Adelaide

A very enjoyable drive over with Joanne and Naomi, heading towards warmer weather and a week of riding round wine regions with BikeSA.

Ahead of that I have spent a couple of days around town catching up with people and places. Morning tea at Abbots and Kinney after seeing Kym and Helen ' s daily posts of delicious looking pastries.  I am happy to report that the pear danish lived up to expectations.

A walk around the Market, lunch in the sun and off to the Art Gallery.  There I had the delight of a one person guided tour as I was the only person who showed up for the regular volunteer guided tour. Christobel led me through the colonial collection and we enjoyed an amusing and very informative hour. She was wonderful, and I recommend it to all.

Dinner over pizza was great. Caught up with friends from all over the place ahead of the ride. Delicious pizza at Erica and lots and lots of good talking about what we have all been up to and expect from the next week or so. A fun start to our trip.  No surprise that conversation naturally turned to the hill we'll all be climbing on the first day up Gorge Road.

Friday dawned sunny with the promise of warmth. Where to go - of course the beach. Swedish Tarts is the Cafe of choice this morning with Deborah, Martha, Ray and Sue. More pastry. I think I should be more careful about carb loading. Maybe after the ride. In the meanwhile I'll ride it off, or so I tell myself. It was so pleasant along the Beach, especially after riding down a main road to get there, that I extended the experience by heading to Glenelg for a look before returning to town along the linear park.  The park path travels alongside the River Torrens from the beach right through town to Gorge Road. Half today,  half tomorrow then.

The day starts to fly, quick lunch, back to finish packing up and deliver the bags to BikeSA and register early for the tour. Diane has arrived and we drive over to Ian's place where I am a surprise guest for dinner. He generously stretches the meal, and I earn my keep by whipping up a ginger self saucing pudding for dessert.  It is a newspaper recipe that caught his eye,  and in what is a very fine tradition in my kitchen we ignore any missing ingredients or replace them with something similar and suitable. It works well.

Back home to watch a bit of football then retire for the night and sleep soundly I hope.

Bike hanging round town

Hope the wind holds that direction

The things you see along the linear path