April 2, 2013
Day 1
Our Mitcham – Warrnambool – Port Fairy Ride
Michael has been dreaming of riding the Warrnambool – Port Fairy Rail Trail for some time, and this dream was realized in the days after Easter – Tuesday 2nd – Friday 5th April 2013.
With our pre-booked return rail tickets from Mitcham – Warrnambool and our four packed panniers we set off on the tandem bike to Mitcham Station to catch a very early morning train to Southern Cross Station. Whether it was the excitement of the journey ahead or Michael's careful packing which left us with nothing much else to do in the morning, we arrived at Mitcham Station earlier than expected and waited behind a lady and her bike to board the train. We all joined a man and his bike in the last train carriage for the journey into the city.
Southern Cross Station was coming to life, and as we waited on the Warrnambool train platform we were soon joined by four lady cyclists, in time our bike was loaded into the guards van first as it took up the most room, soon all the bikes were loaded and the train set off at 7.19 am. Arriving at Warrnambool Station at 10.45 am we soon got our bike unloaded and set off winding our way through the city and its residential streets.
Cycling along a descending empty minor road we shot past the meat works on our right and found ourselves on a coarse gravel path which took us past sand dunes to our left, and a farm gate which had to be unlocked to gain access to the wooden board walk over Kelly's Swamp to our right.
At the far end of the board walk were more farm gates where we found a sign attached to a riding school fence which read “if this sign is underwater rail trail is impassable”.
From here the rail trail seemed to go up hill and down dale and around corners, until we reached Illowa Road which follows the old alignment of the Princess Highway. Here we rode for several kilometres on a dedicated bicycle lane beside the roadway which had been fenced off to provide greater safety for cyclists. Slowing down we rode along an underpass which went beneath the current Princess Highway and into a headwind. Turning sharp right and left we joined the rail trail which now followed the old train line in a straight line before curving towards Koroit. Here we left the trail and cycled along the road to find a cafe/bakery for lunch in the town's main street.
After lunch cycling through Koroit a sign read Port Fairy 17.7 km – Warrnambool 20 kms, here we rejoined the trail again and hit the headwind and grey skies, Michael's famous last words were, “it's all down hill from here to Port Fairy”. Soon we were cycling along the packed limestone track with wide longitudinal cracks in the ground, and beautiful soft green countryside on either side of us.
The countryside looked soft green through the rain and wind as we speed along pass the grazing fawn coloured cows, after some time I had to get of the bike and walk along the track to try and get some movement back into my limbs. This proved the ideal opportunity to notice the dozens of black cricket beetles who liked walking around in the rain and the cows who never stopped eating, even when they turned their heads to look at us and ask : what brought you here in this weather ? (don't ask !).
After my second stop and walk, we both made a huge effort to make Port Fairy, the rain stopped just before entering the town and we stopped at the information office at the end of the track, the man said the weather had been very changeable of late, and this could make getting into Port Fairy a real challenge : he gave me a small Easter egg.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 45 km (28 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |