The signs weren’t great driving up the Princes Freeway towards Lara.   The amount of standing water on the side of the road made it a real possibility that Hovell’s Creek Trail was going to be flooded.    Considering  that the southerly winds on the day were going to be pay back from the wind gods for last week’s joy(http://thecyclingbuzz.com/2017/04/08/sailing-on-the-wind-from-mt-macedon-to-greenvale/), I didn’t really fancy improvising an alternative route.   Given I was fuelled up on chicken burger and chips and raring to go,  I would just have to suck it up and resolve whatever obstacles lay in my path.

The starting point was the Lara RSL.    Hovell’s Creek Trail begins from the left hand side of the car park.  Easy to find.  Good sign.  A couple of clicks down the path,  I prematurely came across the first creek crossing.  The creek had burst it’s banks and was flowing across Rennie St.   (If it was like this here, I thought, then the Princes Freeway underpass was sure to be under water).   The road seemed less affected than the bike path.  As the  cars were tentatively driving through the water, I did the same.   The upcoming underpass was indeed under water, but guessing (or hoping) that it wasn’t that deep and not wanting to end the ride this early, I bit the bullet and just pushed on.  No harm done, other than some wet feet, I just hoped that would be the end of the flooding (and thankfully it was!).

It’s about a 5 km ride through a flood basin towards the estuary of Hovell’s Creek into Limeburners Bay.  The path is bitumen all the way, about the same quality as Moonee Ponds Creek Trail for those that know it.   On another day, it would be a perfectly scenic ride, but with the wind right in my face, it was head down and bum up.  I have read somewhere to treat headwinds as you would going uphill,  go easy on the gears and keep the cadence up, rather than fight the urge to push harder against it.  I do try and keep up that discipline.  It is common sense, but there is something that plays on your mind when you are on the flat or even going downhill and you’re pushing a lower gear.  It just doesn’t seem right!

The trail continues past Lagoon Boat Club, however the better option is Foreshore Rd itself.    It’s quite a scene with a quaint collection of yachts on your left and a oil tanker on your right as you head towards the Shell Refinery.
As if a water colour  has somehow been ruined by someone dumping sump oil on it.    I was hoping that the oil refinery was going to provide some relief from the wind, even it it meant having that diesel smell in your nostrils.  Well I did experience a smell.  A stench like someone had crapped in their pants!  Fairdinkum, it was nauseating.  It turns out there is a water treatment plant on the North Shore, just behind the refinery.  Luckily, a woodchip plant provides the scent of damp wood as welcome relief.  Pine-O-Cleen anyone!!!!  That’s one stinky 7 km’s.  I wonder what the lads at Geelong Grammar get a whiff of on a really bad day!

By the time you hit the Princes Hwy overpass at the end of Corio Quay Rd, the trail has lost all decency and it’s definitely better to stick to the road.   I did make a navigational mistake at this point and followed bike paths signs that resulted in a messy figure eight, in and under the Princes Hwy, ending up on the wrong side of the highway.   I should have taken a left at McLeod St, but I guess I’d have enough of the perfumes of the refinery.

The wide concrete path on that side of the road is quite good for cyclists and other than the inconvenience of crossing the highway just past North Geelong station, not too much is taken out of the ride.  Just a matter of heading back towards Corio Bay, turning right down a side street and I was back at Rippleside Park, where the Bay Trail commences.    I made my second navigational error at this point and rode the bay side of the park, eventually ending on the Bob McGovan Path to get to Eastern Beach.  Although it is a good bitumen and concrete path for social riding, it is way too touristy, particularly on a public holiday.  The next two kilometres was spent dodging walkers, joggers, kids on training wheels and trying not to end up in Corio Bay. It would have been better to stay on the high side of the path and onwards to the Esplanade.  A much more enjoyable route to Eastern Beach and onto Eastern Park.

From Eastern Park, I followed my nose south, heading towards the bridge that I’d remembered from the Cadel Evans People’s Ride to cross the Barwon River.   I didn’t recall passing the Showgrounds on that ride (i.e. I don’t think I was following the same route exactly 🙂 ), but it was a bonus (for future reference) to discover that the Easter Show was on.  Crossing the Breakwater Rd Bridge and turning left onto Barwon Heads Rd for the final 20 km’s of the journey,  thoughts were of the road turning east where Barwon Heads Rd meets Mt Duneed road.  Upon reaching that point, the relief of just having a crosswind to deal was fantastic for the last 9 km’s into Barwon Heads, ignoring the little stretch across the exposed Lake Connewarre.

This was a very exhausting  ride for such a  distance (45 km’s).  I don’t know if the exhaustion was  due to the headwind or the digestion of the chicken burger and chips throughout the ride  (possibly not the smartest move to begin with).  Better still, it was a satisfying precursor to any future ride from Melbourne to the Bellarine.