April 14, 2025
Sister to Sister
Castlemaine to Bendigo
We ate at the Railway Hotel with Di, Mike and their daughter Miranda. Our conversation ranged from nuclear medicine to Astro physics to Greco Roman palaeontology. Unsurprising as the Castlemaine postcode of 3450 apparently has the highest concentration of residents with PhD’s in the country. A friend of mine reckons that PhD holders end up knowing more and more about less and until they know everything about nothing. I can’t concur with him despite his obvious expertise in the subject (advanced certificate in hairdressing at Sunshine TAFE) and also the guys a bloody idiot.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Pete and I slept in Di and Mikes pop up campervan whilst John got the short straw and slept in his tent. We assembled our accommodation by folding out the cantilever beds at either end, raising the roof and then securing some support struts to support each bed. I think we failed to do the last bit properly as every time Pete rolled over I shot about 2 feet in the air. Consequently I slept pretty poorly.
Our whittled down peloton of 3 rode the three kilometres back into town for breakfast at the old mill. Cherie and I have eaten here before. There is a definite Austro-Hungarian theme running through the menu and the coffee is very good despite having some weird options including a double espresso with honey.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
It’s not a long ride to Bendigo so we’re in no rush. After an hour of hilly forest riding we land in Harcourt for third coffee. This small town of 1038 (census 2021) has a surprisingly good cafe where we also picked up sandwiches for later in the day. There was also a copy of the local rag on the counter which always makes for good reading. In November 24 they published a participation survey for all the residents and in this issue they published the results. Without boring the pants off you a total of 7 people responded and of the 25 suggested activities the one that got the most votes with 5 was a car boot sale. As to which was their preferred day for activities, 2 didn’t respond and the other 5 each nominated a different day of the week.
Much more controversial was the annual ‘Chappys Challenge’ at the local Bowlo which happened to be taken out by Les, Brenton and Tom Chaplin. To me this smacks of insider trading, collusion or both.
After about 8 unexpected drops of rain as we mounted our bikes we headed off on more quiet roads through farmland and scrub crying out for rain. After another downpour of 15 drops we crested a longish hill where we found a picnic table by a school bus stop ideal for our lunch stop.
It was another hour into Bendigo the latter part being on a busier road. Just as we stopped to look up my sister’s address my brother in law coincidentally turned up on his bike looking the worse for wear having fallen off earlier in his ride. We were a block away from his house so we called in for a cup of tea before we meet up later for dinner.
| Heart | 4 | Comment | 2 | Link |
5 days ago
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 0 | Link |
The last 7 kilometres to our BnB was on a dedicated bike path that led us directly to our accommodation with barely a road to traverse. It’s luxurious accommodation tonight with our own rooms and a washing machine that gets an immediate workout as does the shower.
Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 281 km (175 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |