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Another good night’s sleep and we were up to see Will off to a job near Mansfield, where we were also headed thanks to his pointing out “The Great Victorian Rail Trail” (GVRT) to us. We also met his neighbors, Bryan and Jessica. Bryan was the orchestrater of the garden, and Jessica is a transplanted American originally hailing from Armonk, NY. Will and Bryan loaded us up with Italian yellow beans which were part of last night’s dinner and made great snacks on the road.
After a nice chat with Bryan and Jessica, and lubing the bikes after yesterday’s rain, we pointed out front wheels in the direction of the GVRT. Shortly thereafter, we got a message from Will that the foundation trench job they were to work on was full of water from the rain yesterday (human dowsers, at your service!) and he was heading back to Seymour to work on another job. So, no chance of a lunchtime meeting.
It was about 5 miles to the GVRT on a mostly quiet back road. The GVRT is a packed gravel trail and even with the rain, proved to be a good surface. We made a short stop in Yea, anticipating a long climb ahead. There was a 20 mile closure of the trail due to a bush fire that raged through the area in January. Some of the trail bridges were in the path of the fire and hadn’t been checked for safety yet. The detour was to follow the main road, and mostly up for that 20 miles, but not quite at railroad grades. Wasn’t that bad tho, and we stopped at Merton for a short lunch.
It was a long day of 75 miles (115 km) and we pulled into Mansfield around 7 and headed to the campground. By the time we set up and hit the town, most shops and restaurants/bar kitchens were closed. The bartender at the Mansfield Hotel told us there was a Thai restaurant just across and a bit down the street that was open until 9:30 – it was almost 9 by now.
We headed to Bangkok Corner and tho the server was unsure if we could get served so late, the cook in the kitchen gave the OK. Pad Thai for Dana, Pad Kheemoaw for me, and of course a couple of nightcaps.
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