Bike Ride

I went for a bike ride today. It was far too nice a day to stay indoors so I donned my bike hat, filled my water bottle, stuck the little headphones of my radio into my ears and took off!

I am lucky enough to live very close to the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail which incorporates:

- the old Goldfields Road along which fortune seekers trudged
- the reserve for the Eastern Railway along which trains steamed, and
- the maintenance road that runs alongside the water supply pipeline.

You can just see the pipeline through the trees in this photo below (click on photo to enlarge). It keeps you company along the trail.

The trail is 650 km long from Mundaring Weir in the forested Perth Hills, through the golden expanses of the Wheatbelt to a reservoir overlooking the gold boomtown of Kalgoorlie.

I wouldn't be doing the whole 650kms this afternoon, of course, (as if?); just a mere 7.5km to Bakers Hill and back. The nice thing about riding a railway trail is that there are no steep inclines, only gentle ones that locomotives could handle. So on the way to Bakers Hill I was climbing a gentle gradient all the way and above is one of the cuttings I rode through. Very picturesque.

There are interesting little information plaques along the trail and this one is about the train labouring its way up the gradient.
The wattles (below) are just coming into bloom and their fragrance is exquisite. I'm glad I don't suffer with hay fever or asthma. And the Australian bush would not be complete without its prolific eucalypts. But they can be a hazard to cyclists when the parrots have had their fun! They just love to nip off the gumnuts and riding over a carpet of these is like trying to ride across marbles.

As I approached Bakers Hill I could see what a difference the recent rain has made on the countryside. Green at last!