Our bush camp at Smythesdale was perfectly placed for cycling the 57 km Ballarat Skipton Rail Trail. The plan was to complete it over two days, the first ride being from Skipton to Smythesdale and the second from Ballarat to Smythesdale. Derek is always happy to drop me at the start of a trail, but prefers that I ride into camp at the end wherever possible.

Ride 1 – Skipton to Smythesdale (41 km)

For my first ride on the Ballarat Skipton Rail Trail, Derek dropped me early in the morning at Skipton. The trail began with a low gradient climb. The countryside was open and attractive.

As I approached Pittong, there were patches of bushland and a small black wallaby jumped across my path. Over the next few kilometres a larger wallaby seemed to be jumping ahead of me, crossing my path another four or five times.

Just after the old station at Pittong, there was a boardwalk and this lovely lagoon.

I was still climbing – this continued for seventeen kilometres and then there was a lovely roll down into Linton.

Linton

Just before I arrived in Linton there was a sign on the track advertising a coffee shop at 88 Sussex Street. I keyed the address into Google Maps and followed a dirt back street before turning onto the main road and arriving at the shop – Wares Plants ‘n’ Things.

The coffee and food were great – well worth the one kilometre each way deviation from the trail.

Feeling refreshed, I headed out towards Newtown. There was another hill to climb. However, one of the beauties of rail trails is that because they were originally designed for trains, the gradients are not steep. I could see I was going through a deep cutting which must have been blasted out with gelignite when the railway was built in 1890. The remains of this overpass showed that the railway cutting was at least six metres deep, saving the trains (and me) a lot of extra climbing.

Nimmons Bridge

After the crest of the hill there was an enjoyable descent to the highlight of the trail – the spectacular Nimmons Bridge – the longest timber trestle bridge in Victoria, built in 1890.

This was the view from the top of the bridge.

You can see the substructure of the bridge by taking the bridle path down to the Woady Yaloak River.

I had less than ten kilometres to go. The trail turned north after the former railway station of Newtown. These escapee goats showed little inclination to move on but eventually scuttled back into their paddock.

I arrived back at our camp at Smythesdale in time to join Derek for a late lunch of bread and a sausage cooked on the bar-b-q. I had cycled 41 kilometres and climbed 268 metres.

Ride 2 – Ballarat to Smythesdale (16 km)

The forecast for the next few days was for a great deal of rain and I was still feeling fairly fresh. After some discussion we decided that it might be best to seize the day and complete the Ballarat Skipton Rail Trail before the rain set in.

Derek took this photo as I headed off from the Ballarat end of the trail an hour later.

The ride to Smythesdale turned out to be 15.7 km long and according to my Strava app I did not climb a single metre! There were certainly some sections that felt like up hill. I can only assume that those bits were actually level and I was getting a bit tired. After about an hour I rolled into camp again.

A special thank you to Derek for all his support and assistance and for making it possible for me to complete the trail while the weather was still pleasant.

Another good rail trail in the area is the O’Keefe Rail Trail between Bendigo and Heathcote. Or if you don’t mind steeper gradients, the Castlemaine to Maldon Trail is an enjoyable ride. Travelling south from Ballarat, the Old Beechy Rail Trail between Colac and Beech Forest is an exceptionally beautiful trail, especially between Beech Forest and Gellibrand.