Granny's Got a Bike: Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Stage 1 & 2

A public holiday is always welcome and a good excuse to go for a pedal. Thought it was about time I checked out the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail . I drove out to Fernvale (1hr) to start the trail to Coominya.

Fernvale: start of Trail

1st Stage 8km: Fernwood to Lowood is 8km and the track is a well packed gravel trail, which runs along the bank of the Brisbane River. Saw the bat colony & the bricked cuttings. Not much else really.

The Trail

Apart from the sign at the beginning of the trail, no more signs were seen until arriving in Lowood - a rather sad oversight by the organisers. There are a couple of times when the track is unclear and a small blue bike sign would have been helpful.

The now quiet Brisbane River

Bricked cutting from original railway line

A row of bats

Strange fruit - fruit bats that is

Old Lowood railway station, now a museum maybe

Off into the long grass - Stage 2

2nd Stage 12km: After Lowood, the trail degenerates into an overgrown bone-rattling affair, still suffering from the flood through the Valley last year. It tracks through farmlands, empty paddocks, few dams, nothing really that interesting. One section is totally washed away, but I was able to walk Nellie around the edge of that area.

Eventually, I came to the heritage Lockyer River Rail Bridge - hiding in a large pile of long grass, a hum of a tractor slashing, in the background. I parted the grass around the gate, to find a sign announcing that bridge was to be crossed 'at your own risk'. hmmm....

use the tractor to get some scale to the height of the bridge

Taxi across the Lockyer river

The tractor driver gave a 'hoy!' so I went over to see him. He was slashing the grass and offered to give me a lift over the river, still running about 30cm deep. So I followed him down the really steep bank and when he got to the river - now just a narrow channel over loose rocks - he lifted the slasher up above the water level. I dragged Nellie up onto the slasher and climbed on myself and for a minute or two, we bounced and jounced over the river, trying not to lose balance.

Lockyer River railway bridge - closed

On the other side, I had to drag Nellie up the steep cliff, leaving the panniers on the back of the slasher, which dangerously followed me up the steep bank. Phew! There's no sign of any problems such as this on the website - I think it might need some updating.

The last few kms to Coominya were a bone shaking trip over the railway ballast and eventually just 2kms out of town I gave up and zinked off the trail onto the sealed road that lead into town.

Prosperous Catholic Church

Coominya is just a tiny town, but I found the park and sat down and scoffed my lunch. I decided that I would hit the real road for the return trip. It was a much easier, tho a tad longer. Got sworn at by a cheeky little fox terrier! Got back onto the trail at Lowood.

rough fence

Not really impressed with the trail. Maybe Nellie agrees with me (she had a flat front tyre the next day). It's touted as a tourer or mountain bike track. Generally I think mountain bikers would think it far too tame and I thought it pretty uncomfortable - the scenery was pretty bland, but having to watch the track all the time, who knows what I may have missed!