The CrossingPipeline Again
Pipeline Tracks To Minnipa
The pipeline track felt strangely familiar as I walked through Poochera and past a giant ant. An earlier finish at Minnipa left Ols free to experiment with tuna pasta and ham.
The start of Day 51 felt strangely familiar.
Since the previous afternoon, I had been walking on a track alongside the Eyre Highway, with a water pipeline beside me and a railway line not far away. The similarities with the Goldfields water pipeline in WA made it feel a little like the route had looped back on itself!
The question in my head was: “Am I heading back to Kalgoorlie, Toto?”
South Australia was stunning that morning, and very cold. That was fair enough. We were deep into winter by then, and the pipeline track gave me sunrise, low scrub, rail signs, silos, and a way to keep moving without feeling quite so pinned to the bitumen.
The rhythm worked better too. I managed three 15-kilometre sessions and then 11 to finish. Fewer breaks meant an earlier stop, and we were on track to reach Port Augusta with only a part day needed on arrival day.
That was the hidden work behind a good day. The 56 km total sat on top of route maths, recovery, crew routine, and the daily decision to take the biggest clean bite we could without breaking the next day.
The place names were changing too. Poochera brought a town sign, silos, and a giant ant. The Granite Country sign arrived later, and the South Australian landscape kept throwing in enough variety to stop the day becoming just another long count.
By the time I stopped about eight kilometres short of Minnipa, I had covered 56.3 kilometres and the accumulated total sat at 2229.5 kilometres.
That night we were at Minnipa Caravan Park. Dinner was a sort of spaghetti carbonara based on Ols’ tuna pasta, with ham replacing the tuna. It was very nice, which is exactly the level of sophistication I was qualified to provide after fifty-six kilometres.
Images From The Day
