ARRIVED SAFE: Alex Kelly took a moment to reflect on his journey in Wangaratta’s Merriwa Park on Monday. PHOTO: Steven Burke
Written by STEVEN BURKE.
A MELBOURNE man’s walk from Bright to Wangaratta on the weekend turned into a journey of biblical proportions.
Alex Kelly, of Burnley, walked from Bright to Myrtleford on Saturday, before pressing on to Wangaratta on Sunday, arriving in the rural city at 7.30pm – right in the middle of a storm when about 50mm of rain was recorded.
While he picked one of the wettest weekends in two decades for his trip, Alex said he didn’t have any thoughts of calling his trip off along the way.
"The last 20km was fairly arduous but I felt safe the whole way, because there was a few cyclists going past at different times," he said.
"They looked a bit more comfortable than me."
Alex got the idea for his trip after walking from Bright to Myrtleford two years ago, deciding then that he wanted to "go the whole way" to Wangaratta.
He said the distance, combined with the soaking rain, made the trip extremely challenging.
But the elements weren’t the only hazards Alex faced.
"As I was coming into Ovens, I had a migraine, and went off the track to throw up," he said.
"But when I got down to the creek there was a massive brown snake down there.
"I saw snakes and locusts – it was like something out of the Bible."
When Alex was about to leave Myrtleford, staff in a cafe showed him a radar image of the storm which was about to unleash torrents of rain on the region.
"I said, well, I’d better get a move on," Alex said.
Once he arrived in Wangaratta, Alex said he felt immediately better for having a rest and some food at the Pinsent Hotel.
Would he do it again?
"No."
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