Rail Trail Ride

One of the enticements for travelling to Ballarat was riding a rail trail with the kids as suggested by Cath. With some online investigations into the possibilities, we decided on completing part of the Skipton - Ballarat rail trail. With a population around 16,000, in 1883,  the railway provided a link between the gold towns of Haddon, Smythsdale and Scarsdale located to the west of Ballarat and the surrounding pastoral region. Eventually the railway extended to Linton and then Skipton, covering a total distance of 53km. By 1985, the railway was no longer financially viable, the line closed and the lines pulled up. After significant trail work including the restoration of Nimmons Bridge, the rail trail opened in the mid 2000's.

We joined the trail at Pittong with Andy and Eoin dropping off all the girls. They then drove back to Linton to leave the cars and rode backwards to join up with us. Unfortunately as we began another couple on bikes came past towing their dog in a bike trailer! We yo-yoed for a bit before opting for a snack/toilet break in order to create some distance between the two groups.

The trail began in rolling farmland, wind turbines in the distance and skirting around the edge of kaolin mine (white clay used in porcelain.) Within a kilometre, we cross a boardwalk over a small lake and come to a halt. Ella points out the fluffy white scattered amongst the reeds and explains that it is frogs spawn!

Off we set again with the trail entering a forested area. Although it's wide and easy to ride the trail is slightly uphill making Katy work a little harder on her single speed bike. She keeps pointing this out desperate to get a bike with gears! It's not long after that that the boys join us, just in time for another stop at one of the purpose built rail trail shelters.

The Pitting - Linton section about 8km with the final few kilometres a nice gradual descent into town. It was a great positive introduction for the girls and allowed us to plan then next stage. The set up at Linton was ideal - the railway station restored with tables, seats and toilets; a takeaway shop located adjacent to the area provided much deserved hot chips and a mountain bike skills course on the other side allowed for distraction while purchasing the said chips! Personalities shone through in the skills park with Ella trying anything and everything including the planks! Meanwhile Aoife and Katy hung back sussing out the place before eventually giving the pump track a work out. Everyone was having fun, until Katy stacked on one of the hills sliding down, removing a descent chunk of skin from her elbow in the process. Apparently Katy wasn't the only one to fall - one of the adults also had a good tumble from the planks but managed to get up before anyone else saw! Then the chips arrived and life was (mostly) good again!

Post lunch we began the Linton - Scarsdale section another 14km or so. Into Happy Valley we ride although not everyone in our group is happy....Ella who dropped her bike to help Katy when she fell discovered that her bike bell had smashed. Unable to emerge from her sad mood she spent a large portion of the first part of this ride hanging off the back only just keeping us in sight.

Through the trees we could see the dam of Clarksdale Bird Sanctuary but didn't have time for any bird watching today! There were numerous large cuttings including the dilapidated bridge at Cutting #18. A short stop here for more food to climb up to the top with Andy in the lead and all the girls following!

Back on the track cycling through the forest. Our aim was Nimmons Bridge, one of the largest timber trestle bridges in Victoria which crosses the Woady Yaloak river a mere 3km away. Eoin had his second mechanical failure of the day within sight of the bridge - one of his cranks fell off! They managed to put it back on and we all road over Nimmons Bridge admiring the open valley and steep drop off. It was at this point that Andy and now Cath did a u turn, heading back to the cars at Linton. The race was on as to who would make it Scarsdale first.

The kids group were going well despite Ella was still hanging off the back. Then about 3-4km out from Scarsdale, Eoin bike failed again and was unable to be fixed. No problem though, he just continued one legged!! The girls thought this was quite amusing! Over the final few km's we encountered a few animals on the trail. A group of friendly cows who didn't really want to move and several goats. We rolled into the playground at Scarsdale just as the two family cars came into sight! Overall the girls rode the 23km trail really well and we are all keen for another rail trail adventure soon!