go I was struggling to get my speed over ten kilometres an hour and when I did, it was only for short periods, usually downhill. Then it was back to the energy and morale-sapping struggle to maintain forward motion.

The upside was that for most of the morning, I had a montage of small towns to distract me. Places where I could retreat down to the river or local bakery for a rest or refill before tackling the divide before the next rest.

Generally, the road today has been good, with reasonable shoulders and no hills of any consequence in this monotonous landscape. With this wind, steep hills being added would have been totally soul destroying.

I only took one side trip to the river today and although there were other opportunities, I was keen to get to Waikerie by nightfall and was not looking for energy draining distractions before then.

As often was, the last ten kilometres was managed 500 metres at a time.

After a day of headwinds, this was the most I could manage before stopping and standing off the bike for a couple of minutes to recoup.

On a normal (no headwind) day, this would be a nondescript but enjoyable ride.

Today it was 67 kilometres of hell on wheels!