After breakfast I went down to Stewart St. beach for another swim in the cool sunny morning.

Breakfast was $8 extra, it used to be included in the price of the room if you just had cereal and toast. The bread to make toast was so thin and cheap that the toast shattered when I applied the topping.

After my beach swim I had another go in the pool and the spa, then went back to bed for a while so that my bike pants could dry in the morning sun. I had to use them as bathers. On one ride I had two pairs of bike pants that I could use alternately for riding or swimming. I will do that again next time.

I did not have to check out until 10 and it would take only three hours or so to get home, all being well. The forecast had been for north-easterly winds with an afternoon sea breeze, but the south-westerly was clearly established by 10 am. It was never very strong but it didn't change or falter.

I paid my brekky bill and left the resort at 10:04, 1004. I passed the intersection with Stakehill Road, where the very next day there would be a big prang involving a school bus, a truck and a station wagon. This got into the news because no-one was killed, due to the fact that all the students were wearing seat-belts. A little further on I took the right turn into the old Mandurah Road (at 1022), to avoid Ennis Avenue, which over the years has become the main Mandurah Road. I do this because it makes the journey 1 km shorter and has been quieter and more scenic, but on this occasion a lot of traffic followed me into the right turn and headed up the old road, which is not really suitable for a lot of traffic, being narrow with no side margin for bikes and having a few cracks and holes. There was a lot of traffic coming the other way too. I was puzzled by this. I rested at 1024, at a place where I could sit on a wall and have my drink and smoke. Further on I arrived at the big roundabout intersection with Safety Bay Road, where I got the explanation for all the traffic. Safety Bay Road gets you onto the Freeway. This Safety Bay Road extension and the big roundabout are new since I last took this road. So most of the traffic whizzed off to the right while I continued ahead after the roundabout. The road was actually better along this stretch that carried less traffic.

I rode along beside the lake, passed the Lakeside Deli, where I stopped for a drink in 1977 when I was stopping every 5 km or so. Not long before rejoining the main road I passed under a bridge being built for the new Mandurah railway. I rejoined the main road at 1039, turned into Cockburn Road and stopped for another rest and drink at the Cockburn Village store, 1046. It is not possible to go straight up the coast any more, due to the new shipyard, and the detour means that there is no saving of distance as there used to be.

I passed Coogee, went on into South Fremantle and turned left into Douro Road to find Marine Terrace and go through Fremantle that way, past the park and the train station. This added distance but is more pleasant than the hills and traffic and traffic lights of Hampton Road and James Street.

I went on to Cottesloe and the ride ended as I braked outside my back gate and checked the time and the odometer.

Reading at Home, end of ride: 1071. Km for day: 67. Aggregate: 670. Km/day: 61.

Charles A. Pierce, 2005