Coffee in Yarck!

It was a sunny day – well, I suppose it was; it was hard to tell as a layer of smoke hung over everything from all the bush burning around the district. This was carefully planned bush burning though, lit on purpose by a team of dedicated public servants and going according to plan. What better to do when the air is full of smoke but have a nice relaxing coffee.

There are a couple of coffee shops in town but the one I chose to visit was at Yarck, about an hour away by bike. The bike track heads uphill for the first 5 km and I actually made it without stopping (if we ignore the once I stopped to chat with some friends, who kindly informed me that the nearest coffee shop wasn’t that far away, back in town; and that was at the bottom of the hill anyway.)

At the top of the hill there is a lookout where you could see the whole smoke filled valley but I continued on knowing that there was a nice relaxing stretch of downhill coming up and some easy riding at least as far as Cathkin.

Arriving at Cathkin I thought to myself “Wow, that wasn’t too bad. Soon I’ll have a lovely coffee in my hand. Lack of fitness – irrelevant; not far to Yarck now, only a ‘k’ or two”. I was half right – it was a ‘k or two’ to a sign telling me that Yarck was another five k’s along the track, which I could see climbing gently into the distance – not a steep climb, I’m sure my muscles will hardly feel it.

Soon I saw the bridge where the Maroondah Hwy crosses the track – just near Yarck I thought – nearly there. I hate those things that make you think your nearly there only to later realise they don’t.

Pedalling on I soon made Yarck and collapsed under the nearest shady tree where I rang home to let my wife know I had made it one way at least.

“Have you ordered your coffee yet?”, she asked.

“No, not yet, just sitting under a tree and cooling off.”

“Okay. I’ll drive over and have a coffee with you. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

It is a little frustrating to know that your hour bike ride is about a ten minute drive. We had a lovely coffee and a bite to eat and then it was time to head back home.

“Did you bring the bike rack?” I asked kind of hopeful of a lift home.

“No. Did you want me to?”

“No. It’s okay, I can ride.”

So I watched her drive off into the distance and mounted my bike and headed home, a somewhat slower trip with plenty of stops for rests and photos – birds that wouldn’t stay still for me to take a decent photo, some old railway stuff and a Red-bellied Black Snake, which actually tried to bite me as I rode past. The snake was the only one that I didn’t get a photo of. I saw it by the side of the path and it sprang out at my bike as I rode past. I stopped a little further down the track and decided to go back and try for a photo. Red Bellies are usually fairly docile but as this one clearly wasn’t and as I couldn’t see it I decided not to venture too far in case it was simply lurking ready for an ambush.

Would have made an exciting blog post though.

The remains of a turntable at Cathkin. No trains have been turned around here for a while now.

A monument constructed of the finest local concrete ...

... reminding me that I wasn't the first one here.

The Yarck siding - where the trains used to stop

Where the smoke was coning from.

Five k's to Yarck and about three to the snake.