Day 3 - Castlemaine to Heathcote - 61 kms

Today the weather was a little wet with thunder storms looming for most of the ride. The temp was in the high 20's for the ride and the wind was light , the road surfaces were good and we had a mixture of flatish terrain with some rolling hills....all of this made for good riding with good speed on the roads.

We started at about 8.00m with a ride around Castlemaine looking for a coffee shop to get an early morning "hit" ahead of the ride....well Castlemaine is very "sleepy" with virtually no shops open for business so we settled on the coffee shop at the railway station....quite good coffee in a different location! ( see photo later)

After coffee it was on with the ride through some lovely country...mainly sheep country as opposed to the past few days which was very much cropping country ( wheat and canola). This area also has a rich history in gold mining which saw it as a key area of mining in the gold rush of the 1850's. During the ride we had a few drops of rain which required us to put on wet weather gear at different times. We made it to our lunch stop at Redesdale by 11.00am which was very early and we decided to have a coffee break....very lucky as the weather closed in with a heavy thunderstorm...lighting and thunder and a lot of rain. Lucky for us we settled in at the coffee shop enjoying good coffee and cakes sheltered from the storm. 

After waiting about an hour and a half we "braved" the elements to resume the remaining 25kms to Heathcote. This ride was over some 'rolling hills" with some steeper parts ( 12-14%) and some good downhill runs...all made for great times!

We arrived at Heathcote at about 1.30pm. we are staying at Dave Little's holiday home which is terrific and "very comfortable". Dave's daughter has the house next door which means we can spread out a little in to good rooms which means we can isolate the heavy snorers such as Ellio and myself!

Seems there might be a good night of sleep for some who are looking a bit weary after a night or 2 of interrupted sleep.

Dave has a great set up with a house which makes the best of the views and has good outdoor eating and entertainment areas.

Tonight we will enjoy the great cooking that is anticipated with Ellio's reputation as a great cook. Good food, great location and fabulous company....what more can you want!

Enjoy the photo's....

Coffee at Castlemaine railway station...

A monument recording the start of the Gold Rush...note the guy walked to Chewton from Williamstown ( near Melbourne)

The ute in the rain at Redesdale...what a thunderstorm!!

...but under shelter having a coffee and good home made cakes!!!