After several stages of straight roads across the Nullarbor Plain, stage 318 finally offers some respite as the Eyre Highways follows the coastline of the Great Australian Bight as it swings northeast twenty miles to the south of the road.
The lumpy flat rollout follows the all too familiar pattern heading east along the northern fringe of the Ngudja Indigenous Protected Area, but once it reaches Caiguna at six miles, it hangs a gentle left hander to begin travelling north east. Thereafter, whilst you could say that the route is still pretty straight, it does meander gently left and right at the end of a series of long straights, each typically between one and three miles in length.
There’s still nothing by way of civilisation to break the monotony of the highway however: there are no towns on the route after Caiguna: indeed, the fact the the stage ends in the middle of nowhere for the fifth time in seven stages tells its own tale.
Form the six mile mark, after the lumpy flat opening, the elevation profile is one of a lumpy descent: there are no flat roads for more than a few seconds at a time. But the beauty of the stage is that it descends a hundred feet more than it climbs, so it does lay claim to be a fast descender and probably a bit of a power stage.
Distance: 23 miles / 37 kilometres
Ascent: 253 feet / 77 metres
RGT Magic Road: JMcMJWWOYLjZ
Max elevation: 314 ft
Min elevation: 196 ft
Total climbing: 253 ft
Total descent: -347 ft
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