Port Campbell Cycling Trip – 21st to 26th April 2017

MRCC Group 2016

We have booked the Sherbrook River Guide House near Port Campbell from Friday 21st to Wednesday 26th April 2017 for the use of Club members for a cycling holiday. Tuesday 25th April is the ANZAC Day holiday. Jennie and Ken have been holidaying here for about 30 years so know the house and surrounding countryside well. There are excellent roads for cycling through attractive coastal, farming and bush scenery.

* Please fill out the form below if you plan to come, we will email an information sheet to you nearer the time of the trip.

 

 

Getting There

The Sherbrook River Guide House is about a 3 hour drive from Gisborne via Colac. The Guide House is along a narrow track that runs off Yaruck Rd  which is about 6 km east of Port Campbell along the Great Ocean Road towards the 12 Apostles. The most direct route from the Macedon Ranges  is via Colac and Simpson as per the map below. This direct route doesn’t go through Port Campbell on the way to the Guide House.

Sherbrook River Guide House

Sherbrook River Guide House

Sherbrook River Guide House

Sherbrook River Guide House is by itself in the bush away from the main road. The accommodation is fairly basic; set up as a Girl Guide camp.

It has 4x 6-person bunk rooms and 2 single rooms (i.e. 26 mattresses), large kitchen, outdoor bbq and plenty of hot water for showers. It costs $16 per person a night. There is plenty of scope for people to camp beside the house. You need to bring your own bedding, pillows and food.

For those who prefer, there is a variety of accommodation close by in Port Campbell –  as it is a long weekend you will need to book early. See Port Campbell Information Centre – Accommodation.

 

 

Cycling 

The riding around the area is great with a variety of different loops – often including coffee/lunch stops at Timboon. We don’t ride on the main road (Great Ocean Rd) much except before about 10.00 am as there can be a lot of tourist traffic which is not always bike friendly. The back roads are quiet, with excellent sealed surfaces and we have found the local drivers and occasional milk tankers are good at looking out for cyclists. The countryside is undulating with few major hills (unless you go looking for them). I have put links to some rides I have mapped out at the bottom of this page, there are many variations to these rides that can be taken.

 

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Other Attractions

There is plenty of non-cycling activity in the local area – walks, swimming, shipwreck sites, 12 Apostles, chocolate factory, ice cream factory, whisky distillery etc. And Sunsets. See: Port Campbell Information Centre.

Sherbook River Beach

Sherbrook River Beach

Ride Routes

Here are some links to RidewithGPS routes we’ve created in the Port Campbell area covering roads we’ve ridden in the past. There are many ways these rides can be varied with different starting points to change the ride lengths and combinations of parts of different routes. We also change the direction of rides depending on the wind direction and speed. All the rides are on good quality sealed roads.

For our trip in April we will vary the rides to suit the conditions and the people riding. There are shorter versions of many of the mapped rides. Although they mainly start at Sherbrook River Guide House, in practice we more commonly start and finish in the town of Port Campbell. This reduces the total distance of the rides to the west of Port Campbell by about 13 km and avoids riding on the Great Ocean Road at busy times.