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Bell's line to Wolgan Valley
Morning all,
Planning on a camping and climbing trip to the wolgan valley some time soon. Driving up from Sydney I thought it might be possible to jump out of the car with the bike somewhere near the zig zag railway on the Bell's line and ride down to the Wolgan Valley camp area and meet the guys in the car there.
I searched around the site and the web and it looks like it's possible (through glow worm tunnel?) but I wasn't quite clear on directions and whether this would actually be enjoyable enough to bother taking the bike up (camping with nippers plus climbing gear = full car already!). In terms of 'enjoyable' I would classify that as having good views, some fast sections to ride (even if just rough firetrail) and not too much hike-a-bike. I'm not expecting singletrack. FWIW I'll be on a 140mm travel duallie. Oh and the distance and likely time would be very helpful too!
Anyone have any thoughts?
Cheers,
Peter
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Not through the Glowworm tunnel but Coach rd.
Turns off the Glowworm tunnel rd about 5km before the tunnels
From Zigzag follow Newnes Forest rd out to The Glowworm Tunnel rd. This gets a bit busy with idiots on a week end so I like to head back road either using the old rail trail
http://ctmbc.net/node/15044
or the whoops
http://ctmbc.net/node/15040 to bypass the majority of the bogans that gather at the picnic ground of a weekend.
Then Follow the GWT rd out to the Coach rd
http://ctmbc.net/node/15043
then either down to the Wolgan rd or down the Rail trail
http://ctmbc.net/node/15044
You can then come back up via the tunnels. It's a bit over grown and technically it a no ride from 100m from the tunnel back to the tunnel car park where you are suppose to push
here's a round trip from Lithgow coming back up Wolgan gap
http://ctmbc.net/node/15042
You could of course drive to the start of the coach rd and ride from there. This will give you the best parts of the ride and miss the boring bits along the top of the GWT rd
Thanks Flynny, that's great info. There are a lot of tracks around there but it seems fairly straight forward.
What's the riding itself like - fun?
We rode round there a few months ago. The Old Coach Road which used to be a bit technical is now smooth as get out . It still has nice views . The Glow worm tunnel is fun and the trail starts being rideable after a couple of hundred metres below the tunnel . Down to the junction with the Coach Road its mainly good riding, with ther occasional creek washout . If you carry on the rail trail to Newnes there are a few big creek washouts , giving quite hairy hike a bike sections , with good riding between. Or you can go dow to the bottom to the somewhat dusty Wolgan Valley Road .
The coach rd is a blast.
yeah it's not as techincal as it was 5 or 6 years ago when it was all loose rock steps but it can be a high speed grinfest and the waterbars are huge.
Views are great and if your not in a hurry the detour up the Pagoda track is worth it for the views