This trip was inspired by two others. Chris from Omafiets bike shop has described his journey here, and he was in turn inspired by Arran Pearson's crazy account of the same journey in a single day.
The cycling starts at Lithgow railway station and finishes at Mittagong railway station.
Before my start however, I had a warm-up ride along the Anderson Fire Trail and the Oaks fire trail which took my friend Paul Leach and I from Wentworth Falls to Glenbrook. We actually started at Leura railway station as we'd parked in Glenbrook and took the train up to Wentworth Falls, but missed out stop, so got going from the next stop Leura.
Here is the outline of our 'prologue' to my solo trip.
It was a fun ride, and as my bike was unladen, I enjoyed the freedom of moving fast and with greater agility than I would have later.
Here is a photo of Paul crossing a creek along the Anderson fire trail. It was a fun trail, much more interesting that The Oaks and with a little more in the way of challenges.
We arrived at Glenbrook station, where we had parked, at about 12:30pm and we had about 50 minutes until my train left for Lithgow. But I needed about half of that time to pack all the bags onto my bike, get changed and top-up my bottles with water from a large bladder I had left in the car.
There was just enough time for a coffee and a cake, before I headed back down the the station and said goodbye to Paul.
The local trains around Sydney are pretty relaxed about bikes travelling when it isn't rush hour. This was the Queen's Birthday public holiday, so the trains were mainly being used by tourists.
It is a slow train up to Lithgow, stopping at just about every station, but the countryside is so beautiful that you don't mind one bit. I suppose I was slightly apprehensive about journey ahead. I had cycled, packed my bike, camped and cooked. But not put the whole thing together.
This afternoon I had just a short cycle from Lithgow, so that I could unpack, put up my tent and get a meal cooked before it was too dark.
So once the train arrived into Lithgow at about 3:20pm, I had about 30 minutes of cycling before reaching Lake Lyell, my home for my first night. This was a campsite and cost me $22 for a waterfront spot. I paid another $20 for 20kgs of firewood.
I pitched my tent, and while I boiled my billy can, I set about getting my fire going. It was a lovely evening, but as the sun dipped behind the hills I started to feel the temperature drop almost immediately.
Fortunately I had a fire, and could sit out with my curry for quite a while into the evening.
Even so, I was probably asleep by 8pm.
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