This afternoon we decided that it was time to get out of the house and the Lilydale to Warburton rail trail — lazy pair that we are!
We parked at Woori-Yallock and lunched on pies from their award-winning bakery, then down to the trail to ride off along the valley — periodically checking the horizon for any signs of smoke! There are no bushfires around this part of the state, but I didn’t really want to be around if one started from a cigarette out of a car window.
The trail was busy with riders of all ages and abilities, some of them not quite up to the task of riding in a straight line and keeping to the left. Families out walking as well as unrestrained dogs added to the mix.
After a cool drink in Warburton we decided to head up the road towards Mt Donna Buang to the forest gallery lookout — from memory I thought that it was about two-thirds of the way up the mountain, and the total distance up the mountain was about 12km. I tried asking the woman in the shop who had served us, she obviously didn’t know, but tried to make something up. When I asked about the forest lookout as well as the top of the mountain, she thought I must be local to the area. It turned out to be only half way, but still about eight kilometres, which was good, because by the time we got there Jo was getting grumpy at riding up the hill! Its a fantastic climb though, not particularly steep, just a never ending climb up through the mountain ash forests.
Up at the forest gallery there’s a walkway from the car-park out about 40m into the tree tops 15 metres above the ground — well, the tree tops of the Beech forest anyway, the tops of the Mountain ash are well above us. The temperature drops once you walk away from the road and into the trees, it was almost uncomfortably cool standing out at the end!
Back on the bikes for the trip back down into Warburton, the eight kilometres pass in a bit of a blur. I was well aware that my front brakes are in desperate need of new pads and was taking it easy, even so, we were just rolling down the hill at 55km/hr where on the way up, it was a steady 8km/hr!
