Grampians Mountain Sweep · part 3

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Near Hampton

   Port Phillip Bay is so large that from its northern shore you cannot see the other side, and the stop is right on that shore, along the beaches between Elwood and Brighton, a few kilometres south of Melbourne's centre. As a base for setting out and coming home it works well: the city is close, but the bay gives a sense of space, and on a summer evening, with the light going gold over the water and people swimming and walking their dogs along the sand, it is hard to feel stressed.

   Read the complete Near Hampton write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Grampians Mountain Sweep checkpoint 8 is where the day begins. Next is High point in Narre Warren.

2. 2. High point in Narre Warren

   Narre Warren is a big suburban hub in Melbourne's south-east, but look north and the land begins to lift. Narre Warren North and the Harkaway hills rise behind the town, a rolling patchwork of paddocks, horse properties and pockets of bush that climbs towards Lysterfield and the southern foot of the Dandenong Ranges.

   Read the complete High point in Narre Warren write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Bayswater North.

3. 3. Scenic stretch near Bayswater North

   Bayswater North sits at the very foot of the Dandenong Ranges, on the eastern rim of Melbourne's suburbs. The streets are quiet and leafy, and from many of them you can see the dark blue wall of the ranges rising just beyond, with Mount Dandenong and its towers on top. Dandenong Creek meanders through parkland on the western side, and the EastLink tollway carves a wide corridor nearby.

   Read the complete Scenic stretch near Bayswater North write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Scenic stretch near Bayswater North. Next is Back to Grampians.

4. 4. Back to Grampians

   Hurstbridge sits on the northeastern edge of Melbourne, at the end of a suburban railway line, where the outskirts blur into bushland and low hills. With Wattle Glen beside it, the area belongs to what planners call the Green Wedge, a strip of farms, orchards and eucalypt forest that keeps the city from sprawling all the way to the Kinglake Ranges. The dot sits here because this is a way home from the Grampians, which lie more than two hundred kilometres to the west, and this is the quiet end of the loop.

   Read the complete Grampians write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back to Grampians closes the day.