Day 5 -Wangaratta Hub & Spoke Ride- Beechworth to Myrtelford and Back
Last night Abdy organised dinner at the local pub. The food and ambience was good and after the flat ride to Rutherglen and back it was just the thing to restore the energy.
After dinner a few of us watched the AFL football between the Demons and Crow’s. Fortunately my team, the dees won which was the perfect end to the May.
This morning was another early morning wake up at 6.30 am. After breakfast we loaded the bikes on the cars ahead of driving to Beechworth where the ride was to start.
On the way to Beechworth we stopped at Tarrawingee for coffee at the coffee van. This seems to be the most popular meeting point for all of the locals as well as riders like ourselves.
After reaching Beechworth and unloading the bikes we were on our way to Stanley for another coffee break. To be honest I probably did not need another coffee!
The ride to Stanley was mostly uphill and to add to the slowness of the ride my Garmin was playing up which was a real pain! Thankfully I was able to use Strava to record the ride. I will need to get my Garmin checked ahead of future rides.
After coffee at Stanley the ride continued on undulating country roads through orchard country. It was very pretty with apple orchards and all sorts of other fruit trees. We managed to stop at an orchard shop where we purchased some delicious apples on an “honesty” system. It was a lovely break!
The next section of the ride was a “ big downhill “ and flat section into Myrtleford for lunch. Lunch was at the bakery which was just okay compared to other lunch stops earlier in the week.
After lunch we then joined the rail trail back to Beechworth. Along the way Ric, Jeff , Ellio and Mike took a shorter route back to Beechworth! The only issue was a steep section of road which proved to be a challenge!
The rest of us took the rail trail back which included a long steady climb which for me seemed to go on forever!
We all arrived safely back to the cars, although Jeff and Ellio took their time on the ride back to enjoy the views!
After an exhausting 78 km ride we decided to go to the Beechworth bakery to enjoys milkshake and cake which was just the right thing!
The day ended with the car ride back to Wangaratta and a recovery shower ahead of dinner.
I forgot to mention the wonderful weather we had again today. The day started a bit coolish ( 12 degrees) and warmed up to about 25 degrees. Although there was clouds for most of the day it was warm with no wind. Another interesting point to note is the constant smoke haze from planned burns being undertaken in the region!
As a final point for the blog today I want to mention the absolutely terrible state we are finding in some of the public toilets along the ride. Today at at Beechworth station and at Myrtleford the state of the toilets were terrible! This is certainly a shocking observation in our wonderful country and I am sure we can all do better in keeping public conveniences in better shape for all users.
The pictures today are as follows:
Today’s ride route…. Note the missing bit at the start from Beechworth courtesy of the Garmin!
Morning coffee at Tarrawingee
All of us lined up at the Beechworth station ahead of the ride
Morning coffee at the Stanley pub
Apples at the orchard
A view on the decent from Stanley…note the smoke haze
Jeff recovers after the short ride!
All of us arriving safely back at Beechworth
