The Walcha Grand South Tour 387km | 4 Day Tour
These routes are a part of a collection of day and multi-day routes for Walcha Tourism.
Visit the two beautiful New England towns of Walcha and Uralla in one chiller route. This route is free without details. However you can buy the route for $15 and it comes with a downloadable booklet containing information and resources to help you get the most of out your ride.
When buying the route you also receive a sticker pack and a discount code for any purchases from Jambz Distro bike packing gear webstore.
If you would like to make a donation towards the route making project you can do so below via a paypal link.
These routes are a part of a collection of day and multi-day routes for Walcha Tourism.
Visit the two beautiful New England towns of Walcha and Uralla in one chiller route. This route is free without details. However you can buy the route for $15 and it comes with a downloadable booklet containing information and resources to help you get the most of out your ride.
When buying the route you also receive a sticker pack and a discount code for any purchases from Jambz Distro bike packing gear webstore.
If you would like to make a donation towards the route making project you can do so below via a paypal link.
Route Information
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Great question, you don’t need to! The below Ride With GPS route is free to use.
The 1 - 2 day rides have detail on the free RWGPS file.
The multi day routes have no detail on the free RWGPS file.
If you decide to purchase a route, you receive the following;
A detailed Ride With GPS route which includes camping options, resupply, water sources, more details on terrain and helpful links, info and resources that go with having a great time on a ride.
Suggestions on the best places to eat, drink and stay.
A 20% discount code for Jambz Distro. Your home of bike touring gear.
A sticker pack
Buy buying the route you are also helping to maintain this resource.
The route makers are paid for their work, and they also receive a % of their routes purchases - so your purchase gets to the right places.
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You can! The upside to each person buying the route is that you all receive the details, there are no excuses for someone to be under prepared.
Each rider receives a 20% discount code and sticker packs sent to them.
The added bonus of including everyone’s details is that we can have a good understanding of how popular the route is.
A goal is to create a calendar of people who are riding the route at any given time. So you can potentially connect with people who are travelling the same time as you.
And finally, supporting the route making project means that it can continue to be a maintained resource.
GPX Link
Route Snapshot
Highlights
Walcha Road Hotel pub lunch
The Taphouse in Walcha
Old growth mountain forests in Mummel Gulf National Park
Kentucky General Store
Dobsons Gin Distillery
Salisbury Plains - beautiful country gravel roads
The Walcha Grand South Tour is a gentle tour that gives rewards of beautiful scenery often reserved for the hike-a-bike demonic routes
Description
If you are looking for something more substantial during your stay at Walcha, this 3 to 5 day bike tour (depending on your speed) is a safe choice. It is a 100% rideable, 75% gravel country cruise. Giving you the opportunity to have long days racking up many kilometers - if that is what you want.
If you like your biking to be a little more technical this route does have a mean sister - I like to call it….The Walcha Grand South Tour’s Mean Sister - slightly shorter, and more abrasive. You can find this route here. The differences are the choice between visiting Dick’s hunt or leaving it for next time.
Despite the Mummel Gulf National Park having a long history of logging on the plateau and upper slopes, most of the vegetation is still in good condition. Only the more accessible areas of open forest show signs of disturbance and there are extensive areas of old growth forest.
The planning area is primarily in the traditional land of the Biripai people but borders the country of several other Aboriginal peoples including that of the Anaiwan to the west, the Nganyaywana people of the southern New England Tablelands and the Dunghutti of the hinterland valleys.
At the highest elevation point and from the logging roads of Riamukka State Forest you will have a view to the south. On a clear day, it might be possible to see right off the Northern Tablelands plateau.
The next township you visit on this route is the geologically isolated Niangala. With a population of 30ish. It is remnant of the Australian gold rush, leaving an old cemetery, a derelict gold crusher and a number of old buildings from when the township boasted more than 300 folks panning for gold in 1893.
You enter Niangala from the north, having passed through Billey Creek TSR which, depending on the time of year you are riding, may have been a slow bounce around fallen trees and deep crevices.
Weabonga, the next small township on the route, is a fun place. Nestled in the crease of rolling hills. If you reach Weabonga in the evening you will see the hills alight with the last sun.
The 30km climb back up past Limbre and towards Woolbrook is a long one...but gentle.The Main North Line train line wobbles through the terrain and guides you straight to Woolbrook. Another small town, less geologically challenged. It has a heritage listed rail bridge over the MacDonald River and platypus sightings from the road bridge.
If you wanted to cut the tour short, you could opt to return to Walcha via the Scrubby Gully Road. If you continue the route you will be rewarded with a stop at The Walcha Road Hotel, built in 1870 and sits next to the heritage listed Walcha Road Station - which 100 years ago was alive with trade and industry. The station, still in service, now sits quietly peeking over at you enjoying a cold one at the same pub that served the men and women that sent 7500 bales of wool each year from its platform 100 years ago.
Hopefully by this stage you have had your fill of gravel, and you can enjoy the faster roll back into Walcha. The town is waiting for your arrival with plenty of ways to replenish your energy and leave you wanting to return to ride the Great North Tour.
Gallery
