Wivenhoe

Today’s ride took us in a big loop from Fernvale, up the rail trail to Coominya, and back via Lake Wivenhoe.

 

We pointed the bikes to the north-west as a gentle breeze pushed us out of Fernvale and along the flat gravel track to Lowood.

On our right, the Brisbane River flowed slowly by.

I think this section of the BVRT is beautiful.

We pulled into Lowood Station a few minutes later.

Jason listened to his inner eight-year-old and rode his bike along the platform.

Luckily no one was waiting for a train.

We chatted as we rode.  This was an easy ride.

I butted in while Jason talked.

“Hey this looks beautiful!” I blurted out.

Wide open farmland, blue skies with fluffy clouds, a cool breeze, and mountains on the distant horizon.  What more could you want?

We rolled through several spring-loaded gates…

…past busy farmers and their dogs…

…and other riders.

This was a perfect day to be out.

The bridge over Lockyer Creek has recently been restored.  This is the first time we’ve been able to ride over it, instead of riding down the creek bank and up the other side.

We stopped for a quick snack in Coominya, and then rode north-east towards Lake Wivenhoe on quiet back roads.

To avoid the highway, we followed a dirt maintenance track along the fence line for several kilometres.

It was perfect – almost as though someone had asked themselves “how can I give mountain bikers and horse riders a pleasant way to get to Wivenhoe without having to go on the road?”

Grassy plains stretched to the horizon in every direction.

At Wivenhoe we followed the “Red Trail” towards the lake.

It undulated over several hills, before turning sharply uphill.

Some of those climbs were quite steep 🙂

A stiff breeze rustled the eucalyptus leaves at the top of the hill.

We took a short break to cool down and enjoy the impressive view.

After cooling off for a few minutes, we jumped back on the bikes and enjoyed a quick descent from the summit.

As we followed the “White Trail”, views stretched south, towards the D’Aguilar Range on the other side of the lake.

Finally we followed the “Blue Trail” up, down and around gullies along the “Sheepstation Inlet” section of the lake.

Back at the highway we found another magical maintenance track, and followed if for a few more kilometres towards the Wivenhoe Visitors Centre.

The Dam Wall is so huge that the highway runs across it.

There were no bike lanes or footpaths, so we pedaled on the road to get to the other side.

South of the dam wall we stopped at Cormorant Bay to top up our water before following more trails beside the lake.

The final section of our ride took us through Wivenhoe Pocket and over the Brisbane River at “Twin Bridges”.

The crossing was busy with happy people soaking in the cool clear water.

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We rode about sixty kilometres in about five and a half hours.

During that time we climbed about 900 metres in elevation and I burned about 3,000 kcal.

I’ll rate this one 7.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Calum, Jason, Russel, Simon and Paul for a another fun day exploring this amazing country on our bikes.

And special thanks to Justin and Clinton for giving us helpful information about where to ride in this area.