Murray to Mountains, a 4 night/5 day (with 3 bike riding days, a total of 113 km) from Beechworth to Bright using the paved, mostly off road Rail Trail. We used Tour de Vines to organise and support our Tour de Grand Gourmet trip.
The railway to Beechworth opened in 1875. A second branch line was built from Everton to Myrtleford in 1883 and extended to Bright in 1890. The last train ran to Beechworth in 1977. Construction of the present rail trail began in Bright in 1993 and finished in 2002 to Beechworth.
Beechworth
Tuesday 29 October 2024
We flew to Melbourne, hired a car and drove the 280 kilometres to Beechworth stopping at Euroa and Glenrowan.
The Big Magpie at Euroa Glenrowan is Ned Kelly country
Beechworth, a carefully preserved 19th century gold mining town has over 30 National Trust-listed buildings.
Ford Street, the main street of Beechworth – only the cars have changed in the last 150 yearsBeechworth Post Office first built in wood 1853, rebuilt in stone 1858, tower added 1862 300 year old National Trust-listed Apple Box tree with an extremely galled trunkTomato Sauce bird (Crimson Rosella)We sampled some of the fine Beechworth wines
An easy ride, mostly downhill and more braking than pedalling required.
We started at the old Beechworth PrisonFirst stop Pennyweight Winery, four decades and three generations of wine making experienceAlong the Rail TrailMilawa cheese tasting – we really liked the blueProsecco to celebrate our first day’s riding, 38kWe went across the road from our hotel to the Brown Brothers Winery for a tasting of their premium Patricia wines, all fabulous The “Big Wine Glass”, tempranillo with Lancemore Hotel merlot grape vines behind Well we are on the Tour de Vines!
The 14 kilometres from Milawa to Everton on quiet country roads is more or less flat. Then there’s a 200 meter climb along the Rail Trail to Taylors Gap followed by a descent to Myrtleford.
These blue poles guide us to and from Milawa Rail Trail pathThere’s a climb up to Taylor’s Gap but we made itLunch stop at Gapsted Winery looking over the vines to the Ovens alpine valleyLunch platter paired with …… wine tasting
Myrtleford was the centre of the country’s tobacco production when tobacco farming ceased in Australia in 2006. 80% of the growers were of Italian descent.
Old tobacco drying sheds at Myrtleford Humidity in the tobacco kilns was manually controlled by the size of the fire inside and the opening of exhaust vents in the roofWood fired vegetarian pizza at Bastoni Pizzeria
Another beautiful day with prefect weather, ever so slightly uphill.
We started the day with a 5k walk along the Ovens Valley Trail parkrun aka The Mosaic TrailBreakfast of Baked Eggs and Beans at Cafe FezMany of the old tobacco sheds are abandonedWe stopped at Pepo Pumpkin Seeds and bought bottles of the six seed oils they makeA beautiful day on the TrailOur lunch stop was at Ringer Reef WineryApproaching Bright on the Rail Trail End of the Rail Trail at the former Bright Cargo Shed
Saturday 02 November 2024
Distance: 5.0 km Time: Pam 31:33/Jeff 40:17
Bright parkrun, of course Every Finisher gets an apple!
