BENDIGO TO INGLEWOOD



Bendigo to Inglewood via Howard Rd, Pyramid Hill Rd and Sebastian Rd = 54km
Cummulative total = 54km
Camping at Inglewood = $25 unpowered but with own ensuite (no tent section)
It was a good day today considering it was our first day out and we are feeling a little tired at the end of the day ... but we did have a good tail wind so I would hate to think how we would be feeling right now if we didn't have a tail wind!
Leanne took a photo of us just before we left ...

We took Howard road all the way along the which was a busy road (due to school traffic) but ridable not exactly the widest by the traffic was courteous to us.  We stayed on the road right to the end and we reached McClelland Road, we went along this road and up the hill and then onto Sailors Gully road and then Pyramid Hill road which was good to ride along ... only local traffic.  This road travels in a northerly direction and since the wind was more an easterly this morning it was blowing on our sides and it wasn't until we got to Sebastian road where it turns west that we got a fabulous tailwind!  and it was blowing.

The first 4 km of this road was unsealed ... still firm despite the rain last night

This is a wonderful road to ride along really quite and very litte traffic.   

So we could ride side by side and chat ... and top of the chat list was yesterdays snake.  Todays local paper had a story about our friend George catching another brown snake earlier in the day at Kangaroo Flat train station which is on the edge of Bendigo.  He obviously is a very busy man at this time of the year!

Thinking about the snake ... it is scary that more than likely it was there over the winter and the fact that it was co-habiting with Leanne and Russell over the winter ... it is almost like they had a pet snake!  woo hoo!!!

We stopped for a cuppa at some CFA building we found and it is so lush out here ... the fields are either grain, for grazing or canola ...

the scenery is so pretty and to quote Neil "it just hurts your eyes!"  The sides of the roads are covered in yellow wild flowers.  Along this road we came across this dead tree with its' trunk painted pink and the cross is made out of horse shoes

We made good time getting to Bridgewater on Loddon due to the tail wind (sometimes we were cycling in our big chain ring!).  Since the flooding last year the town hasn't rebuilt the council caravan park and we are not sure if the private one that was next to it is still open and it was hard to tell as we crossed the Loddon river if both parks were still functioning ... definitely the council one isn't as it stated it on its' website.

Here is a photo of the Loddon River ...

So from here we join the Calder Highway and since it was lunchtime there wasn't alot of traffic on the road, we had a rough shoulder.  By now we started to feel it, still okay to cycle but looking forward to setting up camp. 

Along the roadside there are heaps of Gazania flowers blooming ... so many that it makes the Calder highway 'pretty' if that is possible!

We get to the town of Inglewood which is a popular town with potential prospectors, ie. grey nomads with metal detectors!

As you ride through the town there are lots of antique type stores in old buildings ... we did manage to spot this bike/lawn mower ...

I giggled at this as our lawn mower has just died and maybe we should detour back this way and pick this up before we get home!

Here is a photo of the town (taken just outside the IGA)

rather relieved to get to the campground which is on the west side of town behind a motel.  The park is full of caravaners that I think dabble in prospecting.  Every site has its' own ensuite so that makes camping a little expensive at $25 unpowered.  You can have power but it is metered.  You can also have a site without an ensuite but only if you have a shower and toilet in your caravan ... so rules us out!

I tell you not only were we tired when we got here but Kouta was half unconscience when we lifted him out of the trailer ... he was ready to sleep (even standing up!) ..

as you can see from the photo of our campsite it is a lovely sunny and warm day ... very lucky we were!

 

tomorrow we will cycle to Wedderburn via some back road (although it is heaps shorter via the Calder highway)