The OTL would have to be one of the top three cycle touring challenges we have faced in our 20000km or so of cycle touring in Europe and Australia. For us it's up there with the Bloomfield Track in the Daintree and the high alpine passes of Europe for the physical punishment it dishes out. The OTL is a remote, narrow, sandy, rocky, washed out, hilly track which is punctuated at regular intervals by creeks and rivers that swallow 4WDs whole. Lurking crocodiles and taipans keep you on your toes. One taipan (the world's most dangerous snake, apparently) startled me so much as I cycled by it that I almost lost balance and toppled over onto the thing. It wasn't interested in fleeing either, preferring to leave that effort to me. The OTL also saw me, on my second traverse of Cape York from north to south in July when I was all on my lonesome after Honorata's departure for Poland, get attacked by a swarm of wasps who thoroughly pummelled me with scores of stings to my scalp, face (including eyelids and lips, of course), neck, and shoulders. It's a place where crying for mummy won't do you any good, although I considered trying it for a moment during the 10 minutes of pain my wasp tormentors put me through. The main challenging section of the OTL is about 150km long, beginning at Bramwell Junction (shown in photo) and ending at the Jardine River. It is so demanding that our average speed was no more than 10k/hour (that's slow!). We of course loved it, even the hard bits.
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