Dawn – while the riding naturally constitutes a large part of the Canning Stock Route experience, the time before and after is what makes being out there something more
I’ve thought of the CSR in many guises over the last few months. Having done the ground work on the bike/kit, I actually didn’t think of it so much as a bicycle journey, as an access to the ‘space in between’. We rarely camped at wells, preferring the ‘stop when we were ready’ method. In the early days what wind we had then disappeared – leaving a profound stillness. For Scott and me, the sheer magnitude of this space was a joy.
A ‘time to stop’ camp-site. No worry of meeting others, as what traffic there was stopped long before we did.In the south, the loss of the sun brought on down jackets and comforting warmth. Later on it took a lot longer to cool down.A start (no shortage of dry firewood for us – not that we needed much)food for one sitting ready for boiling water – latterly we allowed ourselves an extra between us as our need increasedanxious momentsthough we did have a stove and limited fuel, most of our cooking was fire-centred.leading to a time to sigh, maybe talk, and let the food start the recovery in time for bed. Dark determinedThe morning after the fire the night beforemorning waking – bird-call roused
Once awake, and the deflation of my mat the signal that all should begin, packing and the eating of pre-soaked oatmeal/dried fruit was swift. A necessary momentum as the day’s work ended best when started early.
Congrats Tom on crossing the CSR. Planning on doing it myself next winter 2014. HAve been in contact with Scott and getting tons of material. Beautiful photographs.
[…] fuel-poor camp to have it as an easy option. We finished the route with half our fuel left. As already described cooking on a camp-fire was often the best part of the […]
bicyclenomad 
Congrats Tom on crossing the CSR. Planning on doing it myself next winter 2014. HAve been in contact with Scott and getting tons of material. Beautiful photographs.
Scott has told me – thank you for your comments, and if I can be any help too, please ask.
Send me an e mail address to ernorde@gmail.com
Thanks,
Erik
[…] fuel-poor camp to have it as an easy option. We finished the route with half our fuel left. As already described cooking on a camp-fire was often the best part of the […]