Lets start with a continuation of yesteday afternoon, waiting in the Echuca railway station for our 3:53pm train to Bendigo. We had nearly 2 hours to wait for the train which was why I was able to get the blog out early. With time still to kill before the train was due to depart I happened to glance down at Jeffs rear tyre. It appeared the Karma bus back for a second swipe as it was flat. I tried not to laugh. I wasnt very successful.
On the train we changed the tyre and it was another bindy eye that had caused the flat. At least it was changed before we reached Bendigo.
Last night we went out for dinner and it was great to see so many people out having a good time. Bendigo was jumping. I havent seen that for so long.
This morning we woke without setting the alarm. With only 50kms to ride there was no need to be out on the road by a specific time. Were not sure what it was but we both thought maybe today would be our last day on the road. After discussing it Jeff called
The ride from Bendigo was on the OKeefe Railtrail. Andrew OKeefe came out from Ireland as a 12 year after the potato famine. He learned about the railroad from his father and saw that building a railroad would be a boon for the local area. He even had his own called Sue. We climbed a hill known as Sportsmans Hill which was the former site of the Sportsmans Arms Hotel. It was here that someone had left a sleeper across the track in an effort to cause OKeefe some trouble. This coincided with the local workers demands for more pay and better conoditions (it seems like some things never change).
We had a stop in Axedale as did about 40 dudes on Motorcycles. They were part of an organised ride raising money for cancer. Good job guys and gals! Not to mention they offered us brownies and drinks as we rode past.
The final item of note happened about 8kms from Heathcote, our ride when Jeff called out to me Number 3. It took a moment to register before I realised he had
just got another puncture. No ribbing or laughs this time. Just change the tyre as fast as we could and get on to Heathcote.
We had lunch at the local bakery with Yama and then it was done. A ride in the car back to Fairfield (we both felt like we were cheating) before I road home to Footscray.
It would be an understatement to say its been a strange year. Our plans had us riding the Rhine from Switzerland to Rotterdam before COVID19 turned the world updside down. Once we decided on a local ride the Melbourne lock down almost skuttled things but we finally got to plan something. Then on the second day of the ride I had to return home before rejoining Jeff later.
For all that, what a wonderful trip it was. Ive lived my whole life in this state and I saw things Id never seen and learned more about the history of the towns we visited. For Jeff, he was revisiting a lot of places from his early memories growing up in Kyabram. The constant on our trip was the people we met when
wed stop for a chat. The stories wed hear, the history theyd share, all good people, some doing it pretty tough due to one thing or another.
Lastly, Id like to thank Jeff for being the driving force behind the ride up with the route (and the 10s of route changes made). Without his drive to Ride the Rivers, Im not sure we would have gotten out for a ride this year.
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