Day three - Taminick loop - 67 km, 541 m (Ride total 181km, 1,158m)

A 300 meter hill up through the Warby - Oven Reserve into the Warby ranges then a good steady downhill descent that took us into serious large scale (compared to NZ) grain farming country, very dry country but lovely looking soil free of stones. The stubble paddocks have been prepared for burning once the fire authority allows such.

The route kept us off busy roads with very little traffic and for much of the ride it was a sealed single lane road on which most drivers slowed down and gave us a wide berth - however there always has to be one who heads past us at a great rate of knots!

Within a 200 meters of passing a "Kangaroo" sign on the side of the road there was a XXXX????  (not sure what you call a family group or more than one Kangaroo in the one place) Let's say Mob, however Mrs Google informs me I could also call them a "Troop or a Court" of Kangaroos! There in the paddock was a "Troop" of Kangaroos, to me what appeared to be two adults and a number of juveniles. I had time to flick on the GoPro and got a video of the adults bounding over the farm fence on my right, across the road in front of me and then off over the farm fence on my left. Great to see.

Shortly after this at the beginning of the hill climb was another wildlife sign this time it was warning of the "Carpet" snakes! Stephen then informed there's no concern or need to fear these snakes (they just coil around you and squeeze you to death)! Needless to say when we stopped at the top of the hill I stayed on the tarseal and did not venture off into the undergrowth.

We were looking forward to an early lunch at the halfway mark at "Thoona", however the only place open or had any life around it was the local school, the 1880 General Store closed at 11:00 AM or so the sign said however we weren't sure which, day, month or year the sign was referring to and the pub on the corner across the road was also closed (with its "Open" sign out). We did however make use of the General Store seats and had a nut bar and banana before heading on for the second hill climb of the day.

Again another great downhill ride and before too long we were back in Wangaratta where I led the peloton to the local bakery for a well earned pie and cuppa,

Our first night here we ate at the RSL Club, last night I had a good spaghetti at the Italian Restaurant and tonight Elio has volunteered to organise a BBQ for our dinner so needless to say I'm not doing enough exercise to lose any weight!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day SIx - Benella Silo Art Ride - 53 km, 114 m (Ride total = 380 km, 2,365 m)

Image
 There was a good rain overnight and it was wet when we loaded the vehicles for the drive to Benella where there was also a light shower happening when we hopped on the bikes and Stephen took us around the town to look at the Mural Artworks that the Town have taken on board as something they do. There are many Murals on the walls of buildings and are certainly worthwhile taking in. We stopped at a Cafe for our morning tea break then loaded the bikes for a shuttle out to Tungamah for the one-way ride back into Benella. The rain had stopped by the time we began the second ride of the day and our first silo art to admire was there at the rail silos in Tungamah. It was a cooler day today and no sun to speak of but not cold by our standards so very comfortable riding weather. We stopped at the pub at Devinish for lunch and also to take a picture of George Coles first store (now Coles). The store is closed, the plaque is there and there was no sign of there ever being a Woolworths across...
Read more

Day two - Beechworth Loop - 80 km 564 m (Ride total 114 km, 617m)

Image
 A couple of good showers overnight meant the riding today was a bit cooler - when the sun was out it was pleasant/hot when it was not it was coolish and the wind with it meant the jacket made life comfortable. We left at 9:00 for a figure of eight ride out to Beechwood which is an old gold mining town, Half the ride was on sealed rail trail - there was one 250 constant climb up the old railway line at a 4-degree gradient for most of the 5.5 km. On the return ride out from Beechwood there was an 11 km road section that lost a good couple of hundred meters in elevation so that was good to ride, What is quite noticeable riding here is the smell - no it's not offensive but very Australian and Eucalypt in essence - a smell I quite enjoy as it brings back memories of camping at Long Bay close to the big old Bluegums.
Read more

Join Peter and myself when ride Melbourne to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road in March 2025

Image
On Sunday March 16, 2025, we, Peter and Chris leave Mont Albert, Melbourne on a 1,200 km, 17 day bike ride to Adelaide – would you like to join us?   This message gives you an outline of our ride and has an “ Expression of Interest ” form for you to complete to let us know you’re interested at this early stage.   With over 160,000 km’s of local and international travel by bike between us we have every confidence that this “at home” ride will be breeze and an enjoyable way to see the Great Ocean Road and everything else between Melbourne and Adelaide. This is not a high class, expensive “Supported Tour” so do not come if you expect someone to carry your bag to your room and have everything laid on – it won’t be. It will however be a fun ride with friends out to have an enjoyable time and everyone will do their bit to make it such.   We will provide the detailed route to follow, the schedule of overnight stops and will book the accommodation in cheap and cheerfu...
Read more