TRAMPS: Melbourne Weekend 23/24 March

As I was not at the Melbourne ride this report is courtesy of Vance.


About 20 riders arrived for the hugely successful Melbourne weekend.

Saturday was easy with a cruise from the accommodation in Coburg along the Capital City Trail, and eventually under all the roads and railway lines for lunch at Southbank. The floating bike path along the Yarra is an engineering achievement as is many of the spectacular overpasses and tunnels provided for the intricate network of paths around Melbourne.
We went under and over an impressive range of different sorts of bridges.
Our return to the accommodation took us along the Merri Creek path to Coburg.
After relaxing with a fun night at Zagames we were ready for the longer next day.

Sunday began at Hays Paddock East Kew and along Anniversary Trail and Schotchmans Creek Trail. A brief stop at Hartwell Station was interesting to us as an interpretive sign indicated that the station came from Walhalla. Many times it became difficult to believe that we were in the middle of a large city; we we surrounded by many different sorts of bushland with exciting water-ways and little bridges to cross.
The trails are heavily use by bike riders, joggers, walkers and many young families.  Jells Park has a large picnic ground and kiosk, which was where we had lunch before going North East on the Eastlink Trail to watch parts of the Melbourne Triathlon being carried out next to us. We were not riding at quite their speed. To complete the 60 odd km and be back at Hays Paddock by 4 p.m. was an achievement to be proud of.  Apart from the occasional chain coming off sometimes, the expedition was disaster free with not even a flat tire.

I have chosen a selection of the photos provided by Vance.