2023 Brisbane Valley Rail Trail – Jul 23
The plan was to meet at Caboolture railway station at 8.15am on Wednesday 26 Jul and to be transported by Out There Cycles to Yarraman. There was plenty of space in the train as we were going out of the City.
The trip was capably organised by Ian Chant with Peter, Ron, Helen, Bruce, Craig and Glen the other participants. Alex joined us for part of the ride. He rode from Toogoolawah and met us at Blackbutt. Another 4 riders were scheduled to come but were victims of accidents. Bruce had to have his ear stitched back on, Denise fell into a large sink hole, and Rob was a victim of a rock the size of a basketball that rolled out from a construction site – after 6 riders had already ridden past the same spot!
Out There Cycles also transported our packs on each of the 3 days – a great benefit!
The weather was perfect on each of the 3 days – a bit chilly first thing in the morning but the weather quickly warmed to around 22 to 24 degrees. On the first day, we rode from Yarraman to Linville – about 43 kms. The Linville Hotel provided our accommodation – the food and refreshments superb.
At Linville, we caught up with other BBTA members riding from Gympie over 5 days – Bob, Simon, Tony, (Renata for part). Kerry and Michael supporting.
The next day, we rode to Esk – about 60 Kms. The Esk Grand Hotel is a typical country pub with great food and drinks.
On the final day, we rode to Walkuraka stopping off at Fernvale for lunch. The train trip back was before peak period and proved to be an effortless way to get to and from the rail trail.
We patronised many a coffee shops and bakeries. A new one in Esk is Brisbane Valley Roasters – excellent coffee and eats.
It has been 4 years since I last did the rail trail and substantial improvements had been made to the creek crossings (being made safer & weather proof), new bridges, elimination of all gates, trees being planted, signage improvements, new murals etc. All the pubs we stayed in were fully booked so a bit of forward planning is required.
Any complaints on the trip received scant attention until the concept of a book titled Grumpy Old Men came into fruition. Chapter 1 was caused from grumbles about a 35 minute wait for a toasty (hey – what else were we going to do with the time). Chapters 2 was about the salt being labelling as pepper. Chapter 3 the pepper being labelled as salt. Chapter 4 was reserved for the poor rider who failed to turn up for breakfast – our dear leader has a brain fade. The plight of the breakfast less cyclist was made worse by chapter 5 – a cash only coffee shop and a breakfast menu limited to last week’s pasties! Chapter 6 needed to be written following the complaint of an overfull stomach after indulging in 2 cakes, a hamburger, chips and a sausage roll – all trying to make up for the lack of breakfast. The final chapter was on the subject of late delivery of our bags at Walkuraka and an unannounced platform change requiring a charge up and down steps carrying bikes and bags.
A great ride enjoyed by all. Many thanks to Ian Chant for making it work so well. The trip will be repeated next year so mark your calendars now,
Click 2023 Brisbane Valley Rail trail to go to photo album for this ride
