May 4, 2017
Day One Pakenham to Warragul
Thursday 4th May 2017 was the start of my second cycle tourning
holiday with my husband Michael, an experienced bike rider. After
eating porridge for breakfast and packing the panniers on our yellow
tandem bike we cycled to our local railway station at Mitcham,
Melbourne, Victoria where we were able to load the bike on to the
last train carriage. Luckily the 6.45 am train to the city still had
lots of space and we stood our bike up against two end seats, across
the train carriage and headed towards the city.
Fortunately we would be able to change trains at Richmond
Station, (which sits next to The Melbourne Cricket Ground) from our
metro Lilydale/Belgrave Line to the Pakenham Line without travelling
into the City of Melbourne. After the rush of commuters had left our
platform we waited for our train to arrive, The Pakenham train would
take us to the end of the Pakenham Railway Line, and we would start
cycling east from the station towards Warragul.
Leaving the Pakenham station car park we turned left into
Bald Hill Road where we cycled through Pakenham's industrial centre
under the Princes Highway and out into the open country side, with
views on either side to the horizon. Bald Hill Road runs east in an
almost perfectly straight line and we have ridden it many times
before. You ride until you reach the T junction with Seven Mile Road
where you turn left and ride in another straight line until you stop
just before reaching the train tracks at Nar Nar Goon. Turning right
into C433 Nar Nar Goon - Longwarry Road, we stopped at the War
Memorial for a rest and passed the Op-Shop and other buildings with
their murals of how the town used to look.
Cycling parallel to the train tracks we stopped at Garfield for
morning tea at the Magpie & Stump Bakehouse, where we enjoyed
pots of tea and Chelsea Buns.
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After chatting with some motor bike riders and wishing everyone a safe journey we continued cycling parallel to the train tracks until we reached the small town of Longwarry where we stopped at our usual lunch time spot at the local park / playground and ate our sandwiches and drank our water.
After lunch we cycled across the train tracks and turned right
into C433 Mackey Street which became the Longwarry - Drouin Road (I
had never cycled between Longwarry and Drouin before. Cycling past
local shops and homes we were soon out in the open country side
again, cycling along an almost straight road with wide views of the
country side to the horizon, where a range of hills on the left stood
up against the sky, they like us were heading east.
On the outskirts of Drouin, Wellwood Road swung right and soon
became Princes Way as we speed downhill into the centre of Drouin.
Turning left into Hope Steet we stopped at a large McDonald's for ice
creams and cups of tea. Hope Street looks out onto Civic Park which
is bordered by Drouin Recreation Reserve and St Ita's Catholic
Primary School. Here we joined the Two Towns Trail, a walking and
cycling path which begins in Civic Park Drouin and ends in Rotary
Park Warragul.
Reaching Warrigal Rotary Park we crossed Princes Way and through
the tunnel under the railway lines to Warragul Gardens Holiday Park,
which was surrounded by parkland, lawn bowls club and netball
centre. The holiday park cabins were surrounded by perfect lawns and flower beds and our cabin was wonderfully appointed.
A short walk through park land brought us to the Railway Hotel
81 Queen St, Warragul where we had a nice evening meal.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 51 km (32 miles)
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