Day 278 | the Agnew Road, then Leinster: or, how to turn an easy day into something else
66 km | Heading west total: 13,168 km
6 km down the highway this morning was a turnoff to take me on the direct route to the old gold mining township of Agnew a further 37 km away. I thought I might have a detour on my way to civilisation at Leinster.
A deserted dirt road, later found to be the old main road, no worries.
My first big chicken (emu) since early South Australia stalked at pace across the road.
It started well but later some sand encountered meant hauling, pushing, walking the bike along. Slow going and I reached the point where I was only shoving 20 or 30 m before I needed a break. Time for some cross country first to the right of the road and then over on the left along the track on a fence line that made for considerably easier travelling for about 10 kms. Spotted 3 large goanna lizards, (1.5 m) I wouldn’t want running up my trouser leg.
In the end it took 4.5 hours to get to that long awaited pub.
The town has mostly gone although they are still working a few gold mines around: workers now come in from Leinster. What remains after Agnew’s heyday in the 1930s is a disparate collection of buildings tacked together to make up the pub and a couple of old miners shacks. There is also a great collection of mining memorabilia rusting away over the road.
The bar gal was a cheery 22, I suppose, and I found I was the only customer once the 3 fat ladies of Leinster left. (Well I tried to find a more poetic analogy but pigs at the trough would be most accurate to describe the gusto with which they were munching into their humungous burgers with the lot.)
I was only somewhat less ravenous with the way I attacked my own steak sanger with a stubby of Carlton Mid to wash it down.