GOR Day6 The rooms at the Lavers Hill Motel were a little basic but adequate and the bluebottle, thank goodness, remained a prisoner all night in the rear room overlooking the Alpaca enclosure. This was made even better when I took out my hearing aids. Excellent food at night, as was the breakfast, which was more than I can say for the weather. Quite foggy and a light drizzle which made me worry about being able to see the rainforest at the Otway Fly. Up and down we rode along the ridge and then down (and up) along the private road to the Otway Rainforest. Luckily the cloud had cleared when we arrived and we had a good walk through the forest and up onto the steel walkways and to the tower to see the ferns, ... read more

GOR Day 4 The forecast is a bit cooler today with a temperature of 22 degrees. How will we survive? As it happened it turned out to be nearer 30 and Bill now has some serious tanning marks on his arms, and a rash on his legs, no doubt from the flies we encountered at the lookout points. First job today was to stock up with emergency rations in case cafes are a bit scarce on this journey. So to ’Coles’ we went in force. Now then. Did I mention the wind? The wind, the wind. The normal prevailing wind is a westerly. Can you guess which way it was blowing today? You have it in one - yes straight in our face. The first few miles were quite pleasant despite the heavy winds of 25 ... read more

GOR. Day 2 I am fed up of this sunny, warm weather in February (just joking). Decent sleep for first night until about 4.30am and then dozed a bit before finishing and sending my blog. So here we are with a bit more boring news of some mad cyclists down under who set off at 9.05 after Ken had sorted himself out. Off we went following a route on my Garmin which persisted in telling me to go in the opposite direction, the stupid machine, making me look a right fool. Or maybe it was reflecting the true me? Whatever, I had to eat humble pie and be directed by all and everyone around this fabulous city of Melbourne. The route took us onto a pleasant cycleway alongside the upper stretches of the Yarra river with ... read more

Orkney. Italian Chapel, St Margaret’s. 47miles. 650m ascent. Breakfast at Pomona again at 8am. Great food and good service. Off into the mist until 11.30 following the coast, although unfortunately we could hardly tell. We had lunch at the Fossil Heritage Centre, Museum and cafe at Burray which I can recommend. As the skies brightened the Italian Chapel came into view across the causeway where luckily there were not many people viewing it. The chapel was built in a Nissan hut from 1941 until 1945 by 500 Italian POW’s captured in N Africa. They lined the inside and covered it with tiles and decorated it to a very high standard with several classic murals. Some of these were then sent to Skipton in Yorkshire before eventual repatriation in Italy. Further south Past the Fossil Heritage Centre ... read more

Orkney. Stromness and Scara Brae. I can thoroughly recommend the Ferry Inn with good rooms and good food. As we were waiting to depart at 8.30am who should be outside the hotel but Rosie,an old family friend. What a delight to catch up after several years. Heading north again the minor roads took us up and down several hills to Scara Brae. This is a 5,000 year old settlement which was discovered in 1850 by the local Laird following a severe storm when the sand was blown away to expose the remains of the houses. This is a most impressive site and well worth a visit, especially if you visit Skaill House where the Laird lived, which is full of furniture and period artefacts. Just a few miles north was the Barony Flour Mill, which has ... read more