The ride will start from my front gate in Canberra. The first section will be fairly hilly and follow backroads through the local ranges. This route will avoid the major highways...the Barton Highway and the Hume Highway which are exceedingly busy with heavy vehilcles. Both have reasonable shoulders and could be cycled if necessary but the quiet backroads are there and my Thorn Sherpa is ideal for those types of roads.

The hilly backroads will get me to the Murray River (the border of NSW and Victoria) somewhere near the border twin towns of Albury-Wodonga. It is around here that I will meet my co-rider John Frampton who will be traveling from Melbourne with his Surly LHT on the train.

John and I have done a few bike tours together over the years. He currently lives in Brazil and recently journaled here on CGOAB about his ride from Ottawa to New York.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/20160

From Albury-Wodonga the route will generally follow the Murray River toward the Victorian-South Australian border. We haven’t worked out a specific route, but there are a few options which can be decided day by day. It’s likely most of the ride will be on the Victorian side of the river.

This useful information from the Website Cycle Trails Australia
“Murray River, SA/NSW/Vic:
A humungous muddy river, dirt tracks adjacent, through extensive River Red Gum forests, riverside campsites, many free, the possibility of a cooling swim, paddle boats, wildlife, not so many hills for 80% of the way, plenty of occasional civilisation to restock supplies, proximity to population centres, there’s lots of reasons to try this trail.
Helps that there is excellent access, after all you can start, or finish, close to Adelaide, or Canberra, and that the full ride can be achieved in various stages if 3 or 4 weeks doesn’t easily fit in your schedule.
Best parts, if you have an adventurous spirit are: the Murray Mouth at Goolwa around to Wellington; Renmark to Wentworth on the remote north side via the extraordinary Rufus River, it’s the birdlife; the riverside tracks through the State Forests from Swan Hill to Torrumbarry Weir; more forest trails from Mathoura to Tocumwal; and then pretty much everything from the ferry at Wyman above the Hume Weir until Jindabyne.
All bike tourers should at least do the impressive Swan Hill to Echuca section which is mostly right by the river and has numerous free official campsites perched on the banks.

The chunk on the forest tracks along the river between Swan Hill and Tocumwal is possibly the most rewarding if time is an issue.

distance – Murray River, South Australia/New South Wales/Victoria is around 1850 km

maps – Murray River, South Australia/New South Wales/Victoria

Cartographics Murray River and Mallee, South Australia 1: 350,000 is indispensable for the SA sector showing a good level of detail of the river, all the dirt tracks, the road names and routes through the towns. Pity there aren’t similar river based maps for the rest of the route.

Once you get to NSW and Victoria it’s possible to be crossing the river a few times but the large scale maps are generally state based and don’t show much detail on the opposite side of the river. The Hema Victoria East and West Map 1: 750,000, rep $9.95, is probably the most useful as a general guide for planning.

One of the major joys of this route is to ride the tracks through the state forests and fortunately there are excellent paper maps showing the baffling track network at a high level of detail produced by Rooftop or Hayman’s Maps. Cohuna – Echuca – Gunbower Forest Activities Map, scale 1:100,000 and 1:50,000, rrp $10.95, Barmah – Shepparton – Deniliquin Adventure Map, scale 1:100,000 and 1:50,000, rrp $10.95, Kosciuszko National Park Forest Activities Map, scale 1:50,000, rrp $11.95. These can be found at many camping stores.

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