Day 2 - Bendigo Marong Eaglehawk Loop 46 kms

After a great night of sleep…. With Ellio in my room… I was awake at around 7.30 am.

After a quick breakfast we were ready for coffee at the coffee shop next door by 8.30…. Good coffee enjoyed by us all.

The ride started at around 9.15am with a crisp coolish morning at around 10 degrees and no wind. The day warmed up to about 25 degrees by lunchtime and was magnificent in the afternoon.

The first part of the ride took us past the early gold mining sites on the outskirts of Bendigo which was quite interesting. The gold mine we visited mined around 46,000 ounces of gold which is quite staggering!

After this we went on to Marong for morning tea. We made a few unscheduled detours as a result of some navigation errors which meant we had a late morning tea/ early lunch. No problem as the coffee was good and the cakes and sandwiches were excellent.

After this it was off to Eaglehawk …. Once again we had a bit of a delay with Jeff getting a flat tyre. Phil showed off his tube repair skills in an attempt to put a patch on the tube BUT alass the valve was buggered and we had to replace the tube…. All good to continue.

The ride to Eaglehawk was through some nice country and on a good road with great shoulders which made for safe riding despite some truck traffic.

Going into Eaglehawk we went along the Mulga Bill trail made famous for the Banjo Paterson poem … brought back memories of my schooldays when our English teacher read us the poem Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk!

Arriving at Eaglehawk we found a lovely cafe for a snack lunch. We were joined at the table by a busker playing his trumpet and telling us stories of his life as a teacher in Hong Kong. All very interesting!

After this it was on for the final ride into Bendigo. The bike path had some “interesting “ detours which made for some challenging navigation as you might see from the pictures…. There was a cobblestone part which would make for interesting rides in the European ride including one part where we had to climb over a fence with our bikes!

After these navigation challenges it was in to the town and back to our motel. We arrived back at around 4.00 pm.

A good day of riding in perfect Autumn weather!

Tonight we are off to an Italian restaurant for dinner which should be great!

So far Ellio’s organisation has been perfect.

I will report on dinner in the next post.

Todays pictures:

The mine we visited

Jeff’s puncture being repaired

An interesting church in Marong.. built in 1862!

The Mulga Bill trail near Eaglehawk

Our busker at Eaglehawk…. Phil didn’t like the music

2 pictures of the detour on the way into Bendigo including climbing over a fence!