And we were off again last Thursday.

This time we ended up in Forrest! It’s where the mountain bike tracks are.

The church.

The views

This was along the Tiger rail trail. The trail was okie. It’s 6km long.

It didn’t lead anywhere though. That was me waiting for Mr Wanderer.

Well I lied! It lead to another trail that loops back! And that trail was a terror!

It was uphill! And full of loose stones. And since I only had a hybrid my wheels didn’t grip properly.

I gave up after nearly falling a few times. Mr Wanderer was waiting for me at the top. His solution was then to take the sealed road back down to Forrest.

You know the one lane either way round and round you go around the mountain to get back down.

He scolded me for being in the middle of the road as you’re supposed to ride in 200mm on the shoulder.

One part the shoulder was scoping really bad I didn’t trust that I could stay upright.

One good thing I didn’t have to pedal. It was down hill all the way until we reach the entrance to the rail trail.

We made it back alive. It scared the hell out of me.

We ended up having lunch at the reservoir near there.

An old valve.

Then drove to Beech Forest for the night. We stayed at the bushfire safety site. What a laugh as it was foggy, drizzly and freezing cold.

The pub meal was yummo! This was the Mex Parma! Jalapeños, salsa and sour cream on top!

He wanted to ride from Beech Forest to Gellibrand! As the views were supposed to be spectacular.

It was cold and wet so that idea went out of the window and we ended up in Colac.

I love churches

The shrine

The lake. It’s massive!

Botanic Gardens. It was beside the lake.

I didn’t go riding as it looked steep! I went exploring Colac instead.

I opted for the bar for a marinara and a lemon lime bitters. Great hospitality and food was not bad.

They had a great relics store.

He however had an awful time. He over exerted himself to get to Gellibrand in time for lunch. Country cafes tends to close early!

On hardly any fuel! I gave him a big bowl of cereal with berries and a cuppa for breakkie. Then packed him an apple and cereal for snack.

He ended up on the phone and ate his apple there and then.

And since he was fearful of the cafe closing which meant no food on the way back he saved his muesli bar.

He also ran out of water. His bike only had a holder for one bottle.

The other mistake was he had his car keys with him! Which meant I couldn’t drive to rescue him!

He left around 11:15am and didn’t return til after 6pm! It took him 2.5 hours just to do one way!

Apparently the two guys that parked behind us didn’t do too well either. They got back around 3:30pm. They both looked exhausted. One of them felt sick along the way so the other had to ride back to sort him out and in turn neither of them made it to Gellibrand.

From what he told me it was much steeper than he thought. And full of loose stones. Much worse than the track we did the day before in Forrest.

Either that or the dehydration and no fuel made it seemed more difficult.

In all not a pleasant ride meanwhile I had a great time exploring!

He sent me this! He ended up with a Frittata and sausage roll and coffee for lunch. Then took away some chocolate for the ride back. He managed to fill up his water bottle at the cafe.

We stayed at the lake for the night in Meredith Park. It’s a free campsite with toilets, picnic tables and a tap for water.

The next day we drove to Creswick for lunch and on to Castlemaine to pop me on the train.

I had half an hour to wait that turned into 45 minutes as the train was running late. I was back in Melbourne around 6:40pm.

I grabbed dinner in the city before groceries shopping in Port and then home.

I’ve never been so happy to be home. By yesterday I was so sick of the flies, mossies, peeing in the bush and not being able to shower properly.

The first place I visited was my throne then my shower 😂