The East Gippsland Rail Trail

The East Gippsland Rail Trail stretches some 96 km from Bairnsdale to Orbost, making it one of the longest rail trails in Victoria. In the early years of the Ghostriders we used to travel to Bairnsdale every year to ride this trail, however it has now been at least ten years since we last made this journey. It was time to see if anything had changed.

One thing that had already become evident was the shrinking size of our peloton. After completing the High Plains Rail Trail, we bade farewell to Jan and Margot. This left only 11 riders to complete the final part of our rail trail odyssey. As it turned out another two riders abandoned on the final morning, leaving only 9 participants still moving. This was less than half of the number we had started with in Fish Creek, just a week earlier. I guess that shows that the relentless pace was really taking its toll.

Our plan had been to base the team in Lakes Entrance and then tackle the East Gippsland Trail in two sections. The first day we would ride from Bairnsdale to Bruthen and back, and the second day we would ride from Nowa Nowa to Bruthen and back. It seemed doable (but I was to be proved wrong).

Certainly Lakes Entrance was a lovely spot to use as our base, although it was evident that the last few years had not been kind to the town's economy. The large number of empty shops, deserted motels and quiet streets all gave witness to the fact that times were tough here. One thing that time could not change was the undoubted natural beauty of the Gippsland Lakes Region.

We began the day by driving back to Bairnsdale and to the start of the trail in Howitt Park. Half of our peloton had already decided to follow Plan B, by starting at Nicholson instead. This cut the ride down from around 70 km to about 55km.

When we finally started rolling out of Bairnsdale, our peloton had plummeted to only 4 riders. Fortunately the first 9 km of the trail is sealed, meaning that we could make good progress. Even so, when we arrived at Nicholson, we discovered that the other half of the peloton had already headed off to Bruthen. It took us about 20 km to finally catch up with them.

Once we left the sealed trail, the surface proved to be very variable. The toppings changed regularly from soft sand to loose rocks to fine gravel and mud. I think "variable" would be a good description. Although not as rough as the High Plains Trail, it certainly was in need of some long overdue maintenance. The signage along the final section to Bruthen also needs improvement as it was not clear which route actually took us into the town.

Fortunately Bruthren had not changed. It is still one of the prettiest main streets in the state, and the wide grassy central area gave us a perfect location for a leisurely lunch.

We then repeated our ride for the return leg and somehow managed to get back to our waiting cars without anyone falling off or getting lost. Once again the temperature had started to climb and we were all conscious of the fact that we were getting tired. No one seemed particularly excited about getting on the bikes for another long day in the saddle.

We did get back to Lakes Entrance in time for a walk along the marina to explore the wide variety of boats that were moored there. Some looked like they would not be able to stay afloat much longer.

That evening the remnants of our team shared a final meal together at the Central Hotel. The dinner did not get off to a great start when the grumpy maître d gave us all a serve of abuse and sat us at the worst table in the room. We could not figure out what we had done to bring on his outburst, but it was enough to ensure that none of us would ever visit that establishment again. It was a slightly disappointing and unexpected end to an amazing week of cycling and fun we had shared together.

After dinner we had a slow walk back to the hotel along the waterfront. It was a perfectly still evening with only the first and brightest stars beginning to shine. A truly magical experience.Read more