Ride on 27/12/2019
Six riders had a most delightful ride through the bush. Starting at Heatherdale we were immediately on the bike path and heading onto Eastlink Trail. After successfully tackling the bridge over the Maroondah Hwy, we followed the Mullum Mullum Creek under the spaghetti entrance to the Mullum Mullum tunnel.
Suddenly the freeway noise was gone, replaced by the twitter of birds. Oh, and the raucous squawks of cockatoos and the laughter of kookaburras. The creek soon turned away from the Eastlink trail, as did our route along the Mullum Mullum trail heading northwards through the bushy surrounds of the Mullum Mullum Park. While there were houses, these were mostly away from the creek so that we were riding through dense forest. Sadly, there are a couple of new housing estates that are quite close to the trail.
We had our mid ride break just before Reynolds Rd and enjoyed biscotti provided by Paul. And we discussed important matters such as the best places for yum cha in Melbourne. We are now planning a yum cha ride for some time in the future.
The ride continued north to where the Mullum Mullum trail morphs into the Main Yarra Trail (and the Mullum Mullum Creek meets the Yarra). By now, we were in bushland with no houses to be seen. We rode on through bush and farmland past Petty's Orchard. (It is possible to access the orchard from the trail, but this is an option for another day.) Eventually we reached the turnoff to the Diamond Creek Trail where we headed north to Eltham. While lots of cafes were closed, we found an excellent one just one block from the station where we had our caffeine fixes.
Thanks to the other riders for their companionship,
Penny.