Rail Trail Gossip by Mike Lee (AKA Fat Controller) During the planning stages of travelling south for the Tour Down Under (reported elsewhere) I decided that I would extend my sojourn south for a week by visiting Victoria to do my all-time favourite sort of cycling Rail Trails! A rail trail really lets you explore scenery and interesting towns without the hassle of moron motorists buzzing past you at high speeds on the nation s highways. Formed along disused railway alignments, these trails offer good quality surfaces (in Victoria at least) and very easy grades. Normally I'd tour the trails with a hybrid or MTB decked out for credit card touring, but as I was coming over from Adelaide after the TDU, I would be travelling with the road bike. For this reason I chose to spend the majority of my Victorian visit on the Murray to Mountains trail for a third time (it really is that good!) due to it being sealed. Initial entry into Victoria was via Bendigo for a quick explore on the gravel O'Keefe Rail Trail, between Heathcote and Bendigo. To run on gravel, the roadie was shod with 28mm tyres running 60 70 psi, and worked really well. The plan was to use Victoria's excellent regional rail service to connect between the regional centres and Melbourne, and live out of a back pack for the few days touring. Then Victoria's excellent regional rail service all but collapsed due to 'maintenance issues' with their wheels. The wheels nearly fell off alright, but some contingency planning was put into place with one advantage being that by bumming lifts off people with cars, I could send my baggage forward and ride unencumbered with backpacks etc. It is my opinion that the premium trail in Victoria, and therefore the country, is the Murray to the Mountains rail trail. And for a couple of reasons One is that the main part of the trail is fully sealed, and the other is that it passes though superb country side that contains wineries that front right onto the trail. The Murray to the Mountains system is actually three separate trails, but this article only focuses on the main trail Wangaratta to Bright, with a branch from Everton (26 km from Wangaratta) up to Beechworth. After Bendigo I was delivered to Violet town, where I met with my greatest Strava Critic, Jen W and her husband Al, who packed my bike on their roof and delivered me to Wangaratta. After a quick lunch there, Jen and I got the bikes down from the roof, and rode the 26km to the old Junction station of Everton via the rail trail. The township is 3 km from the station site (they did that a lot in Victoria) so we rode down and met up with Al, who had set up our night s accommodation, unpacked the car, got beers cold and generally made himself useful. Although our ultimate destination was at the end of the trail at Bright, being the Australia day long weekend, and also where the Alpine classic was being held, the place was full. But not to worry, Everton had a pub so we'd be set for the night, or would have been, if the pub was actually open! The section of Rail Trail between Wangaratta and Everton is probably the least scenic but certainly not boring. From Wangaratta you follow the signs along make-shift paths until you reach a place called 'Bowser' which is about 8 km out. Bowser has train styled rest area with toilets, shelter and a picnic table. There is also tank water there where use for consumption is at the rider s discretion. There is a number of this type of shelter along the trail at some of the old station sites. After Bowser, you pick up the old rail alignment. It is generally straight and appears flat, but actually climbs 50 metres over 20 km, with a small climb (less than 2%) for the last couple of Kms into Everton. Country side is grazing land with plenty of trees, with either side of the trail having plenty of trees offering some wind breaking benefit.
Day two started early with a ride up to Beechworth for breakfast, at the famous bakery up there. Beechworth is pretty town with abundant historical buildings. It is also 350 metres above Everton and features around a 10 km climb at 3% for the total of 16kms up there. Of course for any Copperload veteran, this is an easy grade, especially on an unencumbered road bike. A previous climb with several kg of gear in panniers on an MTB was not quite as happy an experience. The pie was awesome but the coffee disappointing, but there were plenty of alternative coffee shops in the town. Our support driver follows the I don't do hills mantra to a great extent than even I do, so he drove the support vehicle up to Beechworth. At this point, because I 'owed' the hill a climb to balance climbing / descent ratios, Al and I swapped over so he could ride his bike down the hill with Jen. I drove back to Everton to await them and prepare for the next leg of the ride. Another role swap ensued and Al returned to the car while Jen and I rode the trail to our proposed lunch stop at the Happy Valley Hotel at Ovens, which is the other side of the major town of Myrteford. From Everton to Myrtleford is 26 km, and features a 5 km gentle descent from Everton, then the biggest climb on the trail a 140 metre climb to Taylors gap. This elevation is achieved over 6 km, and averages only 2% so it's not taxing on a light bike. After topping the gap, it s a drop for the final 10 km to Myrtleford, with plenty of food and drink stops available and which we rode past in anticipation of lunch 4 km away at Ovens. Once you top the Taylors gap, the country changes in a most spectacular fashion as you enter the Ovens Valley, with Mt Buffalo and other Alpine ranges coming into view, vibrant green fields and bordering forests and mountain ranges. From here to Bright is the jewel of the trail.
Arriving at Ovens, starving hungry, we headed over to the pub to do a serious number on the menu and wine list, only to discover the bloody place was shut! It has not yet been determined why Al did not do a scouting mission for the half an hour he sat in the carpark waiting for us. Not wanting to back track to Myrtleford, we decided to push on towards the Feathertop Winery, 16 km ahead. It is fortunate that wild apples and blackberries grew right beside the track, as this bush tucker kept us going to the winery. This part of the trail features wineries, berry farms and cafes that back onto the trail or exist in close proximity to it, although not in the 16 km between Ovens and Feathertop. We eventually made it and YES! It was open. A fantastic lunch was had and Al made up for his earlier intel faux pas by selecting a particularly crisp Pinot Gris. After lunch we pushed on to Porepunkah and finally Bright. Bright is a beautiful town, and the rail trail passes through an attractive linear parkland that has been created in the old yards. Our accommodation backed onto this path and we just rode into our back verandah and settled in, seeing as how Al had once again got the place opened up for us. Honourable mention goes out to the Bright Brewery for its great range of products, fantastic pizza menu and rather nice setting. The OFILs visited this place post 3 peaks last year, but not too many of us remember leaving it, so it was nice to re-visit the place.
We were rained out the next day so stayed off the bikes and drove around to a couple of wineries and visited the Milawa Gourmet region. Otherwise we would have ridden up Mount Buffalo. Honest. The following day found the weather had cleared, but it was time to head back to Melbourne, so Jen and I left Al with the dishes, grabbed the bikes, and took off down the trail back towards Everton. In this direction, it is predominantly downhill, the exceptions being for the climb up the reverse side of Taylors Gap and a slight climb for the final couple of Km into Everton. We didn't want to hold Al up, so with Jen following obediently in my wake, we set a good pace down the trail. Conversation was strictly forbidden due to the likelihood of it ruining our average speed. It was mostly a good plan, as Jen was awarded a QoM on a longish segment, but I was berated for letting the team down because she missed another one by 6 seconds. The breeze backed on us in the last half an hour of the ride, totally wrecking my hoped for 30kph moving average speed, but I think the pace over the 60km was pretty respectable anyway. Victoria is full of rail trails, and I want to explore all of them. This will be difficult however, because the Murray to the Mountains is something that I am happy to keep going back to.