Short overnighter in Melbourne - Train to train?

General Touring
1

I have a friend who is still relatively new to cycling. We are planning to do an overnight/microtour from Melbourne in mid November - travel out Friday night on train, ride <10km and camp, set off in the morning and take it slow.

Her daily limit is currently around 50km - so we’re looking for suggestions for relatively short routes between two train stations.

For me this will be as much a shakedown tour and a test of both our abilities for tour riding.

2

Train to Camperdown. Rail trail from there. On into Warrnambool. Train home from Warrnambool.

3

Train to Castlemaine, ride the “GDT Trail” to Ballarat Train Station. OR reverse. Stop at daylesford for the night/dinner.

4

I would say this is a bit tough in this case.

5

Did the Geelong-Queenscliff rail trail on the weekend with my gf. It’s about 65km return and very relaxed. Plus you can go for a swim, get an ice-cream, and check out a local brewery/winery on the Saturday.

Not sure where you’d camp on Friday night but I expect you could find somewhere around Drysdale station.

6
  • Southern Cross to Euroa - 6pm to 8pm.
  • Camp at Euroa Caravan Park which is OK.
  • Euroa Village Market every 3rd Saturday you can pre-load some coffee and baked items, plus some extra carbs via Strathbogie Brewing’s stall before you set off.
  • Ride to Seymour Station to pick up return train - about 55ks and FLAT which is main thing for novice with packs - via back / service roads parallel to Hume Freeway. But suggest you probably ride about 70ks to make it more interesting and pick up some test gravel segments and stop off at a few wineries (which chicks always like). If she can do 50k a day she can probs do 70 with some long breaks and some wine.

Weather always better on northern side of dividing range at this time of year.