Living with COVID lockdowns, restrictions, rules, mandates, etc, etc is driving me up the wall. I'm sure many of you feel the same, some even worse.
I feel the need to escape, to get some fresh air, to get away from all the madness for a few days.
We are quiet at work and I was able to get next week off so I'm looking at a spontaneous bike trip in the "local" area of south east Queensland.
I've been toying with the idea of this trip for a while but other than a cursory glance have not put much thought or planning into it.
There are a couple of "rail trails" that almost join up (if you can call 50km almost) which together with a few backroads between make up a route just over 300km. of that, 200+ are on dirt/gravel.
There is a wealth of camping/hotel/motel accommodation along the way and seeing that the trail is the original railway, that opened up the area, there are a multitude of small towns with shops and services all along the route.
So I now have a mere three days to find all my gear, prep a bike, buy supplies and pack my panniers before I get dropped off on Saturday morning in Kilkivan.
Of course it will be hilarious if we go into a lockdown while I'm 200km from home on a bicycle.
The rail trails run from Kilkivan to Kingaroy KKRT(89km) and Yarraman to Wulkuraka as the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail BVRT(161km) on this map. The Stretch between the two is probably the toughest leg being quite hilly. The rest, especially on the rail trails, is at most a 4% grade.