Great Ocean Road and Twelve Apostles

A 256 km loop

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Why this ride

A proper escape from Melbourne with roads worth waking up for. 256 km round from Epping - plan on about 4 h 39 of riding. It goes by way of Scenic stretch near Eltham North, Bonbeach and Hampton. in Knoxfield is the high point. The line favours views over speed.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop in Epping fuel

   Fuel at 0 km.

2. Scenic stretch near Eltham North scenic

   Scenic stretch near Eltham North comes up 35 km in.

3. High point in Knoxfield pass

   This is where the road stops climbing.

4. Bonbeach photo

   Great Ocean photo pull-off, about halfway.

5. Near Hampton finish

   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.

   Brighton is famous for its bathing boxes, a row of small wooden huts on the beach, each painted in bright colours and stripes, many of them decades old and changing hands for astonishing sums. They are one of the most photographed sights in Melbourne, especially at sunset. A little to the north, St Kilda has a long pier where, at dusk, a colony of little penguins comes ashore among the rocks of the breakwater.

   Beach Road, which runs along the shore, is a favourite with cyclists, especially on weekend mornings, when large groups ride along it in tight formations. Be patient and give them space. The road is otherwise easy, with traffic lights, roundabouts and views of the bay. From here, the rides lead north-east to the Yarra Valley and the Black Spur, a winding road through towering mountain ash forest, and west to the Grampians, a range of sandstone mountains rising abruptly from the plains of western Victoria.

   There are fuel stations, cafés and restaurants all along the bayside suburbs, so getting coffee and breakfast before setting off is easy. Melbourne's weather is famously changeable, sometimes described as four seasons in one day, and a hot northerly wind can be followed by a sudden cool change from the south-west, with a dramatic drop in temperature and gusty winds. Always carry an extra layer. At the end of the day, if the weather is warm, a swim in the bay is a fine way to cool off.

6. Food stop near Wyndham Vale food

   Wyndham Vale is one of the new suburbs on Melbourne's western fringe, where housing estates spread across the basalt plains towards Geelong. The landscape is flat, open and often windswept, with stone walls built by early settlers from the volcanic rock and low volcanic hills such as Mount Cottrell rising from the grassland. It is not the most scenic place on its own, but it is where the city releases you towards the coast and the Otways.

   The plains have a quiet, stark beauty. Native grasslands once covered them, and remnants survive in reserves, with wildflowers in spring. Kangaroos can sometimes be seen at dawn on the edges of the estates. To the south lies Werribee, with its grand Werribee Park mansion, built in the 1870s by wealthy pastoralists, and the Open Range Zoo. To the west, the granite outcrops of the You Yangs rise from the plain, with tracks and lookouts popular with walkers and mountain bikers.

   The riding here is mostly about getting somewhere. The Princes Freeway runs fast and straight towards Geelong, while minor roads cross the plains in long straights with few bends. Wind is the constant companion, gusting across the open land, and summer can bring scorching heat and fire risk. Traffic around the new estates can be heavy at peak hours.

   Fuel, supermarkets and fast food are plentiful in Wyndham Vale and Werribee. For something better, head to Werribee or carry on towards Geelong. Beyond, the ride continues to the Great Ocean Road and the rainforests of the Otways, where the riding becomes far more rewarding. Take a break, drink plenty of water on hot days, and prepare for the curves ahead.

7. Near Gisborne, on the way back swim
8. Back to Great Ocean finish

   It is a suburb on Melbourne's northern edge, sitting beside Plenty Road and the Hume corridor, with big shopping centres, industrial estates and housing built over the old volcanic plains. A ride that has come back from the Great Ocean Road and the Otways has plenty of better places to end, but cities need ways in, and this is one of them.

   The ground here is basalt, part of the great volcanic plain that sweeps across western and northern Victoria, and the soil is a heavy, dark clay that grows grass and little else. Before the suburbs, this was grassland dotted with red gums, and a few remnants survive along the creeks, particularly the Darebin Creek and its parks. Wurundjeri people lived in the area, and parts of the creek corridors are carefully managed for both heritage and ecology.

   The riding is purely functional. Plenty Road is a busy arterial, the Metropolitan Ring Road and the Hume Highway are wide, fast and heavily policed, and speed cameras are numerous. If you are here at rush hour, accept that you will sit in traffic, and filter carefully, because lane splitting rules in Victoria are specific and not as relaxed as in some other places. Do check what is permitted before you do it.

   The upside of a big suburb is convenience. Epping has more than thirty thousand people and every service imaginable: petrol stations, supermarkets, bike shops, and a mix of restaurants shaped by the many communities who settled in this part of Melbourne, including Greek, Italian, Macedonian and Vietnamese families. A good bakery or souvlaki place will do a better meal than any highway roadhouse.

   For a more rewarding ride from here, Plenty Road leads north to Whittlesea and on into the hills around Kinglake and the Yarra Ranges. These hills were devastated by fires on Black Saturday in 2009, and the regrowth has transformed the area; the bends are worth a Sunday of their own once you are rested.

Where this sits

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