Loose gravel has its place in this era of enthusiasm for riding car-sparse dirt roads and breathing dust instead of petrol fumes, but that place is not on shared-path detours.
The Galada Tamboore trail runs along the Hume Freeway corridor through Melbourne’s outer north, linking the burgeoning suburbs of Thomastown, Epping and Woolert.
Due to rapid housing development in the region, including one of Australia’s biggest urban developments, Aurora and its 7000 future residents right next to the trail, a new sewer is required.
Known as the Love Branch Sewer, this massive project runs along the route of the current trail, and to build it requires a new, temporary trail further away from the work zone.
Yarra Valley Water and its contractors set out with the best intentions and provided a new gravel track for about two kilometres to provide a detour.
The gravel was small, thick, and really loose. Riders were soon reporting to Bicycle Network that their tyres were sinking into the loose stones, making it hard to steer and stay upright.
Yarra Valley Water quickly committed to remedying the station, and the wheels of the utilities industry turned slowly on a plan for improvement.
The loose gravel has been swept and the surface is now more compact and firm, certainly a much more secure feeling for riders.
And your wheels no longer leave a groove in the gravel.
It is is a long way out to Woolert from central Melbourne, but if you feel like a longer ride with a touch of gravel as the weather warms up, it is easy to find. Head out to the Merri Creek Trail, under Mahoneys Road and along the M80 Trail, across the bike bridge to Thomastown, turn left, and you are on the Galada Tamboore Trail.
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