High country raid, day four Tallangatta to Myrtleford

 

 

We started this day's ride early as usual and I had somehow managed to lose my gloves in my luggage. I was mainly worried about getting sunburned on my hands without the gloves but they also warm my hands a little bit first thing in the morning.

So it was cold (but we had great views!) for the first few case on the bike track from Talangatta to Huon and then up over the hill to Tangambalanga and Kiewa. It warmed up soon enough though and Phil’s route was once again excellent, taking us through Allen's Flat and Osborne Flat instead of the main road to Yackandandah. Although in places, the road dwindled to a dirt track it never got too difficult. The route from Osborne flat to Yackandandah was on an excellent bike path through the forest.

We stopped at a great bakery in Yak, rested a bit and then headed off toward Beechworth. There had been a train line between Yackandandah and Beechworth and part of it has been reused as a rail trail, but that part is the bit leading in to Beechworth. For the first few ks up to Wooragee, we went on the bike path which followed the road. There is a slight detour in the path to take in the town of Wooragee, but soon after that we were passing through numerous rail cuttings to get into central Beechworth completely by bike path. We lunched at the Beechworth bakery then resumed a rail trail trip on the path to Everton. Unlike the Shelley to Tallangatta  path, this path is mostly smooth asphalt and we were heading down hill. I was able to absolutely fang it on the recumbent and the fastest riders Steve and Michael could not keep up. This was possibly partly due to aerodynamics but possibly also do to tyre pressure. I'd kept my tires pumped up hard and they seemed to like this road surface. There were only a few small uphill sections and with the downhill speed I had already and a bit of pedalling, I was able to slaughter them. We regrouped at Everton and rode on to the Myrtleford hotel where we were staying. Myrtleford is a nice town and it was good to see that it had two Op-shops and that with luck I would be able to visit them the next day.

As usual we met for tea at 6 and it was an early night.

 

High Country Raid, Day 3, Tallangatta

Day 3 of the High Country raid was a ride from Tallangatta up to Shelley. This ride is along part of the old abandoned railway line from Wodonga to Cudgewa which goes along river flats for a few k's before rising into Forest shelley's station is at meters elevation which is meters above talanga this makes it the highest station ever built in victoria the trial surface is quite loose in parts and I struggled up the gravelly surface on my front wheel drive recumbent. What can't be changed on the bike is the white distribution which has the front drive wheel likely loaded but I didn't change the tyre pressure and that probably didn't help things after a struggle up the hill to shilly I arrived in about 10 minutes after everybody else I was fairly tired the climbing could took considerable concentration just to stay upright. So at shelley i lit the others go on and opted to return to telling God by road this was comparatively easy and there were some big downhills I managed to get back in to Talanga before the op shop closed.

The ride is really interesting and a great bit of rugged rail trail. I still have the book “The Branch Line” by Lloyd Holmes which is a history of the line, and shows pictures of old Wodonga station and other buildings we’d seen. Riding this bit of trail helped me feel more connected to the line which I’ve visited at the Cudgewa end as well as between Wodonga and Old Tallangatta.

During the day several other gangs of cyclists had invaded the town and these were groups of friends doing some gentle riding and touring around the area. Out touring was much harder than theirs - where we rode up to Shelley, some of these groups drove their bikes up and then they rolled down -  some on electric bikes!

During the afternoon I took the time to walk around Tallangatta and see the town, some of which has lakeside views. It is a quiet place with walking on the street mostly no problem due to lack of traffic. I like Tallangatta.

We got in early to the pub for dinner (6pm), before several other groups of cyclists arrived. This was fortunate as our meals arrived pronto while the other large groups were still ordering. There where about 40 people in the pub that night. After dinner, it was early to bed again, we all got about eight or hours sleep despite the early rises.

 

High Country Raid, Day Two, Corowa to Tallangatta

 

Sandy Creek Bridge

Opium Poppy

Lunch at Wodonga

Steve stops for a photo op, Wodonga

Rutherglen

Rail trail near Rutherglen

Chiltern panorama

Chiltern

Chris

Chris

Chiltern

 

 

 

On Monday all us riders were up early. It was a slow start for the town of Corowa as it was a New South Wales public holiday. We were up at six a.m. and met Michael at a cafe at about seven a.m. We did this every day -  for the rest of the tour, Michael would linger a bit longer in the cafe and then catch us up on the road.

 Our route took us over a bridge into Victoria, then along a rail trail to rather Rutherglen, and on through quiet bitumen and gravel roads to Chiltern. Then it was on to Wodonga via back roads with several roads running parallel to the Hume Freeway. At one point we crossed and the freeway via a very rough track. We passed within a kilometre or so of the Sheathers Road go-kart track where several OzHPV challenges had been held in the early 2000s. We then went past the new railway station via back roads to the center of Wodonga for lunch at the old railway station, which has been converted to shops and cafes. Chris is a gourmet vegetarian and was delighted to buy a pumpkin pie for lunch which he ritually photographed. The map I had photocopied for navigation through Wodonga was from 2002 and was so old that it still showed the old railway station as current.

After lunch we were on familiar territory for me, and headed out on the Wodonga to Tallangatta rail trail. The highlight of this stretch is the Sandy Creek Bridge, one of the best repurposed railway bridges in Victoria. Chris found some wild opium poppies growing next to the trail and pointed them out to us. Soon we were in Tallangatta. There was a short wait for the hotel to open but after that we settled in for the night into the old style hotel accommodation. Dinner that night was at the pub and it was fairly quiet with only about 10 or so in the pub. Soon after dinner we headed off for bed.