A blog about cycling...especially the long distance stuff

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Melbourne to Sydney: Day 2


The dew was down this morning so a wet tent got packed away...though I'd had a big sleep and was raring to go. The day started with a section along the Bass Coast Rail Trail. Surf was up, it was a beautiful spot to stop for moment, with the sun still low on the horizon. 




I didn't have a set plan for the day today, but hoped to connect up with the Great Southern Rail Trail, and then get as far east as I could. The Bass highway out of Kilcunda is busy and it's best to take any detour you can on a bike. I stopped in at Inverloch and enjoyed 'sitting on the dock on the bay' for a little while until forcing myself up to get cycling again. Via a trip to the local bakery first, of course.


I meet up with the Great Southern Rail Trail near the town of Buffalo. What a great ride this was! It's a dirt trail but packed down enough (just) for my thin road tyres to cope OK.




Great Southern Rail Trail - from Helmet Cam

As you can tell by the title, it's a former railway line, great news if you are pedalling as you know any gradient will be gentle!


Fish Creek was convenient place to stop, and I called in for coffee and a feed at the cow themed cafe with friendly staff. Just out of town I was wheeling the bike through some long grass torejoin the trail, one of my mates is always trying to wind me up about getting bitten by a snake on these trips, and I was thinking...”gee this is a great place for snakes”. Just as I was mounting the bike again, one crossed the path in front of me! It was brown, about a meter long, and moving quite quickly. To be honest it looked a lot more interested in hiding than biting cyclists.



I switched the helmet cam on here hoping to get a photo, but of course didn't see any more. I bumped in to another guy on a bike here and he gave me the awesome news that the trail had been extended to Toora. This was awesome riding, a smooth trail, loads of birds, and out of the sun and traffic.

At Toora it was back to the main road and this section was horrible with no shoulder and seemingly no speed limit. I pulled in for the day at Yarram and got the tent up. Feeling pretty shattered actually, I don't think I'll be doing many longer days! And the big hills are still to come.

Distance: 129 km
Snakes encountered: 1

1 comment:

  1. Hey, Bagel on a bike. I'm planning to use the same route as you for me and my mates on our fresh out of highschool melbourne to sydney biking trip. You seem to have had lots of fun during it aswell. May i ask what is the most difficult part of the trip for you? and do you have any tips for me and my mates who want to follow this trail?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete