Downs Burnett Cycle Trail Ride Report
Overview
4 Riders gathered at the free camp beside the Kulpi Pub on Tuesday 9th September for 5 days of riding based on the Downs Burnett Cycle Trail. I used the trail as set out by the Toowoomba club as a skeleton for our tour. I altered their routes where I didn't feel there was any need to go the exact way outlined by them
Day 1 - Kulpi to Bell - 58k with 11k of dirt with 450m of climbing.
As we camped next to the Kulpi Pub the night before, we were able to set off in the morning without having to make the drive up from home. We had dinner at the pub the night before.
The free camp has toilets but no showers and this is why we started here. Everywhere else had showers available. There are no shops at Kulpi so ate the breakfast we brought from home the day before.
The pub doesn't cook on Monday nights, so this is why we started on a Tuesday night. As the distance wasn't great, we were able to have lunch at our destination – Bell.
Smoko was at The Bun pub. There was a noticeable headwind for most of the day and 1 persistent magpie. The Bell pub only cooks on Friday and Sunday nights, so we had a burger at the Bell general store for dinner. We camped at the Bell Caravan Park - Cost $50 for the 4 of us. There is no fridge at the camp kitchen, but you could have prepared a meal at the caravan park if you so desired.
Day 2 - Bell to Cooyar - 50k with 19k of dirt with 587m of climbing with one monster climb which I walked and was 20% in places!!
Breakfast at the Bell general store and also bought lunch to carry as there are no shops at Cooyar.
Free camping at the swinging bridge at Cooyar. There are two power points in the park for those with electric bikes, but they are on a first come first served basis and there is usually a grey nomad there before you. However, we were in luck and Peter was able to charge up his bike.
Dinner was at the Cooyar Pub. It doesn't cook on Monday or Tuesday nights
Day 3 - Cooyar to Kingaroy - 74k with 20k of dirt and 929m of climbing with the last dirt climb to much for this correspondent so I walked.
The last 20k was a glorious slight downhill which made me forget the rest of the day.
We stopped at Maidenwell for smoko and to buy items for lunch to eat on the way as we wouldn't make it to town before lunch. There was 1 magpie as we came into Kingaroy. We camped at the Kingaroy Showgrounds. Cost $10 each. Dinner was at the RSL - they have a courtesy bus.
Day 4 - Kingaroy to Yarraman - 61k with 23k of dirt 839m of climbing.
As with yesterday, on the last climb of the day, in the forestry behind Yarraman, was too much to me and so I walked some of it. If it had rained or was raining this part of the day would have been difficult as the dirt roads were red clay.
We had smoko at the bakery at Nanango and bought items to eat for lunch as we knew we would not make it in before lunch. We camped at the Yarraman Caravan Park - cost was $63 for the 4 of us for a powered site. Dinner was at the Royal Hotel which has a courtesy bus.
Day 5 - Yarraman to Kulpi - 59k no dirt with 503m of climbing.
The pattern repeated as your correspondent walked up the major climb of the day (10%). We stopped at the bakery in Yarraman as we left town to pick up supplies for lunch as there are no shops at Kulpi.
We arrived at Kulpi with no issues and loaded our bikes and gear back into the cars.
We had parked the cars behind the pub for the duration of the trip.
To summarise
2 magpies
1 flat tyre
no hospitalisations
no arrests
Lawrence Ferrari The Bearded Cyclist