Then there's people like me: I gave up bushwalking because I get frustrated doing the "back" bit of an out and back walk.
In short I want to know what's around the next corner, not go back and see if I can do the corner I just did a bit better and that, by way of a long introduction, was why Kim and I found ourselves putting our bikes together in Ballarat to go explore a new trail I had come across called the Goldfields Track.
The basics of this track is that it is 210km long (though if you start from Ballarat it's about 25km shorter), stretches from south of Ballarat to Bendigo and used to be known as the Great Dividing Trail. It is actually three tracks joined end to end ... the Wallaby Track, the Dry Diggings Track and the Leanganook Track, but that won't affect you very much because it's all signed as the goldfields track on the ground.
The bit I loved about this track when looking at it as a riding option is that it's logistically all very easy ... from Melbourne airport we just caught the skybus straight to the train station in central Melbourne, then jumped onto a train to Ballarat walked out of the train station and straight into our motel (Reid's Guest House) and that was that ... we were at the start of the track. (OK, so we may not have got much sleep due to the railway calls all night, but at least it was close).
From there, we had broken the ride up into four days Ballarat to Creswick; Creswick to Daylesford; Daylesford to Castlemaine and Castlemaine to Bendigo where the track finishes at the train station and from there it was straight back to Melbourne using Vline and Skybus again ... easy peasy.
To make things even easier, we were able to download the GPS route for free straight from the website (though the Wallaby Track wasn't there and I had to search through the Garmin data to get the route).
As I say, they made it very easy all around.
However, I do have some cautions and advice:
1. The website promises that you don't even need a map because every junction is signed. Of course in reality this is not true. Although they have done an awesome job signing the trail, some signs have already been removed and vandalised and you only need to miss one turn to ruin a good ride. That said, with the GPS route, it is hard to get lost.
Here was an example where the arrow had been removed. |
3. Don't trust the distances on the website. Except for the last day we seemed to cycle a lot shorter distances than indicated on the website.
4. If you come across the free brochure about the track and look at the route profile and see that big climb on the last day just out of Castlemaine ... stop stressing. The MTB route goes around the big hill. The route profile is for the walking route only.
Actually that's about it - other than that everything went swimmingly well.
Our first days riding was only a short 25kms or so to Creswick which allowed us the luxury of a lazy (and huge) breakfast at mumz cafe on the main street which had brilliant coffee and hot chocolate but very mediocre food.
With very full stomachs we finally set off. The first few kilometres out of Ballarat (once we got off the short road section) was easy riding beside a creek, before crossing under the highway through a dark culvert.
We soon found ourselves going up and down gully's and through a maze of bush tracks, single track and along water races, but in the main the riding was just good fun easy bush riding ... well if you weren't carrying two heavy panniers on the back of your bike.
Our only problem was when we came out at a spot to find that the track was closed to cyclists (this was before we realised there was alternate cycling routes which in this case weren't signed but were in the book) but we managed to find our way forward anyway just using my GPS.
Notice the no cycling sign, but there were no signs telling us where to go. |
The rest of Creswick though ... well it could do with some maintenance ....
That said, we were both glad we had opted for the 'easy' first day (in Kim's word she would have cried if we had had to cycle all the way to Daylesford on the first day) and all up it was a lovely way to spend our first anniversary.
Happy anniversary Kimmy - Don't I just take you the best places!
I love this complement, the colour, the pattern it’s all so cute. But unfortunately I think she may only get to wear it twice if I’m lucky.
ReplyDeleteWhich is what I was counting on as we are in spring, though you wouldn’t know it,
a torrential down pour has started this week and it’s been freezing so I quickly sewed the buttons on and she got to wear it at least once.
Best Sheds Bendigo
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Best Sheds Bendigo
Several communities can exist within the same website, although they'll usually all have something in common. Meetings and events can also be arranged.
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Best Sheds Bendigo
Take one shed, a lot of skill and plenty of people with a shared interest and you are part way to understanding
ReplyDeletethe Bendigo Woodturners. Writer: Steve Kendall – Photographer: David Field Each week about 120 people from varyin
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Best Sheds Bendigo