• driving to the Blue Mountains
Farewell Sydney – onwards and upwards. From near sea-level in Sydney, I am not at nearly 2,000 feet. And as night falls, I can feel the temperature falling with it.
The drive through Sydney was quiet (as I expected with it being a public holiday) but once on the road to the Blue Mountains, the traffic thickened. I pulled off the Motorway to follow the old main road, stopping in Penrith for a coffee. art of my diversion took me up a steep hillside which included hairpins (think of Tholt-y-Will but on a main road on a Bank Holiday). That bit wasn’t too bad – it was when the old and new roads reunited that the traffic really thickened. There were stretches were the traffic moved well, but as soon as we hit a town, the lights jammed everything up for miles. It was only just over 100km (practically next door) but it took over 2 hours!
I finally reached my destination, only to find that reception was closed until 3pm. So back into the car and back to the town centre, which is on the opposite side of the main road, so it takes minutes each time you want to cross it. After a fairly average lunch, I was still too early so I found a quiet place where I could sit in the shade and read.
Back the apartment (I am in self-catering) to check-in then sit on the balcony. Well on the west balcony, as I have two, one facing east and one facing west. I washed some T-shirts to hang them out to dry as well, before settling into my jacuzzi to relax as the sky went dark.
🚗 Distance driven : 103 km