Day 10 - The devil is in the detail

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Beechworth - Levena  33km

Today's distance looked pretty harmless as a number on paper. We could have had it even more casual by taking the most direct route from Beechworth to Yackandandah and adding a few hilly kilometres at the end to reach Louise's cousin's stunning countryside property. But Louise's elaborate mapping research to find the perfect cycling route deserved all our pedalling capabilities. And it promised some off-road riding.

Look, I love maps. And the map we have been using to guide us through this beautiful region of Victoria has served us well so far and has taken us to the right places. But we may have been a little ignorant to an important detail. Can you see it?


Right! It has a fancy 4WD vehicle on the cover and it promotes 'detailed 4WD tracks'. And that's where the devil sits... it's for cars and not for bicycles! So when I realised where Louise's in-depth route planning is taking us, it was kind of too late. 

The first obstacle we hit at Lake Kerferd, where the vista was pretty and we were pleased to read that the Trout Cod is making a comeback, but the road we intended to follow lead to nowhere. 

Kerstin looking for a road at Lake Kerferd 

We re-routed with the help of Google Maps and headed for what is called the 'Nine Mile Creek Historic and Cultural Features Reserve' - which didn't sound too bad. Also, how tricky can a road with the name 'Wallaby Mine Track' be?  Turned out really tricky and to be added to our list of (down)hills we couldn't ride. In fact, to be completey honest, we stopped counting the non-rideble sections at some point. Full credit to the wallabies who navigate this terrain with natural ease. Whereas we looked a bit out of place (and shape) in some parts along the route.

Heading towards Wallaby Mine Trail


Louise's guilt (and frustration) for presenting us with this more and more challenging cycling task as the day went rose like the outside temperature. And it earned me a redemption from my Valentine's Day sins. I quote Louise

"Who needs breakfast in the tent when your wife is doing this for you?"

By 'this' she means me slip-sliding my way with my bike down the hill, dropping the bike on the ground, turning around, scrambling back up the hill, grab Louise's bike and repeat the first part of this sentence. 

One of those hills

But from then onwards things got a little bike-friendlier and we started to spend more time on the bikes than off them. And the 6km downhill cruise into Yackandandah was a stunning and beautiful to ride. 

A good road

The bruised cyclists egos got a little pampering with a lunch break in the shade and by dipping our feet into the cool of the Yackandandah Creek.  And we felt richer too, after spotting some alluvial gold in its sandy banks.  With the morale restored we attempted the final 12km with good intentions, acknowledging that our energy reserves were more depleted than expected. 

In tennis we say "it's not over until it's over". Turned out to be true for this  short 'etappe' as well. The hill out of Yackandandah was gruelling. Fortunately  we spotted the yet to be finished (and not yet to be used) bicycle trail for some gradient relief until...

Bummer.

We spare you from the vocabulary used to describe this scene. 

But all the day's obstacles fade away when we sink into the warm and welcoming hospitality only family can provide. After some cleaning and rehydration plenty of energy and enthusiasm was found to go along to the kids' soccer training. 

As a constructive measure coming out of the day's lessons learned we introduce some form of a OHS protocol: if we are going off-road, both riders have to sign off the route on the night before. It's never the maps fault.

Good night devil, until we meet again. 



Location: Victoria, Australia

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