Introduction
When I finished The Rock Ride last year, I was sure that I was going to do another All Trails Ride. The question was which one.At first, I was seriously considering doing the Nullabour Ride. Many of the other riders on The Rock Ride had done that the previous year, and I knew that it would be an experience. When I saw the details of the Territory Tour, as well as the Kimberley Road Tour, especially some of the photos that Phil and Susan had taken, my mind was made up.
As a result, I am doing The Territory Tour, having a few days off in Darwin and then carrying on to Broome on The Kimberley Tour and finally finishing the entire journey in Broome.
For me, this will again be the biggest ride that I have undertaken. While The Rock Ride was a longer distance, these two rides back to back are considerably longer. As a result, I will be covering about 3,300km over 5 weeks. The first 1,500km in this ride, and the last 1,800km from Darwin to Broome.
This ride would have a series of first for me. It would be my first trip to Darwin, once we were above Mataranka I would be the furthest North I had ever been. I would also be crossing the Tropic of Capricorn for the second time, this time under my own power.
This is going to be one hell of an adventure.
UPDATE 21/6/09 All up to date. Look out for the start of the Kimberley Ride. Starts 25th June, first updates from Katherine (27th June at the earliest)
The Route
| Day/Date | Start | Finish | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0 - June 7th 2009 | Sydney | Alice Springs | 0.00 km |
| Day 1 - June 8th 2009 | Alice Springs | Aileron | 134.39 km |
| Day 2 - June 9th 2009 | Aileron | Wycliffe Well | 241.19 km |
| Day 3 - June 10th 2009 | Wycliffe Well | Tennant Creek | 131.91 km |
| Day 4 - June 11th 2009 | Tennant Creek | Renner Springs | 162.15 km |
| Day 5 - June 12th 2009 | Renner Springs | Dunmarra | 192.41 km |
| Day 6 - June 13th 2009 | Dunmarra | Larrimah | 144.32 km |
| Day 7 - June 14th 2009 | Larrimah | Mataranka | 76.64 km |
| Day 8 - June 15th 2009 | Mataranka | Katherine | 106.19 km |
| Day 9 - June 16th 2009 | Rest Day | 0.00 km | |
| Day 10 - June 17th 2009 | Katherine | Pine Creek | 128.62 km |
| Day 11 - June 18th 2009 | Pine Creek | Adelaide River | 127.73 km |
| Day 12 - June 19th 2009 | Adelaide River | Darwin | 114.00 km |
Photo Gallery
Conclusion
What an amazing ride.There were three things that made this a fantastic tour, the country, the people on it, and the organisers. Yet again, Phil and Susan pulled out all stops to make sure that this was a memorable tour. The Devil's Marbles, Daly Waters Pub, Katherine Gorge just to name some. I knew 8 of the 11 other people on this ride from the Rock Ride last year, and the other 3 were all great people who have a love of cycling at heart.
It was an interesting ride. Despite the distances, I will always consider these to be Cycle Tourism, but on this particular ride, I felt that the first half was all about cycling because of the distances we had to cover, and the second half, more about tourism. We covered 1,000km in 6 days, and the last 600km in the next 6 days. We only had one rest day (Katherine), and that was towards the end. It was towards the end of the ride, that we had time to enjoy the places that we visited, including stopping along the way to visit some places.
I am really glad that I did this tour, and right now, I am enjoying my time in Darwin while I wait for the Kimberley Ride to start.
Thanks to everyone who has been following this ride on the website, it has been fantastic getting emails of support from people as they are following my efforts.
I normally finish these saying that I am thinking about doing another ride with All Trails, this time, I don't have to!