Luke Yates Adventure 
London to Prague; New York to Chicago; Paris to Rome. Each of these are journeys around 1200 km in length. The Nullarbor Crossing is another. 1200 km from Norseman in Western Australia, to Ceduna in South Australia. The big difference is, that between Norseman and Ceduna there are no towns, and only 11 shops or “roadhouses” as they are known here. Indeed there are several stretches over 150 km with no human habitation whatsoever. Remote is an understatement.
Today my office is a table outside an awesome bike shop in the town of Melrose, South Australia. They serve great coffee, have free wifi and have turned the town into something of a mecca for mountain bikers. The sign outside reads “If you risk nothing, then you risk everything”. I’m surrounded by trees and climbed a mountain pass to reach the town. But before that, I had to cycle the Nullarbor, the infamous treeless plain, and the accompanying 1200 km of emptiness that make up the Nullarbor Crossing, on the Eyre Highway, from Norseman, WA to Ceduna, SA. This article will focus on the lead up to the Nullarbor, the 680km from Albany to Norseman. This is a little talked about stretch. There are hundreds of articles about the crossing the Nullarbor, but just getting to Norseman is an achievement in itself, because in all honesty, it is not all that much easier or less remote!
Birthdays are quite odd when you think about it. They are really just like any other day and quite often they are with all the usual work and life commitments. But you also usually have more contact with friends and family and maybe a treat or two!
So while it has been tough, there have also been some pretty good bits. Here are a few of the highlights…
Leaving Perth
24th September was an interesting day on this trip. It started well. I woke up at the beautiful Alexandra Bridge campground and despite overnight rains was all packed up and ready to go bright and early. The wind was behind me and I made excellent progress for the first couple of hours towards Pemberton. This small town lay 100km to the east and was pretty much the next point that I would be able to find food or water. Coming from a country as densely populated as the UK it is hard to imagine that it would be possible to cycle this far in the same direction without hitting at least a small village.
I’m now 12 days and over 1000 km in so I thought I would reflect on what has already been a remarkably eventful trip. Before I left, somebody said they would be interested to know if the trip met my expectations and if not, how did it differ? I think they meant for me to answer this at the end. I’m sure I will return to it then but now seems like an excellent time to try to answer as well.
In preparing for this trip I spoke to a lot of people and read a lot of accounts of similar expeditions and two points repeatedly stood out. The first was that this will be hard, especially in the opening weeks, and there will be times when you wonder why you are doing it. The second, was that you will be amazed by how kind and generous other people are. Despite having seen these themes so frequently, I didn’t expect to have both of them driven home quite so early in the trip.
Here we are!! 20th September 2014. The first day of my adventure and a big change to my life! Tomorrow I will be setting off from Perth for Brisbane, about 7000 km away. It’s going to be one hell of a challenge but I just can’t wait to get on my way! I’ll keep you updated as much as possible over the next weeks and months and I hope you enjoy my posts and pictures. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have a message or question.
A lot of people have been asking about my planned route between Perth and New York so here it is. Each image can be enlarged by clicking on it and I’m sure there will be changes to be made to all sections as I learn more about the distances I can travel each day, the routine I settle in to and the sights, attractions and safest routes along the way. Please feel free to offer any advice, I’d love to hear from you!
First I’m heading across Australia from Perth to Brisbane, mainly sticking to the south coast and including the famous Nullabor Crossing! If things go badly I can always leave for New Zealand from Sydney or if they go well push on up to Cairns!
On 26th July I took part in the Richmond Riverside 10km race. The route was an out and back loop along the towpath between Richmond and Kingston. Having really struggled with injury and the hills during the Surrey Badger Half-Marathon two weeks earlier I was excited about the prospect of tackling a fast, flat route. The start was only a short drive from home so I was feeling nice and settled on the morning of the race. By 9.30 the temperature was already building towards the low twenties as we experienced a very warm English summer, but aside from this, conditions were ideal. I had learnt from previous experiences with what works for me to eat and drink before races and I felt that a really good result could be achieved.
Luke Yates Adventure 