On the evening of Friday 14 October, Rowan and I drove up to a campground on the edge of Lake Hume, overlooking the dam in order to do a short hub-and-spoke tour in that area. We have been in the area before as the outer edge of other hub-and-spoke tours and randonnees, and we both cycled through the area many years ago, before we met. So we decided to go back to have a better look around.
And as we often do now, we took three bicycles.
Saturday 15 October - We chose the tandem to follow the Murray River out to Rutherglen on the Victoria side, and then cross over to the Riverina Highway on the NSW side ... 100 miles. It was a good ride, and went really quickly. The first quarter of the ride kept us occupied as we rode to and through Wodonga. The second quarter of the ride was pleasant and generally quiet. The third quarter was also quiet, but dragged a little bit. I wished the road were a bit closer to the river. And the fourth quarter kept us occupied getting through Albury, and dealing with the hills on the other side.
Sunday 16 October - We chose our single bicycles and a hillier route along the shores of Lake Hume. We rode out to Tallangatta, then to Old Tallangatta, on the south side of the lake, on a larger highway, and then crossed over and rode the very quiet little roads on the north side of the lake.
It's beautiful along the lake with the tall, soft green hills dotted with trees, and the blue of the water.
The highway had decent shoulders most of the way which were much preferable to the very rocky and rough-looking rail trail. Tallangatta is a picturesque little town where we had something to eat. Old Tallangatta is the original site of the town. The town was moved in 1956 because of a fear it would be inundated with water because of the dam. And they were right. The lake is currently 99% full, and Old Tallangatta is completely under water.
On the north side of the lake, we rode 7 km before we encountered any vehicles at all, and even then, we only encountered a small handful. Very nice! The road was lovely, following the contours of the lake. But it did have two challenges ... 7 km of unexpected gravel in the middle (and we both flatted because of that section), and lots of hills. There was a lot of up and down and up and down, and up ...
But I enjoyed myself. It was nice to see an area I'd been through in 2004, and also ride a road I've never ridden before.
Monday 17 October - Drove home, stopping to do a little bit of shopping along the way, and did a short ride to stretch out our legs a bit.
Cycling along the Murray River ...
Taking the first break in ... Howlong?
The Hume dam, and view from where we were staying ...
The rail trail ... we opted to use the road!!
The highway around Lake Hume ...
The site of Old Tallangatta ... not the town on the far side ... the water in the middle covers Old Tallangatta ...
Checking the map at the top of the tallest climb on the gravel road ...
Rowan at the top of the tallest climb, with the road sloping down behind ...
Bellbridge - the bridge is about 1 km long ...
