Run 2:01:00 [3] 24.4 km (4:58 / km)
Eyre Bird Observatory and return from the top of the scarp.
I'd been anticipating this one for weeks (regular readers may recall an earlier comment about a meteorological site I wanted to go to where the last 12km of the track in was reputed to be extremely dodgy). Quite apart from the principal purpose of this bit of the trip, it was a pretty nice place to run, although reasonably hard work because of all the ups and downs over the sand dunes. The rain was a blessing and a curse; a curse because it made driving in as far as the scarp a bit dicey, a blessing because it meant the sand on the track I was running on was mostly pretty firm. Doing a session like this is also a reminder that 24km is a meaningful distance on foot, in a weekend where for most of the time it was 13 minutes of cruise control and if you're unlucky you might have to turn the steering wheel once or twice.
The run itself was at its best in the third quarter, the first 6km coming back out of the observatory (I thought I might stiffen up in the 15 minutes or so looking around there, but didn't). It was hard work at times otherwise, but still got through OK. Somewhat surprisingly, I wasn't that tired through the rest of the day, which is why I'm now in Esperance and not Norseman as originally planned.
A lot of the restoration work at Eyre was done courtesy of funds from an eccentric American millionaire who spent a lot of time there because he thought it would be the best place to see out the coming nuclear holocaust. Somewhat ironically, his unfortunate demise came as a result of injuries suffered in a mugging on a visit home.
And the Gibson Soak (a dodgy pub 25km north of Esperance) looks exactly how I remember it from when we stayed there in 1977 (although minus the drunk cricket team).