Wangaratta to Beechworth and Bright
Making the Murray to Mountains rail trails loopy
The new (2024) 25-km extension of the Murray to Mountains rail trail from Beechworth to Yackandandah presents the opportunity to turn a full exploration of these rail trails into a loop (more or less), if you don’t mind a day on roads between Yackandandah and Ovens (near Myrtleford).
We spent 8 days exploring the trails including a few nights rest in Bright and a very take-it-easy approach to heading back to Wangaratta. It was a very pleasant week of cycling after our ride in the drier, flatter Mallee.
Given the well-worn nature of the rail trails, we won’t post all the gpx routes here (except those days where our route was a little less well-worn). See here for the full routes.
Day 1. Wangaratta to Beechworth
Thursday 19th September 2024 (44 km, all on sealed rail trail)
Having spent a night in Melbourne after catching the train back from Swan Hill, we caught the early train from Southern Cross to Wangaratta, arriving at 9:47. After a leisurely brunch and shop for lunch provisions we set off around 11.
The rail trail is generally well signposted, but having failed to load the route into the Garmin today, we did manage to get a little confused at Detour Road on the outskirts of Wangaratta (at the Vine Hotel), where the track heads left toward the train line, but without clear signage to that effect.
The track heads out of town along the floodplain of Yellow Creek until it hits the Melbourne-Sydney rail line, which it follows to a shelter at Bowser. After that it’s a flat ride along the old Beechworth rail line, much of it along a forested corridor. We didn’t perceive a hill until just after the shelter at Tarrawingee. It was a short gentle climb into the Everton Station shelter, where we lunched, steeling ourselves for the long (albeit gentle) climb for 15 km to the outskirts of Beechworth. With the wind still behind us, the last few undulating km into Beechworth were easy enough.
Unlike our last visit, we wisely chose to stay at the Armour Motor Inn, just off the rail trail, as opposed to more distant accommodation requiring some up and down across the gorge. We had a drink at the pub next door, an amble around the streets before an early dinner at the Bridge Road Brewery before retiring out of the cold to our warm room.
Day 2. Beechworth to Yackandandah
Friday 20th September 2024 (26 km, all rail trail, a few km shared with a small back road)
The new rail trail extension from Beechworth to Yackandandah was fun. After a mainly gentle climb on the offroad track out of town, the trail joins Kibbell Lane, a sealed road leading to a couple of farms. We didn’t encounter any cars on the fun descent down the lane, but the 40 km/h limit and designated bike lane on the south side of the road seem a safe bit of traffic management. At the end of the lane, the trail is more evidently an old rail line through some beautiful wooded farmland, mostly downhill all the way to Wooragee (school, no shop) after 13 km.
From Wooragee, the off-road trail follows the Beechworth-Wodonga Road to the top of the hill at the 20-km mark at Plunketts Road. This climb was challenging in places: even a short pitch that proved too much for us with our panniers, and we had to hop off and walk 20 m or so. The final 6 km from the top of the hill into Yackandandah were a lot of fun - all off road and all downhill all the way. It was another cold night in Yackandandah: we had Thai dinner at Grace’s Place, and a warm bed at the Yack (bottom) pub.
Day 3. Yackandandah to Bright
Saturday 21st September 2024 (66 km, the first 41 over some hills on back or C roads, then 25 km on the rail trail into Bright)
From Yackandandah to Ovens was on roads, with several biggish climbs (550 m ascent for the day). We began with a short climb out of town on the fairly busy Myrtleford Road before turning off up the hill along the much quieter Back Creek Road for 10 km. Back Creek Road got our hearts pumping with two hills (maximum gradient 8%). When we reached Myrtleford Road, we had to wait for a convoy of about 50 vintage Toranas to pass before heading out on the gentle climb over the hill to Mudgegonga (12 km on this somewhat busier road). We turned left at Mudgegonga onto the much quieter Carrolls Road for our last climb of the day, before a very steep descent into Happy Valley Creek. Before the adrenalin rush of the descent had dissipated, the road pitched steeply for the last 100 m up to the Mt Beauty Road. The 5 km down the valley along the Mount Beauty Road were easy with much less traffic than we encountered on the Myrtleford Road.
We turned left up the rail trail at Ovens, but probably could have turned right for a couple of 100 m to the Ovens pub for lunch (which we discovered on the way back is only open Wednesday to Sunday). No real lunch options upstream, but we stopped at Pepo Farm, bought a drink and sat at one of their tables while hoeing into the last of our flatbread from Ouyen. The 25-km ride up the valley along the rail trail to Bright was fine, and it wasn’t too much of a hill up to our pretty good accommodation up Bakers Gully Road.
Days 4, 5. Lounging in Bright, with a short trip out to Wandiligong
Next day we slugged around - a little walk down the river, a bit of bike-gear shopping, lunch in a random cafe, a quiet afternoon before a ride up the river for dinner at friends’ (after encountering the most inexhaustably aggressive magpie near the Bright brewery). We ended the night with a quiet ride home in the dark, after the magpies had gone to sleep.
The following day, we aimed for lunch at the Wandiligong (Wandi) Pub. It was a nice ride up the creek, but sadly the pub was not open for lunch on a Monday (despite their website claiming otherwise). We retreated to Bright for lunch at the Brewery, and spent our last Bright night in.
Day 6. Bright to Myrtleford
Tuesday 24th September 2024 (31 km, back along the rail trail)
It was an easy 30 km flat ride back down the rail trail to Myrtleford. A brunch stop at the Rail Trail cafe in Porepunkah and another drink stop at Pepo Farm, this time with a tour of their products, which resulted in us having a few more provisions in our bags as we rode on.
On arriving at Myrtleford, we had a decent lunch at the Reclaim wine bar, before tackling the not unsubstantial hill up to our airbnb. We headed back into town for a pre-dinner drink at the Buffalo Hotel beer garden (before the rain started and drove us inside). Even though several of the restaurant options in Myrtleford were shut on a Tuesday, we managed a nice entree and wine back at the wine bar before heading down the road to the Tu Vietnamese street food restaurant, which was pretty good also. And finally back up that hill.
Day 7. Myrtleford to Milawa
Wednesday 25th September 2024 (48 km, rail trail to Everton, back roads for last 16 km - 6 km shorter if you don’t drop the ball and go to Everton Station)
Wednesday was forecast to be rainy, and it did not disappoint. Actually it wasn’t too bad to start. We rolled down the hill for a coffee before heading down the trail to Barwidgee Creek and then up the gentle rail-trail climb to Taylors Gap, including past a short section where a storm had done an amazing amount of damage to the forest along a remarkably narrow corridor.
On the way up the gap, the rain began to turn a bit more serious. We sheltered from the moderate rain at Taylors Gap for a while before heading down the hill into some serious rain for a while.
The signs had suggested that Bowen station was 3 km past the gap, but it wasn’t anywhere obvious and we slugged on all the way to Everton Station for lunch. This was a navigational error, involving a 3-km climb past the turnoff to Everton township, which is where we needed to be for our detour to Milawa. It was a damp lunch at the station, but a nice roll down the road to Everton village, where we managed a coffee at the general store. From there, back roads, at first without rain, allowing a stop at the Ovens Crossing, which was a lovely spot.
After that, we followed the bike-route signs which took us along some back roads that differed from both cycle.travel’s suggested route and the map at Everton Station (so where including this day’s route here). The rain returned on these back roads and we were fairly soggy by the time we arrived at the Milawa Motel. But our arrival was well timed, because it started bucketing down once we were there settling into our room. A slap-up dinner was had at Ava.
Day 8. Milawa to Wangaratta.
Thursday 26th September 2024 (19 km, off road trails into Wangaratta)
It was a sunny day for the 19-km easy ride into Wangaratta, on an off-road trail all the way into town. Two psycho magpies at Oxley added some spice to the ride (and one subtracted a little skin from Chris’s head with a direct hit to the back of the head). We arrived with a couple of hours to spare before the train was due - to be told that it was fully booked (in the lead-up to the long weekend), and we could only get unreserved seats with no guarantee of a seat (or a bike space).
We rode to the park for a little R&R and then back to the Little B-cafe opposite the station for lunch. We had a tense few minutes on the station waiting for the train to arrive, but as it turned out, there was plenty of room for our bikes, and we managed to find seats of sorts for a return to Melbourne as planned.