an unexpected hazard

When I established the sequence of narrow country paths that I named ‘the outer limits: path #2’ in December 2019, I couldn’t help but notice that there were several places where another path turned off the one that I was following. Consequently, in the next few weeks, I set about finding out whether any of these paths led anywhere useful (they didn’t).

However, there was one junction that I didn’t check out:

When I reached this point on my initial exploration, turning right was the obvious choice, because that way led back towards the road from which I’d started. But it took me a long time to check out the left turn (just last month, in fact). I had expected the path to go just as far as a group of houses, but it continued past there to a parking area, from where another path led away into the distance. This path eventually returned, via an extremely circuitous loop, to the parking area, from where I could then rejoin the original route.

I cycled this detour three times last week, twice by myself and once with Paula, and yesterday I decided that we should shoot a video (see below). What I hadn’t taken into consideration, because I hadn’t encountered it last week, was an unexpected hazard:

The problem wasn’t merely that it was a cow. The unfortunate animal was tethered by a makeshift rope, and if I spooked it, the rope could easily upend my bike—and me:

I’ve described the beast as ‘unfortunate’ because I suspect that it’s awaiting slaughter. The start of path #2 is along a large nullah (storm drain), and I recall seeing a small herd of feral cows there several years ago when I first explored the area. This cow has probably been seized by someone living nearby.

Of course, there are foreseeable hazards on this segment, notably a small bridge and the loose exit from it, which require intense concentration:

In fact, it’s loose and stony for about 30 metres after the bridge, but overall this detour makes an excellent addition to path #2:

[video]