Heidi found a bike route that promised to pass through the best of Hobart. It was only 9 kilometers long but we needed to get in to the city from our anchor place and visit an engineering firm further north so we “extended” it a bit.
We took the bikes to the beach, put them together and headed towards the city. There was an extra route for bikes so we followed that. It included a stupidly steep uphill section so I sensibly pushed. Super Hero Heidi cycled and was still panting when I reached her at the top. After that it was all downhill until we reached the docks area which we already knew from the Boat Show.
We rode along the coast along an old railway line and passed the start of the Tasman Bridge so diverted to admire the view from the middle arch which is sixty meters high. That also added another few kilometers to the route. Then a little more railway line until we reached Spectrum Engineering where a few boat problems were solved.
On the way back we passed through the botanical garden and the business district. The nine kilometers had stretched to thirty. The track is at Alltrails.
A few days later it was time to summit Mount Wellington. It stands high above Hobart and can be seen from everywhere. There is a road all the way to the top and it is “only” 1271 meters high. The advantage of starting from a boat is that you always get to cycle every single meter.
The first half of the route up was fun as we wound our way through the forest and past reservoirs, gaining height all the time. At about the time when I started to think that it would be nice to reach the summit, there was a sign saying that it was still another 12 kilometers and 800 meters. And yes that is an average of 7% for 12 kilometers. Some nice person had painted the distance on the road every kilometer so you always knew exactly how far you still had ahead of you. And the average may have been 7% but there was some 10%!
Luckily there were superb views, lots of shadow and occasionally a following wind. Heidi cycled everything but I occasionally had a stroll next to my bike to move the strain to other muscles.
Eventually we reached the top having been passed by one bike all the way – an E-Bike! The views extend far across Tasmania and we could look down on the bays we had anchored in on our way here and Artemis far below us. It was nice that so many people congratulated us on our fitness or stupidity. Most people we met could not even envisage the climb we had just done.
It took four hours to climb the mountain and less than one to descend even though we did two beautiful off road trails heading down.
Our track is at Alltrails.
Maybe it’s time for an e-bike Neill.
Not yet! Need to get old first. I still cycle most of it. And lifting an e-bike up a cliff or carrying it across a bamboo bridge is not going to be fun.