April 23, 2024
Day 5: On the rail trail - Yarraman to Moore
. . . with unexpected dinner date
The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail has been on our radar for a year or so. It's Australia's longest, at 160 -odd km, and starts in the hills to the south-west of Brisbane city.
It moved up the wishlist though when we (OK, I!) were considering how to put together a touring itinerary that gave us (me!) two parkrun weekends in Australia in order to complete my alphabet. Given our experiences in the past few days of riding in the built-up greater Brisbane area, tackling an off-road trail high in the sparsely-populated hills was a smart move.
Henry, our shuttle driver, arrives promptly at the door of Cumquat House at 8am and spends a good 10 minutes securely tying our bikes to the vehicle's towbar rack . It's a good two hours by road to the trailhead at Yarramin so I take the back seat and watch the Ipswich urban sprawl eventually turn into classic eucalyptus-strewn Aussie landscape, lulled by Henry's non-stop chat. Unfortunately, no koalas or kangaroos made their presence known.
The tiny town of Yarraman fortunately offers a bakery for morning coffee and treats before we cycle out of town to the railhead, read the information boards and pose for a twosome photo.
Track conditions at the start don't inspire confidence. Heavy rain has turned the red clay surface into a rather treacherous one , especially for my not-a-mountainbike's tyres. We also strike the first of many, many water crossings - catching me by surprise. By the time I watch Bruce ride through a half-wheel deep channel, I'm going through myself - emerging with fully wet feet. Biking up the other side of the channel, I consider what a lost photo opportunity this was. Briefly, I also consider asking Bruce to re-enact the scene for posterity, but that wouldn't go down too well.
On what is generally a downhill ride, these large water channels (thankfully mostly dry after that first one) ensure we are working the pedals on the uphill climb - generally a steep 6 or 7 metre push each time. I'm defeated by one long and steep uphill, running out of granny gears and puff, but safely negotiate the others.
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Lunchtime arrives the same time as we roll into Blackbutt. Today's second bakery (every small Australian town has a bakery, guaranteed) sells a huge variety of excellent meat pies - mine's an eggs bene - and gives us a good sit-down break. We chat briefly to a group of six riders who have climbed from the next town, Linville, where they are camped, and are looking forward to their cruisy return ride.
The next section of trail, from Blackbutt to Linville, is pure bliss. As we have been promised, it is through state forest and is uncompromisingly downhill for around 25km. Little pedalling is needed so we're mostly coasting. Theres plenty of signage along the way about the history of the Brisbane Valley rail line and some of the bigger stations have been well-tended.
We roll into Linville around beer time, and on the recommendation of the cyclists we met at lunch, stop for a cold one. They are camped here, right on the rail trail. The Linville Hotel doesn’t disappoint; it's a typical Queenslander with deep verandahs, an assortment of daytime drinkers and beers we've never heard of. As we're trialling the range, an emissary from the campers appears for what we think is a social chat. Turns out, he's also come to invite us to dinner tonight, here at the hotel. Our destination is 7 and a bit km away and we usually like to arrive, shower and blob . . .but it's hard to turn down an opportunity to spend time with like-minded cyclists.
We waste no time in knocking off those 7km, arriving at yet another gorgeous B and B - another two-storey, century old Queenslander. We're the only visitors so have the run of the various sitting rooms, dining room and kitchens. It would make a great base for a large group and Peter, our gregarious host, is keen to show me around while Bruce is tending to bikes. I'm keen to plug in my dead phone, have a shower, and generally get organised.
Our return to Linville on the bike trail in the dark (it's 5.30!) I find a little spooky and there are two of those massive culvert/causeway drops to negotiate, not to mention the threat of snakes falling out of trees and red ants climbing up my wheel...Yes, I know, stupid really. But this is Australia.
The evening is worth it though. We swap stories with the three couples, all retired and passionate, well-travelled cyclists, and generally have a great time. On their advice, we take the road back to Moore. We’re well-lit front and rear and encounter exactly zero vehicles on the speedy 7km ride. It's been a great day.
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6 months ago
6 months ago
Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 195 km (121 miles)
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