Cycling by the Seaside

I know how important it can be to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. That is why you should never pass a toilet without making use of it, especially when you are of more mature years.

When we awoke to a perfectly blue sky, I knew that it was going to one of those glorious autumn days. It is this sort of day that makes this one of my favourite times of the year. It was just too good an opportunity not to take full advantage of.

We packed the bikes onto the car and drove to the outskirts of Wonthaggi. It is still very ambiguous whether such activity is allowed under our current restrictions, and Maggie spent the whole time looking behind us expecting a police car in hot pursuit. Fortunately we made the short drive without being thrown into the back of the paddy wagon and were soon enjoying the Bass Coast Rail Trail.

The trail itself extends from the Mitre 10 store in Wonthaggi to the Anderson roundabout, about 3 km past Kilcunda. More recently it has been extended from Anderson to Woolamai. There is also another bike path that joins at Anderson and runs to San Remo and finally all the way to Cowes.

We were not the only ones making use of the lovely weather. Quite a few other walkers and riders were enjoying the conditions. Each time we rode past any of these, we tried to leave as wide a gap as possible. This virus scare has made us see every other human being as a potential source of travelling contagion.

The most spectacular part of the Bass Coast Trail is the section near Kilcunda. Here the path follows the oceanfront clifftops and the views are amazing. We discovered that recent storms had severely eroded the cliffs, in some places causing part of the path to collapse down onto the beach. These damaged areas had been fenced off by new security fencing.

We kept on riding up the hill to Anderson and then decided to explore some of the new trail towards Woolamai. Since the weather was starting to show signs of deteriorating, we did not have time to ride the full distance and stopped to have our picnic lunch at a high point, with a panoramic view down over Westernport and Philip Island.

The return ride was a little easier as we had a brisk tail wind for most of the way. By the time we had arrived back at the car we had ridden around 43km. It was not a long ride, but it did a lot to improve our morale. The forecast for the next few days is not as promising, so it might be our last ride for a little while.Read more