Central West Cycle Trail - 2025
On 25 October 2025, 5 members gathered at Dubbo for the 19 day tour of Dubbo and Orange organised by David Dowling.
The tour was based on the Central West Cycle Trail and extended to Orange. The total distance was approx 800k.
This time of year was chosen to try and avoid the cold of winter and the heat of summer, we failed on all counts. At various times on the trip, we encountered 38 degrees and 3 degrees. We had hail and rode in the cold rain.
The road surfaces varied from highway to sandy forest trails, there were creek crossings, cattle and sheep on the road, wineries, smoko with scones and jam at a local farmer's property and a clean sweep of the raffles at the Federal Hotel in Wellington (6 beers and two meat trays were won)
The Central West Cycle Trail has been set up by local cyclists to encourage cycle tourists to the area and while on the trip we did encounter other users of the trail, most were not camping like we were but staying in accommodation and some had support vehicles. A lot of the planning has been done already so it makes organising a tour easier, please visit centralwestcycletrail.com if interested.
We have all toured together before, so an easy comradery and routine was established early. On the second day of riding Garry had an unfortunate fall off his bike on the sandy forest trail and did some damage to his shoulder and could no longer get in and out of his tent. He decided to rest for a day (at the pub) and then stayed in accommodation for the rest of the tour. This was very helpful to the rest of us on the very hot/cold/rainy days as we tended to end up in his room.
David also ended up off his bike and did some damage to his elbow. Towards the back end of the tour David and Garry stopped riding and caught the train from Orange to Dubbo.
Overall
· Magpies - many
· Flies - stopped counting after I had eaten ten thousand
· Punctures - 2 (both mine)
· Injuries - 2
· Arrests - none
Central West Cycle Trail - 2025 - For link to the photo album.
Lawrence Ferrari - The Bearded Cyclist