Up just after dawn and with a quick cereal breakfast enjoyed, it is on the bike to try and beat what looks to be inclement weather for the day.

When I camped the previous night I had not realised that I was on top of a hill and so the long downhill run out of the pine forest was a welcome start for the day. In fact, most of the morning was spent with a succession of downhill runs followed by another crest to reach.

The run down into Echunga was a pleasant ride where I even had a chance a chat to. a local horse who was intent in checking that I was on the correct track.

Stopping for a coffee in Echunga I found that one of the mounting bolts had come undone and thankful that I had not lost it, or damaged the rear brake disk, it was fixed and I was soon back on the road again, heading towards Macclesfield.

Mental note made to self: “Check the bike over before heading off each morning!”

After lunch in Macclesfield, it was a long uphill slog towards Wistow, following the path of a somewhat intoxicated ant.

It was in this section that the trail took a turn for the rough and almost non-existent.

Fallen trees and deeply rutted creeks added an extra challenge to those sections that were not completely overgrown.

The five or so kilometres were the roughest of the trail so far and I began to question the reference to this as a bike trail.

In fact, I am actually hoping that I did read that this route could be ridden; or did I imagine it?

Reaching Wistow with only a fraction of the trail ridden and only a day of free time left, I turned from the trail and towards Mt Barker where I spent the night in the local caravan park.

At the end of day two, I have realised that this is not a “touring” route. It is certainly not biking friendly in places and I did not allow nearly enough time and completely under-estimated the difficulty. I also underestimated my drinking water needs and ran out at one point. It has only been in the upper 20’s but I was drinking 5 litres a day due to the effort required. Don’t fall for the same trap and carry plenty of water with you.

The scenery and camping out in Kuipto Forest was the highlight of the past two days I spent on the trail. The hills and obstacles were the low points.