Distance: 69.2 km
Elevation: 616m Weather: Sun to Hail Strava link Places to sleep: Bnb in Inverness Highlights:
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Distance: 94km
Elevation: 773m Strava link Places to stay: On the beach Highlights:
Distance: 101km
Elevation: 863m Strava link Place to stay: Banff Park (later I realised there's a camping ground a few hundred metres to the west) What to eat: Baked potates be my saviour. Highlights:
Distance: 143.3 km
Elevation: 1,298 m Strava link Place to stay: Along the walking tracks in the long grasses One of my favourite places in New South Wales is the Southern Highlands, a short train trip from Sydney. The best part is you can take your bike, perfect for a long weekend cycle tour camping trip. Start: Central Train Station @ 7:24am End: Bowral Train Station @ 10:00am Day 1 - Bowral - Fitzroy Falls - Bundanoon Distance: 59 Kms Strava: link Pit Stop 1 - Bowral - Gumnut Patisserie At Bowral we rolled into the Gumnut patisserie for a pre ride coffee and a multi award winning pastry. Pit Stop 2 - Someone's farm Goggle maps took us through someone's private property but it was a short 100 m sneaky pass. We figured we weren't going to be long. So shhhh. Pit Stop 3 - Fitzroy Falls & Lunch Mini hike around the top of the falls and a perfect spot for lunch. Pit Stop 4 - Exeter train station A quick snack break sitting at the Exeter train station only needed to move once for the freight train. Pit Stop 5 - Camping - Bundanoon - Gambells rest site Bookings essential details here. Limited number of sites available here. Cost: From $25 a night Facilities: Hot (gas) showers, flushing toilets, gas stoves, taps Dinner - Eggplant & tofu stirfry Ingredients: 1 massive eggplant, packet of firm tofu, 4 packets of 2 minute noodles, cabbage, onion, soy sauce, ginger, cooking oil spray. Marinate the tofu. Fry up the onion and eggplant on the stove. Cook the noodles. Cook the tofu. Once the noodles are cooked, mix everything on the stove top. Bundanoon Night Ride to the Glow worm cave In the dark surrounded one of the crew recited a beautiful Arabic poem by Ibn Arabi, I follow the religion of Love whatever way Love's camels take that is my religion and my faith ابن عربي - أدين بدين الحب Day 2 - Hiking around Bundanoon Lazy morning, slow to start. Pancakes on the stove top lathered in blue berry jam. There are plenty a hiking trails in the Morton National Park. We Day 3 - Easter Sunday - Bundanoon - Berrima - Bowral
Distance: 40 kms Strava: link Kicked Easter Sunday watching sunrise over Morton National park, followed by another epic feast of pancakes. Pit Stop 1 - Bundanoon Markets Packing down and heading into Bundanoon to sip coffee at the cafe and check out the local markets. Picking up a few goodies at the local op shop and sampling some delish vegetarian Indian goods. Pit Stop 2 - Berkelouw Book Barn Lazing about reading in the sun lying on the beautiful grounds of Berkelouw Book Barn. Perfect ending to a beautiful Easter break. Cycling Without Age kicked off its NSW chapter in Woolwich at the IRT aged care facilities this week. It's an initiative to build better social connections between less mobile active generations with the more active through the bicycle. Personally, I entered the project a bit skeptical but I went along because I do believe bikes have a magical power to build social interactions. My opinion changed after one of the ladies scream out "I only came back because my bed's here" I didn't actually get a chance to ride, but I did have some hilarious conversations with the residents. ONe who I thought was wolf whistling at me, but then realised he was whistling at all the women. Then some travel advice from one lady who agreed that buying property in Sydney was crazy and I should spend my money on travelling. Next steps are to work with IRT to arrange a schedule for pilots and residents. Strava link
My anxiety of not having planned a holiday over the xmas break resulted in this last minute cycle tour to the wilderness (better known as Bungonia National Park). Famous for its gorge, pretty popular canyoning spot as we later found out when we bumped into another Sydney Night Rider that night at the camp site. Lesson # 1. Invite people who are spontaneous For some reason I couldn't do this last trip on my own. I hadn't been on a long ride in a while and I wasn't feeling the most confident, even though I'd been to this place before. So I invited people who I thought would enjoy a mini tour. 2 people caught the bait. So on Friday the 30th December 2016, after some false starts with bike malfunctions and missing trains. Daniel, Jeremy and I set off into the wilderness from Moss Vale at 13:30 and managed to get to camp before sunset. Lesson # 2. Chat to people. They always have great advice. Like hidden swimming holes At the campsite one of the boys was tipped off about a swimming hole, so with the tents half set up we ditched everything and ran for the bush to find this hole, for a twillight swim. Swimming at twillight in a gorge surrounded by a forest is just magical. Even more so when there's thunder and rain. We were still swimming when the rains hit. Lesson # 3. Always close your bags. Always cover the tent. You never know when the rains will hit. Especially when you're twillight swimming at the bottom of a gorge. We were 40 mins away from the tents when the rain hit. Should have closed the tents but it probably wouldn't have made a huge difference as there was a stream of water running through the ground sheets anyway. Lucky the camp site has a shed and hot water. We slept in there that night. Lesson # 4. Sleeping mats are soft and comfy Sleeping mats make hard floors comfy to sleep on. Lesson # 4. Butt Cream After the whole trip (160 kms, return) my butt was pretty chaffed. Not sure if it was because I was wearing underwear the first day or because I wasn't wearing underwear the second day. My crack was a raw and riding back home wasn't fun. Elevation Gain (click link for Strava details): Day 1 - 582 m , Day 2 - 668 m Lesson #5. Check the Burger joint you plan to have your victory post-tour dinner at is open.
Using the statistics from the brite website and searching online for more info this is what I've found.
Can we use this data to put up a case to improve cycling infrastructure? |
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