The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail is a now disused railway line that extends from Ipswich to Yarraman, brimming with breathtaking mountain scenery and tranquil waterways, old train stations and carriages, and a rich history of early settlers.
It’s 161km!
It’s only a 30min drive from Brisbane’s CBD to the rail trail, or you can catch a train from Brisbane all the way to the Wulkuraka train station right where the BVRT starts. Then its 161km of rail trail to Yarraman so there is a lot to see along the way such as wildlife, murals, fellow travellers and even an abandoned train in Linville!
Everyone can ride together
Due to the flatness of the trail, it’s a nice easy ride which allows for all levels of fitness and ages to ride together. If you’re still concerned about mixing abilities then that’s the beauty of electric mountain bikes that are available for hire.
I’ve had mixes of all clients that chose to ride together, parents reconnecting with their grown up kids, groups of 20, elderly couples, young couples, parents with young kids, E-Bikes and BVRT is for all.
It’s a history lesson
Along your adventure you will come across many information stands explaining where you are and history behind it. In fact here is a story of my own.
My Great-great grandfather Frederick Hart, was the resident engineer for QLD Railways, based in Ipswich. He worked on “Faugh-a-Ballagh” the first locomotive in the quartette (the first four in Queensland) to be put together. He’s also mentioned in an article as taking the first locomotive to run in QLD for a trial run on 11 January 1865.
An adventure that can be done in many ways
Brisbane Valley Rail trail is not just a trail, its a community of towns that have all got involved to assist travellers along the way.
Thanks to the trail website you can plan everything from where to start, how far you want to go, what you want to see and even shuttles to get you back to where you started!
The food
The famous Old Fernvale Bakery is one of many quality food stops along the way and definitely one of the more famous stops.
I had the pleasure to meet owners BIll and Lyn Rose who have ran the bakery for over 30 years. They start baking at either 2am or 3am then don’t stop as they provide for not only hungry BVRT cyclists, runners, walkers, horse riders and the local town, but every car enthusiast group that chooses the Old Fernvale Bakery as their go to stop. It has a huge Pie selection of course, and a vanilla slice that might kill you, but every bite will be worth it.
If you like what you see in this article and want to get involved but don’t have a bike, contact me at ForbesMTB.com and we can have a chat to plan your Brisbane Valley Rail Trail adventure with bike hire and shuttle services.
