Darlington

After a beautiful sunset, a much warmer night than we thought it would be (turns out 10 degrees in a 2man tent with three people really isn't too bad) and our usual serve of porridge, we headed off to our next adventure. The weather forecast had said "a shower or two" and we felt the grim wind and saw the clouds above our heads. But we had set our minds on the bishop and clerk summits and hence off we went, not minding the weather.
First stop was at the fossil cliffs, only about 15min ride away and full of -you guessed it- fossils. Quite amazing how much sealife was visible on these cliffs! Tom was eager to get a head start on the walking tour we had passed, hence he left a bit earlier but Vivi and I soon followed. The map had said to leave the bikes on the main circuit but as no sign indicated the same (Maria Island is well signed!), we kept on going. Due to the incline (again!) Vivi and I soon refrained to pushing instead of riding though. That might have cost us the view: the last piece of the track consisted of a stone field and steep cliffs at the very end (we had left the bikes behind at a signed trail head by then). The trail's end was only reported to us by Tom though, as it had started to drizzle down once Vivi and I reached the stone field. Tom, who had come down from the summit, mentioned that the clouds hid the view by now and the rocks had become too slippery to pass (Tom: And windy! I am very sad to report that by now probably the sea has devoured my trusty base cap which the gusty winds at the summit stole off my head). Oh well, we tried. Turning around seemed like the better option than risking our lives on steep slippery cliffs... and the view was still ok from where we were. Luckily the rain had stopped once we reached our bikes and all three of us enjoyed the ride back. Downhill mountain biking is fun!
Back in Darlington, our planned lunch had sadly been taken by moths long ago, but Tom thought about asking the ferry operators for some sandwiches that they usually sell to consume during the trip. There are no shops on the island, so come prepared! Luckily, they sold some to us and we spent the time till departure happily munching away.
Shortly before we left, the sun came out again and we left the island with clear views and crossing a fairly calm sea. We were quite lucky to experience so many different facetts of Maria Island.Read more