Day: 011
Date: Sunday, 12 July 2020
Start: Esk
Finish: Yarraman
Daily Kilometres: 97
Total Kilometres: 1171
Weather: Overcast all day with rain in the afternoon
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Egg & salad sandwiches
Lunch: Cheeseburger/Chickenburger & chips
Dinner: Chilli con carne, custard danish
Aches: Nothing significant
Highlight: Hot showers at the end of a long muddy day.
Lowlight: We completed the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (BVRT) around 5:30pm, wet, cold, and with our bikes, bags and selves covered in mud. We rode a kilometre into the tiny town of Yarraman where we had booked a motel, but decided we had better wash some of the mud off our bags and bikes beforehand. So, we found ourselves washing as much mud off our (waterproof) bags and bikes as we could by the light of a distant street lamp under a tap at the back of a small toilet block at 6pm on a Sunday night after a long day.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We slept in a bit after our long day yesterday, and didn't leave town until 8am, having bought some sandwiches to carry with us for breakfast. Alas, after we had ridden 2.5km, Julie remembered that she had left her phone and watch chargers, etc, back at the motel. We quickly unloaded her bike and she rode back into town to retrieve the forgotten items, giving her an extra 5km for the day. (Her misery was compounded an hour later when we stopped for breakfast and she found the sandwich container had broken open inside her handlebar bag and covered the contents with a tasty layer of egg and lettuce.)
Somewhat sobered by yesterday's slow progress on the BVRT, we were less ambitious today, aiming to cover the 96km to the end of the trail. This looked a comfortable goal initially, but the surface varied from fast hard-packed clay to soft and stony, where we were lucky to make 10kph, and everything in between. There continued to be gullies where rail bridges used to exist, that required a steep and sometimes rough descent, followed by feverish pedalling to get up the other side, or more often, walking and pushing the heavy bikes up the steep slope.
The scenery was excellent, as we followed the contours of lovely rural valleys that were more brown than green, and populated by cattle and horses. There were quite a lot of other cyclists out, most on mountain bikes, along with a few walkers. The former, we calculated, had made a good decision, riding the BVRT down the valley, and especially today when they had a light tailwind (while we were dealing with a slight headwind).
The heavy grey clouds had been threatening rain all morning, and it started raining just after we stopped for lunch at the tiny village of Linville. We ate our burgers (there wasn't much choice) sitting on the verandah of the small general store, admiring the picturesque scene which included old railcars and the station, and contemplating a wet afternoon.
The next 16km from Linville to Blackbutt was steadily uphill all the way, climbing the Blackbutt Range. It was all rideable, apart from the occasional gullies, but relentless. The rain fell and the clay surface became soft and slippery, clogging our cleats so it was impossible to lock into the pedals. Despite the pleasant wet forest surrounds, it was a bit miserable. We finally reached Blackbutt station around 3:30pm and took a break sheltering at a covered picnic table, before setting out on the final leg to Yarraman. It was a relief to get some flat riding, though there were still a few hills, but the trail was muddy and wet and everything, including us, was likewise wet and muddy.
We were very pleased to reach the end of the BVRT and Yarraman at 5:30pm as darkness closed in, and we cycled into town cleaning gear and bikes at a tap along the way (see above) and checked into our motel. Fortunately, they had a washing machine, so we could clean all of our muddy gear, and we did that while eating our microwaved dinner purchased from the small adjacent supermarket.
We had been hoping for an earlier finish, and will certainly try for one tomorrow.
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