Day 327, Friday, 19 February, 2010

Distance travelled – 84.4 km
Avg speed – 16.2 kph
Max speed – 79.2 kph

Launceston to Port Sorell

With only three days left in Tasmania we are not in a rush to leave. Yesterday we met a German couple who were cycling to Exeter only 25km away so we thought we would follow their example and try and stop there, breaking our remaining ride into three very relaxed days. However, we had no idea where we could stay so we headed off this morning hoping to stop at Exeter but prepared to make the longer journey to Port Sorell.

One of the most frustrating things we have encountered on our journey is finding Visitor Centres who either do not know what accommodation options they have in their district or will only tell you about the ones who pay commissions for selling nights at their establishments. This is what we found at Exeter. We left Launceston knowing there was no caravan park but there were meant to be a number of B&B’s in and around the village. Frustratingly the visitor centre could only tell us about the two B&B’s that had no vacancies. The only options they could come up with were at Beauty Point 24km out of our way. We should have asked the German couple where they were staying.

We decided to continue on to Port Sorell hoping we would encounter a sign pointing to a farm stay or B&B. Halfway to Port Sorell and at the top of a long 22km climb we stopped at the Blue Barn Café in the tiny village of Frankford. As we chatted to the owner we learnt we had passed a couple of unsigned B&Bs along our way.

Excluding the frustrating experience in Exeter, today was a very interesting and pleasant ride. As soon as we had left the outskirts of Launceston we found vineyards either side of the road, something the Tamar Valley is famous for. Being early morning we decided not to stop and taste preferring to get to Exeter before lunch. We did, however, stop and sample the blackberries beside the highway, which were the sweetest we had tasted to date.

From Exeter the road heads inland away from the Tamar and through hilly cleared farming land and a mix of plantation eucalypt and pine forests. It is a very picturesque road. From Launceston to Frankford it is predominantly uphill but the reward for all the climbing is long straight fast downhill runs between Frankford and Port Sorell.

We arrived shortly after 6, tired, but happy to finally be at our destination for the night.

Zoom into the map and use the 'Satellite' layer to see our new location.

 

 

Vineyards and Tamar River

Tamar River

Sign "Shut that bloody gate"

The last climb before Port Sorell

Fence lines

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