sadsacnews2013: TRAMPS: Moe - Willowgrove 22 September.

The weather was most likely a factor in the slightly low turnout at Moe.
Around thirteen ( plus 2 non starters) assembled at Moe in rather wet circumstances. All was not lost however, as Vance had arranged for an entertaining presentation on the features of the Myki ticketing system. The highly skilled representative from VLine managed to fill the hour or so that it took for the rain to finally stop. All that attended are now more knowledgeable in this area of public transport. We had a couple of new people turn up for the ride in Dale and Rob from Boolarra. I wonder if they think that all our rides are preceded by a lengthy presentation.
When the ride did finally head off there was a suggestion that the route be shortened. I pointed out that we still had plenty of time to cover the original distance. Once out of town and on to the Willowgrove road I realised why the route was not easily remembered from the GVBR. On the day last year the area was still in fog and the impressive views from the ridge were not available. The run to lunch was only around 17 km and we soon arrived at the Willowgrove reserve. The plan was to continue on to the lakeside reserve but questions about the status of the facilities and concerns regarding the short but steep climb out meant the call was made to have lunch by the tennis courts. Conditions by this time were close to ideal and the high standard of the cake/brownies/biscuits provided by the Erik camp meant that we did not go hungry.
As I had not been to the lakeside reserve before I took a small group on the 3 km round trip to check it out. As it turned out the toilets were open but the climb could have been a concern straight after lunch.
Once the riders had regrouped we were treated to a scenic decent from the town and onto the rolling hills before finally meeting up with the flatter lands at the North Canal Road. It was then just a relaxing run back into town. Wind down coffee at Macca's. While the ride was uplifting it was not intoxicating as we were all tested by the local constabulary on our way to coffee.