Murray to Mountains Rail Trail: Day 1

Bright to Myrtleford return -  61 kms

We had an uneventful 7 hour drive from Dubbo, winding through the mountains a bit, to arrive at the Alpine village of Bright. After having a large, delicious and expensive breakfast and a sizeable lunch, we decided to forgo dinner, as sitting in a car is not great exercise to work off all those calories. 

We settled instead for cheese and wine taken on our patio in the warmth of the evening sun. We escaped the Central West Trail just in time as the day that we finished, the temperature rose to 34 and will rise further to 41 on Thursday. It was 6 here last night and a very pleasant 26 today. 

We had decided to have an easy day today, but the trail beckoned, and although we did 61 kms, on a bitumen rail trail, it was nothing really. The only thing that surprised us was all the cyclists out and about. We saw zero cyclists on the last trail, but here is made for cycling and it was also a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup. 

We enjoyed a Vietnamese lunch in Myrtleford, followed by an excellent espresso and dessert in a little tin shed on the way back. Of course, the waiter just happened to be Italiano so I got to practise my grazie yet again (thanks Lynette).

Back at the motel we met a group who are riding ex postal motorbikes 1500 kms for charity. We also met some women who have walked 4 peaks in 4 days. They were celebrating with bubbles. I celebrated our ride with a swim in the motel pool, which was warmer than I expected, after the cool morning.

More cheese and wine beckons, but we will meander down to the creek and enjoy the sunset. It's a tough life.

Pics

If only that silly old bastard would get off the path and let the scenery speak for itself. Obviously a different vibe to the Central West Cycle Trail.

These are probably fir trees. Apparently you can find pine, spruce and fir around here.

Talk about Bald hills. This section of forest that has been recently harvested, but now has been planted out with the next generation of the forest.

This is what you get around here. A lot of hills, a lot of trees, maybe snow in winter

Gnarly tree

One of the good things about rail trails are short avenues of trees like this - always pleasant

And vines, but not sure what type of grapes they grow around here or what type of wine. Dry White?

What model of Austin is that? Possibly a late fifties Model WF? Apparently the founder of Austin spent years in Melbourne working at a division of Wolsley before starting Austin with his brother.

Brenda's counterpart of the Draught Horse species.

A lot of the neighbours of the rail trail like to get into the mood of things. A ot of old bikes have been used as rail trail decoration.

That's a pretty big air conditioning unit for a little caravan.

Now we are talking about a part of the rural history. The district has been growing hops for some time as can be seen by these old kilns. There are a lot of them in the area

Another bald hill. A more recent harvesting of trees.

You're dreamin!

Some of the relatively recently harvested hops crop. By next year they will be covering all those wires. And notice Mt Buffalo in the background.

A lot of hops.

Eurobin Station. Obviously where Euro trash live.

Melted snow.

Pink Trees. Apparently my comment is not good enough: Bright's answer to Jacarandas

Bunya Pine - massive tree

SImple pleasures

Spruce tree. Another conifer like fir and pine trees.

Ride Notes

• This is a rail trail, so great if you like the smooth roads not so great if you are after a little more adventure
• Mostly nice countryside and some relatively cool forest lanes.
• Worst part is that the trail in this section is near the main road which was quite busy on the day of the Melbourne Cup
• Plenty of regular food options