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Taking a Wrong Turn

Today, I had intended to ride from Waterfall to Wollongong. A nice ride, along the Illawarra coast line, which should have taken a few hours. The sun was out, with a nice, cool, temperature. Perfect cycling weather. After catching the train down to Waterfall, it was time to start.

At Waterfall station.

So, I set off down the Princes Motorway, for the few hundred metres, before taking the Old Princes Highway turn-off. After riding down the road, for about 9 kilometres, I took what I thought to be my turn-off to the coast. After a quick drink stop, I pedalled off down the road. A few hundred metres later, I was beginning to think that this road did not look right. I couldn’t remember the sharp right, or that it was as narrow as it was. Silly me, had taken the wrong turn-off – one too short. In the end, I found myself at Helensburgh station, at the bottom of a steep gradient. I decided to abandon my ride to Wollongong, as I would not have had enough daylight hours to make it (after backtracking).

Helensburgh station – not where I should have ended up.

However, it wasn’t a total waste. This station still uses old, manual, indicator boards. Probably a handful of stations that do. A nice throwback to the past, when things were so much simpler! Railways have been a major interest of mine for many, many years.

Old indicator board at Helensburgh station.

Depending on the weather, next week, I may actually complete my ride. Or, I may end up going somewhere else. That’s the wonderful freedom of riding a bicycle.

Waterfall (12:39)
12.9 km
16 km/h
Helensburgh (14:00)
1:21
22nd June, 2015

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