North of Melbourne, the Hume Freeway runs up a long corridor of basalt plain, and Mickleham sits just off it, where old farming land is rapidly turning into new housing estates. Look past the roofs, though, and the older landscape is still there: stony paddocks, dry-stone walls built by early settlers, scattered red gums and the low volcanic cones that punctuate the plains.
Those stone walls are a quiet treasure. Many were laid in the nineteenth century from the basalt boulders cleared off the fields, and they still run for long distances across the paddocks north of the city. Mount Ridley, a gentle rise nearby, and the grasslands around it give a sense of what this volcanic country looked like before the suburbs arrived. Woodlands Historic Park, a short ride south near the airport, protects old red gums and grassy woodland where eastern grey kangaroos graze.
The riding through here is about connection. Mickleham Road and the routes north towards Kilmore and Wallan are mostly straight, with long sightlines and gentle undulations, and they lead towards hillier country around the Macedon Ranges and the Great Dividing Range. Traffic is growing fast, and trucks are common, so be patient at intersections. Wind across the plain can be strong and gusty.
There is little in Mickleham itself beyond the new estates, but fuel and food are easy to find in Craigieburn and along the Hume. Treat this stretch as a breather between the city and the hills, and enjoy the sense of space while it lasts.