Rutherglen Photos

Abandoned Springhurst railway line, looking back towards Rutherglen

At the same crossing, Springhurst direction

Springhurst from the station, early morning.

Lloyd, Richard, Nick

Richard

Dome, Lloyd, Nick, Simon

Dome & Simon, Chewton

My water bottle, and....

Simon's version

Chewton Christmas yarn bombing.

Lloyd, Chewton

Lloyd leads the pack

Simon Watt

Early morning Shadows, I took about 8 photos like this to manage.....

one or two ok ones.

My trike, early morning, Rutherglen Scout Hall

Dome Deli, Rutherglen scout hall. The mural is inspired by Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, and takes some of its scenes from the 1967 Disney film of the book. Its been a l o n g  t i m e since I was in cubs or scouts but still remembered that much.

Nicks trike, back on the road within a few days of a major weld break.  It went very well.

William Reid

Firepit scrawlings

Rutherglen Scouthall, firepit in foreground.

Richard, railtrail, Wahgunyah to Rutherglen

Richard hams it up, Corowa Christmas party.

Furious Five, Corowa

Corowa

Llloyd, Rutherglen

Llloyd's trike.

An eclectic fron yard in Rutherglen

Me, Lloyd Charters Photo.

Dome and Richard

Hi,

It had been a few weeks since I went for a decent ride, and I was keen to catch up with some friends and attend the OzHpv rally weekend Scheduled for November 30 to December 2.  I had been to the area for a similar weekend 5 years ago, and got there the same way, by train to Springhurst which is on the Albury train line from Melbourne but almost nothing else happens there!

There are some plans to get Springhurst connected by Bike trail to Rutherglen along the abandoned railway line which ticks all the boxes for a bike trail; flat, sheltered by trees and running past wineries and workplaces.  And there are nearby rail trails which are already great at attracting bike tourism.

Meanwhile the slightly more experienced riders can just ride on the roads which vary from flat and moderately busy to flat and very quiet to hilly and very quiet.  I am quietly convinced the Rutherglen area is a hidden gem for cyclists.

Last week I had a bit to do Friday morning including picking up some timber for bike parts so wasn't able to catch an early train to Springhurst and got the later midday train. Arrived at the station in plenty of time, and there's a luggage compartment, so my oversize bike / rolling thing had no problems fitting in.  An uneventful trip up, soon after arriving at Springhurst was riding toward Rutherglen.  On the way there, I saw William Reid arriving in his multi- hundred-thousand km  riding toward Rutherglen and a bit later was rung by Dome: the ride to Corowa was waiting for me to arrive.

Dome had booked the First Rutherglen scout hall as basic accommodation for the weekend, and I unloaded my sleeping bag and clothes when I got there and greeted Lloyd, Richard, William and Dome.  The road to Corowa was nice and flat, and we took in a few of the roads we'd ridden on 5 years ago.

Corowa was jumping when we got there, with the annual Christmas town gathering starting up.  Lots of Christmas of decorations were up, and some of the stores brought their wares out onto the street and sold them from there rather than being stuck inside.  And the op shop was even open!  After a few refreshments we headed off, Richard leading us around all the crowds and to the rail trail back across the Murray to Wahgunyah and Rutherglen.  After a rest and a bit more setting up at the Scout Hall we caught up with Simon and Tim who had driven up from Geelong. Off to a pub for dinner after that, nice food, nice beer, friendly locals.

Nick Chau turned up as we were meandering home from the pub and we settled down for the night on various levels of luxury of bedding - I needed to fit everything in the bike so there was only room for a sleeping bag but Nick had an entire compressor-blown-up-double-bed-mattress.

I was tired and slept well despite the hard floor and in the morning I rode out to Wahgunyah again before the long ride of the weekend started.  Richard led the ride again, and we went back to Springhurst, through Chiltern and Barnawatha before coming home to Rutherglen. Chiltern had an excellent bakery where we stopped to fuel up.

After the ride I made a few op shop visits and some of the others tagged along. One of the op shops was past its closing time but the friendly gentleman running it seemed happy to stay open later and talk about the Great Victorian Bike Ride coming to town a few days before, traffic and work in Dandenong and generally solving the problems of the world.

After that we went back to the scout hall to rest before the OzHpv AGM and another pub dinner.

After the pub I rode out to the railway line where a rail trail could run and took a few photos.  Back at the scout hall the moths were out in force and we had to turn the arc lights off in the hall and rely on the foyer lights to stop them overrunning us.  Struan arrived with another heaps comfortable bed setup, and I packed up most of my stuff so I could leave early in the morning.

The Sunday trains back to Melbourne were from Springhurst at 7am and 1 pm and I decided on the early train, and left Rutherglen about 6 am before anyone was stirring.  It was windy going back to Springhurst and I had to ride with a bit of a lean on but that was ok.

The train back was comfortable and it was good to get a cup of tea and some food from the snack bar. Back at Southern Cross I had my only minor mechanical of the trip, my chain came off, and I got oil all over my hands which wasn't much fun. Anyway, arrived home in good time, happy that the weekend went so well.


Regards

Steve Nurse


Steve Nurse