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Stage 5 - Wangaratta to Beechworth 44km (16-Mar-2021)

Wasn’t impressed, when my my alarm went off at 5am; had forgotten to turn it off from last week. Then struggled to sleep on and off at least until 7am when I started watching live, Liverpool beat Wolves 1-0 which made my day before it had even started. 

Another glorious autumn day, warm with clear blue sky as children from the school next to our motel were making my favourite sound; happy chatter, laughter and friendly yelling at the top of their voices as only kids can do without a care in the world. Made me think of what changes that we don’t continue in the same manner as we grow up. 
Today’s ride took us through Wangaratta's main street as folks were going about with what ever they were up to. This  brought us to the start (located in a local park with a huge log of wood on an old fashioned cart/wagon) of the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail, converted into a sealed bike path that was going to take us all the way to Beechworth.





As we made our way out of Wangaratta, stopped a few times to take in the scenery and take photos before we were finally out of town whereupon we reached the first station (now converted into a train shed) as a monument.







Not a lot of people on the trail, not surprisingly as it was Tuesday after all. the ones we came across were retirees like us as we frequently stopped to take photos and just take in the scenery of grazing paddocks with cows on either side of the trail. It was so refreshing not to have to worry about cars.



Moving along the trail, more photo opportunities and odd replicated station platforms from a bygone era and assortment of cute ornaments like letter boxes and end of line train buffer.




About 20kms from Beechworth, both of us were feeling the steady climb taking its toll on our legs as we struggled slowly, stopping only to take a breather, drink water and take in some refreshments (by now the sun was generating some serious heat) all the way up to Beechworth. On paper, it looked a simple straight forward ride but in reality it was anything but. 

Got into Beechworth, a cute little historic town, made famous by the gold rush and courthouse where Ned Kelly and his gang stood for trial in the local court house. Not much of an historian; I am sure Wikipedia would do it more justice than me. Suffice to say it reminded us of a bygone era and our first stop was at the famous Bakery where we bought a couple of bread rolls to make a sandwich with and vanilla custard scroll. Happy days, welcome to the life of a tourer, living the dream; watch my footy team win a game, enjoy and grind out a ride in the company of one of my two favourite women in the world (the other, my daughter is in Birmingham, UK) and end with a reward of a vanilla custard scroll. Happy days indeed. Tomorrow is a rest day to give our body’s a rest after 5 days of cycling and enjoy what Beechworth has to offer and on first impression, it has a lot besides these photos. 

Click on the 3 bars at the top right corner to view all the photos taken during this stage or follow this link https://photos.app.goo.gl/6WCUpgXhUU8sUrLd6












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