Day 5 – The Man from Snowy River & Ned Kelly country
Signature Tour 2014
Day 5 – From Corryong to Wangaratta
Total riding: 185km, ascent 2,100m
So we spent the night spread throughout the little town of Corryong in motels, pubs, guest houses and even the Caravan Park to accommodate the 100+ tour riders and support crew.
Dinner was in the recently renovated Lions Hall. It was beautifully decked and attended by around 250 people and the local band The atmosphere was very jovial. After a very tough but rewarding ride the elation of reaching Corryong, coupled with a group of wonderful, generous country folk distracted us from our screaming limbs.
We presented a $5000 donation to the Upper Murray Community Health Services. But then this great little community presented the TdeC with cheques for $1,500 (Lions), $1,000 (Rotary) and $200 (CWA).
Wow, how good is this. By now the room was rocking…..and one of our team Callum had discovered a lady on his table was a champion scone maker and he persuaded her to make one dozen scones. The scones were auctioned scones for $1,000 but then as Callum discovered she also makes a pretty good sponge cake so persuaded her to throw one in and the bidding closed at $1300!! We enjoyed the spoils at lunch and after the ride today – I’m a bit of a scone connoisseur coming from the home of the Devonshire Tea and I have to say they were excellent. We heard that the lady baker had been up cooking until 11pm and driven several kms out of town for the fresh cream at 5am. The sponge cake also filled with fresh cream was one if the lightest, fluffiest I have tasted. But I digress- I’m easily distracted by food!
It seemed fitting that from the town where Jack Riley is buried we departed on Banjo Patterson’s birthday! Sadly as always our time in each stop is very rushed so no time to visit the grave or the museum bearing his name. Today’s ride began early in the dark and after breakfast and Sunrise appearance with local school children I rode in the first group tapping out 82kms before our morning tea stop at Tallangatta Primary including a very long but not too steep climb and excellent downhill run into the town. It was a chilly morning but the valley we rode through was stunning especially with the sunrise over the hills (not ch 7) and the early morning mist.
The kids at Tallangatta primary were gorgeous and we had lots of fun with then doing our fit and healthy presentation. We split into two groups presenting at two adjacent schools before another 40kms of rolling hills into our lunch stop at Yackandandah Primary. 10kms of post-lunch climbing to Beechworth where we passed the courthouse where Ned Kelly was sentenced was a bit of a slog with temperatures rising to 30c but the 40km run down into Wangaratta was a dream! Woohoo, we cranked it up and pounded for home. Suddenly it didn’t feel like 184kms in the saddle. On arrival we visited the local Optus store and CBA branch as both companies are major sponsors of the Tour de Cure and have several staff including the CFO and CEO of Optus riding the full tour. More generous donations were received.
Another exhilarating and exhausting day and another quick turnaround for dinner with the locals at 6!
Tomorrow is our biggest day. 205km and significant climbing. Watch this space, I can’t wait to write my next blog as this will mean I’ve made it!!
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