Day 26: Bike ride Glenelg to McLaren Vale (snakes on a train)

Yesterday was so hot that we struggled to leave our cute B&B with very cold A/C in the bedroom. The host had run out to fetch fruit for our breakfast, plus we had a fancy espresso machine to make our coffee. No more burns from coffee making! 

Check out this tiny kitchen cupboard that has more in it than most of the Airbnb's we have rented this trip. 

This all behind a double cabinet door in the living room/breakfast nook. Great design work. And notice the blue enamel Smeg espresso machine at the right. Nice. The rest of the apartment is very cute. 

Living room and breakfast nook.

Norfolk pine and view down the beach. 

Our ride started going south along the beach. First along the shared path next to the beach. After a couple miles the path started angling up until we could see we would join the cliffs overlooking the south harbor. Then around a bend we find a steep hill straight ahead. 

Our usual approach at the base of a hill is to see if this is intended, or perhaps we are here by navigational error and there's a different route. No point in climbing the hill and then checking the navigation, only to find we need to ride back down and do a different hill climb elsewhere.  Why does it sounds as if we have actually tried this wrong approach before? Hmmm.

View back north along the beach.

Indeed we missed a turn a mile ago. We backtrack and take the turn. Ahhh, here is the "correct" hill. Darn it. The intention (may I say the promise) was "no hills" so this does not look good. We climb the long, steep hill. The next couple miles requires repeated navigational stops, too many hills, and it's still not cool out. 

We find the trail. 

Excellent! 

The breaking point comes when we are about 1/4 the way to our destination. It's been nearly an hour (translation: 3 hours more of this). We are at a train station. While the train route is flat, the cycle path is rolling hills. The conversation goes like this: 

Kathy: Let's take the train. 

Dave: Aw, let's go another mile and see how it looks. 

Trail signage: Beware of snakes.

Kathy: I've been asking God for a sign whether we should continue, this is it. 

Dave: I'm downloading the Adelaide train system app and buying tickets as we speak.

We checked, there were no snakes on the train. 

Checking for snakes on the train. 😂

Of course then later in the day we were talking to this guy who says, “Oh they put those signs up everywhere. If you paid attention to all the ‘Beware of snakes’ signs in Australia, you’d never go anywhere.” 😳 You are so right, mate!

We train 15 miles or so to the end of the line and ride 6 miles from there. 

Seaford, end of the line. 

i didn't know emus could read. 

Now the country really looks like Sonoma County wine country north of San Francisco. And our bike rental guide told us to watch for koalas in the trees. And beware of kangaroos jumping into the trail then stopping to look at you (while you run into the marsupial, fall over and get hurt). We barely watch the trail we are so busy looking for koalas. (There could have been a snake on the trail and we'd ride right over it, still looking for koalas in the trees.)

Lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in McLaren Vale. Yummy banh mi sandwiches once again. But wait, what, they stop serving coffee at noon? Sacrilege!

We bike the last mile to Serafino, our hotel. Kathy cools out from the ride while Dave gets groceries from the nearby supermarket. 

Grapes growing nearby. Harvest will be in a month or two. 

Eucalyptus tree and grapevines. 

Dave takes a spin over to Willunga to view the famous Willunga Hill. The bike race Tour Down Under was here in January. Apparently the race was decided by some excellent climbing and strategic positioning on Willunga Hill. I'm riding into the wind and the road is going uphill. Then it angles up more. Ahead I can see it turning up even more sharply. Willunga Hill is 300 meters above me. I'll have to do with a stock photo. 

From Laurens de Plus on his rookie climb of the hill.

Back to the hotel and now we can hang out at the pool. By now it has cooled off and we want it to warm up to offset the cool pool water. You just can't satisfy these tourists! 

Cockatoos with yellow plumes, grey parrots with dusty rose chests and magpies amount. 

Hanging out at the pool.

Post-pool dip we walk into town about a mile for dinner. Everything here is so quiet -- where are the people? We met people, but they are all here on vacation. A Canadian asks me what kind of hat I'm wearing -- it's a Tilley -- oh that's a Canadian brand. He come to AUS to find out he should buy his hat at home?? In any case the town is very quiet. 

The Tour Down Under is a thing here. Ceramic tile art from the chamber of commerce refers to it. 

We have dinner at the McLaren Vale Hotel. Mmmm, delicious.  Prawn-stuffed zucchini blossoms, calamari, and a za'atar pumpkin. 

za'atar pumpkin 

calamari

shiraz

All with some McLaren Vale grenache and Shiraz wines. Just can't go wrong here! 

At home after dark the birds are making a ruckus. There must be dozens of cockatoos in the eucalyptus trees outside our door. They squawk! They sound like kids who cannot let go and just fall asleep. Is there some prestige to making the last squawk of the night?