December on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail

As I often do, I rode the Moore - Linville section of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail last weekend.  Since I've already done a million blog posts about riding that section, I thought I'd do something a bit different and put together a little video of my weekend...

Enjoy my grumpy and awkward talking to camera as I try (and fail) to think up any kind of insights out on the trail!

One day Esk-apade

Let's get this out of the way straight up - I went riding for the day at a place called Esk.  Obviously there are lot of puns to be made here, so let's do it now: it was Eskellent, I Eskcaped for the day, I should have taken my Esky, the scenery was picture-Esk, I was Eskcited, and so on and so on and so on (insert your own Esk puns on the comments section if you need to!).  Now we've cleared that up, let's get into it.

I've been writing about cycling a lot lately, just not on this blog.  I've been doing a fair bit for a couple of magazines, and as a result of that I've become a bit mercenary about my riding and writing - I've only really been getting on the bike when I've been getting paid for it.

My latest deadline was met yesterday, and today I found myself with not much to do, so I put the bike in my recently acquired van, and headed off for a ride around the Brisbane Valley near the town of Esk.  It was raining in the city where I live, but by the time I drove the hour out to the start of the ride, the weather was overcast but not threatening rain.

Gratuitous van photo.  I must admit I'm pretty pleased with it.

 The best part is being able to put a complete bike in without taking a wheel off - I hated all the farting around every time I wanted to put my bike in the old car.  Oh and the fact it's just big enough for me to sleep in is cool to.

I hopped on the bike, and rode immediately to the bakery where I sat around for the next 15 minutes eating a hot pie.  Once that important task was done, I pedalled over to the Esk trailhead, before having a change of heart and deciding to go a different way to the town of Toogoolawah.  I hadn't been on a "real" road ride for ages, so I figured I'd hit the open road then ride back on the rail trail.

 

 The Brisbane Valley Highway heading north of Esk has a reasonably wide shoulder and smooth surface.  It's however still chockers with moron P-platers with Monster Energy Drink stickers on their Commodores yelling and swerving at you.  Every single time I have ridden this highway in the past 5 years, the drivers have been unpleasant to say the least.

If the highway is shitting you, then get off the highway!  Time to go the back way to Toogoolawah, if I can remember it...

Quiet country roads and farmland scenery.

After a few wet years there is a LOT of grass around - the next fire season has the potential to be pretty full on.

It's been a long time since I've been on an Australian country road.  Away from the highway, drivers are awesome, slowing down and giving a wide berth and a wave.  People are courteous and good and you've no chance of getting skittled, however if a car is approaching, get right off the blacktop and right over into the gravel - that way the approaching car will stay on the tar and not spray you with gravel while politely trying to give you a wide berth.

 Well named and signposted local landmark.  It felt great to be in the countryside again - I wasn't that far from town, this spot just seemed to be an anomaly having the vibe of somewhere much more remote.

About 10km down the road I came across an unsigned junction with a road heading to the East.  I had no idea where the road headed, but I did know I needed to be going in that general direction, so off I pedalled.

A good navigational choice - the road turned to dirt after 50 metres or so.

There was no traffic on the road, although it looked well maintained and well used.  I figured it must lead somewhere so I pressed on.

 New helmet!

Caught a bit of selfie fever and got carried away with it.  I very nearly binned it trying to get this photo - I was doing close to 50km/h and was more interested in doing contortions to get a shot of myself than watching the road.

So that's where I was!  I eventually ended up on a main road leading to Toogoolawah.

Bridge over very slightly flowing waters.

Looking back from whence I came before rejoining to bitumen.

On the undulating road into the town of Toogoolawah.

I lived in little country towns for a long time.  Being in Toogoolawah on a Saturday morning really made me miss that lifestyle.  Maybe one day I'll get back out into the bush...

Lunch stop at the Coach House Cafe for a burger and coffee.

By the time I set off from town at about midday, the Saturday morning rush had well and truly subsided.

After lunch I pedalled across the road, and joined the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail for the 20km dirt ride back to Esk.  The surface was a little rougher than I expected, still it was great to be in the outdoors, by myself, riding a stretch of the trail I'd never been on before. 

The restored Toogoolawah station building alongside the trail.

Lots of grass along this section of the trail.  I don't really enjoy riding through grass a huge amount, it's kind of like trying to battle across a really large doonah.  It's comfortable but you get nowhere fast.

First of many flood damaged rail bridges along this section of the trail.

Pretty standard for an Australian creek -they're either flooding like crazy, of choked with debris with very little water.

New way / old way.

Lots of signage on this section of the trail.  In case you're wondering, "moderate" means "easy" - I ride all this stuff on a skinny tyred cyclocross touring bike and it does fine.

To be honest I saw this about 4hrs into the ride, and I wasn't having too much trouble keeping it under 40...

The cow tracks offered the best respite from the energy sapping grass.

I'm flat out doing 25 by this stage, not much danger of me getting over 60...

A group of 17 horse riders came along the other way.  I was please to discover the usual cycling banter applies when you encounter an equestrian - "nice day for it" and so on.  One guy even made a few saddle related quips - I was impressed.

It's self-timer time!

The highest point of the Esk-Toogoolawah section of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, where the line crosses under the Brisbane Valley Highway with all its idiotic P-plate drivers.

Pretty much all downhill back to Esk from here.

Old rail bridge that seems to be made from rough-hewn timber.  Pretty cool to see how well it's stood the test of time.

Some legend had put some sort of marsupial skulls across the bridge on the cross-members.

I didn't even need to get the feet wet with the little rock bridge!

Last bridge before getting back to Esk.

Back at Esk I loaded up the van, and with an hour or so I was back at Brisbane.  It's not often I go out riding by myself, but reflecting on it during the drive home, riding solo is something I really want to do more of - particularly to little out of the way country towns.  I guess now with the van it's easier than ever to bolt from work on a Friday afternoon and spend the weekend in some faraway outback place.  

Sounds like an Eskellent idea - I'm Eskcited...

Same but different: Day 2

There's no daylight saving in Queensland, so by 4:20am it was well and truly light enough to break camp and get moving.  The forecast called for another scorcher of a day, so I hopped out of bed and set about packing up my gear.  By 4:40am I was all packed up, dressed, fed, and ready to go.  Rudi, however, was still fast asleep in his tent - not even all the noise I was making and the numerous wallabies crashing through the campsite was enough to stir him from his beauty sleep.  I decided to use the time wisely, to explore the camp in the already warm and humid pre-dawn air.

Macnamara's Camp at about 4:30am.  That white shiny thing behind the clouds is the full moon.

Camping right on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail.

My summer sleeping setup is a Hennessy Hammock.  It really can't be beaten for comfort, coolness and fast setup and takedown.

Dawn clouds on the rail trail

Finally, the sleeping beauty awakes!  The sun was well and truly up by this point, about 1.5hrs after I was ready to depart.

Uphill we go

By the time Rudi got out of bed and got himself together, the horse had well and truly floated out the window of opportunity for us to beat the heat on the morning climb through to Blackbutt.  By the time we set off on the trail again, the temperature was sweltering, and I was already sweating before even turning a pedal.

The best part of me being ready to go so early was I got to enjoy watching Rudi attempt to pack down his tent, all the while offering unhelpful advice and commenting on how difficult it all looked.

Away we go again, climbing uphill through Benarkin State Forest.  The trail continues steadily uphill from here, all the way to the township of Benarkin.

The trail surface in the forest section is smooth and fast.

We crossed under the main highway, where we could see a lot of cars were stopped for some roadworks on the range.  We were definitely having a much more enjoyable trip than all those motorists!

Our progress up the hill wasn't fast, mainly as we were both stopping a lot to get a lot of photographs on the way - one of our main purposes for the ride was for a magazine photo shoot.  Here's Rudi blending seamlessly into his surroundings.

The trail emerges from the forest into a grassy clearing near the commercial pine plantations of Benarkin State Forest.

As we neared Benarkin, we left the thick scrub and rode into more over bushland.  By now it was getting very hot, and I was looking forward to a cold drink in the town somewhere up ahead.

A meeting on the trail

As we pedalled closer to Benarkin, I was sure I could hear the sound of a vehicle on the trail.  It was a very odd moment as the trail is closed to vehicular traffic, and for an instant I was a pretty disappointed that my impression of the place as a peaceful car-free paradise could be shattered.  Approaching a creek crossing near the top of the range, we spotted a white ute down on one of the concrete culverts, carefully rolling back and forth across freshly laid gravel covering the steep approaches to the gully.  I stopped on the side of the trail, and, strangely for me, the driver of the vehicle already knew who I was!  His name was Geoff, a rail trail ambassador, who had been chatting with the other rail trail ambassadors we'd met on the previous day.  As per the day before, I was just blown away by the dedication and effort these guys put in to running the trail.  Geoff was out here rolling out some gravel he'd put over a creek crossing a few days earlier.  He was concerned that the trail was getting too rutted in the approach to the creek crossing, so he'd decided to do something about it, first doing some earthworks in his loader, then coming up this morning to roll it all out.  I kind of had trouble getting my head around just how the ambassadors worked - basically if something needed doing, they just sorted it out and did it.  A very different approach to the "can't someone else do it" mentality that seems to prevail in nearby Brisbane.

Geoff very kindly spent a lot of time with us, pointing out where to find interesting sights along the trail.  He also recommended to head to the Blackbutt bakery for our morning coffee - a very sensible idea.

Rudi approaches the town of Benarkin.  You can almost see the heat in this photo - it was well over 35 by this time of day.

Between the towns of Benarkin and Blackbutt, the trail levels out as it makes its way across the plateau.

The legendary Blackbutt Bakery.  Here we met up with Geoff and his family again, and had a fantastic time chatting to the local people and learning a lot mre about the area.  If you're ever at the bakery, I recommend getting a smokey-dog!

Surely the most photographed sign in Blackbutt.

I hadn't expected to see a rusted old tractor that someone had converted into a giant musical instrument, but here there it was!  The "fins" on the "cylinders" were actually tuned to different notes, and the pedals of the tractor operated the cymbals hidden within the body.  Very cool.

Scorching descent

In our classic style we ended up spending much longer than expected chatting to the locals and seeing the sights, and it was well and truly after lunchtime as we started pedalling back down the hill towards Linville.  It was hot, crazy hot - a look at the weather observations later in the day revealed the temperature in the area was a bit over 41 celcius.  Fortunately, the gradual descent meant we could easily maintain a decent speed to keep some breeze blowing in our faces.

No shelter from the midday sun, even in the forested section of the trail.

This historic railway culvert provided us with some much needed shelter from the midday sun.

Another of the art installations along the trail, made from the parts of old railway carriages.  I quite liked "the zombies", as the locals referred to them.

Pushing my bike up the steep creek crossing on the trail.  It was tough work on such a hot day, although I could have had a shot at riding it like Jer once did...

I was pleased that it wasn't just me who opted to push out of the creek crossing.

Today the ganger's shed took on a whole different feeling from when we had ridden past at sunset.  It was hot, glarey and dry.

Behind the ganger's shed are the ruins of the old magazine, where the trail builders used to store the dynamite used to blast cuttings through the spurs of the valley.

The fires were still burning near Linville, filling the valley with smoke and haze.

A patchwork of different colours across the landscape as a result of the recent fires.

Back at Linville Station.  As I rode out of the station grounds one of the locals at the pub called out "you're nuts in this heat!" She was of course correct, it was scorching out there.

Linville store knows how to get the cyclists in!

I sat on the steps out the front of the shop drinking a fizzy drink.  In the heat and quiet of the little country town, it was all reminding me very much of when I worked in the outback of remote north Queensland.

Linville - the true outback country town experience, less than two hours drive from Brisbane.

A quick blast back along the bitumen back to Moore.

It ends as it begins, chilling it up in the tearooms at Moore memorial hall.

After unwinding with a cold drink, it was time to load up the car, crank the air conditioning up to a billion, and head back home to Brisbane.  I thought I knew the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail reasonably well, but this weekend had dished up a whole bunch of new surprises.  By adding in an overnight stay along the way, my favourite day ride had now been transformed into my favourite weekend getaway destination.  The only logical step for me now is to ride the whole 300+ kilometres of the trail all the way from Ipswich to Yarraman and back again - now there's a new adventure that has to be had!