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| Afternoon light at Sheba Dam, Hanging Rock |
Brief Description: This tour explores the Upper Hunter Valley, New England Tablelands, part of the Manning River Valley and the ranges that connect them. The cycling is often remote - along lightly travelled back roads and forestry roads. The scenery varies between farmland (mostly for grazing), bushland and dense forest. One of the major attractions of this route is the selection of campsites: Timor's unspoiled limestone caves, the historic sluicing dams of Hanging Rock, the spectacular Apsley Falls and magnificent stands of forest by Doyle's River add character to each overnight stay. The cyclist must be fit and equipped to tackle a variety of road surfaces.
Route: Muswellbrook, Gundy, Timor, Nundle, Hanging Rock, Walcha, Mt Seaview, Doyle's River, Elands, Wingham, Taree.
Online Maps: My original Google map of the tour includes track notes, side tracks and route variations. My newer GPSies map, while only covering the main route, gives more accurate distance measurements and also has an altitude profile. For more information on using GPSies maps, click here.
Distance: 420km with over 5500 vertical metres of climbing.
Altitude variation (rough guide only): Muswellbrook (150m), Timor Caves (500m), Crawney Pass (950m), Nundle (550m), Hanging Rock (1100m), Walcha (1100m), Mount Seaview (950), Maxwell's Flat (Doyle's River) (600m), Elands(550m), Wingham (25m), Taree (25m). For a detailed altitude profile of the main route, see my GPSies map.
Time: Minimum 5 days.
Traffic conditions: Traffic is light throughout most of the trip. Most of the route takes back roads through sparsely populated areas. Even on major roads (Thunderbolt's Way and the Oxley Highway) the traffic is light. The road between Wingham and Taree (a total of 15kms) takes heavy traffic and at times has a very narrow shoulder.
Road Surface: The tour includes about 150km of unsealed road of variable quality. I did the tour on a hybrid (without knobblies) and this would have been adequate had my tyres been fairly new. Don't expect to make fast progress along some of these unsealed sections, particularly the last 7km of Nundle Forest Way and the roads between Ginger Creek and Elands.
Climate Considerations: This route can be travelled all year round. In autumn, winter and spring one must be prepared for subzero temperatures overnight. Snow may fall in winter but it does not settle permanently. After periods of extended or heavy rain, travelling along some of the unsealed sections (particularly around the Doyle's River area) would be difficult on a loaded bicycle, even if it is a mountain bike. For specific climate information, check relevant pages at the Bureau of Meteorology.
Fitness Required: One must be prepared to cycle up some long and in some cases steep hills. (The longest, and steepest hill, is the climb from Nundle to Hanging Rock, where 600m altitude is gained over 10km.) One must also be prepared for long sections of road where there are few opportunities for breaking up the journey. Mental stamina will be required.
Direction to Travel: The trip could be attempted in any direction. If going in the opposite direction to that suggested in this guide, then one should begin the first full day cycle from Wingham rather than Taree. (This cuts out 16km of busy road and allows for a 600m ascent from Wingham to Maxwell Flat.)
Access: Scone and Muswellbrook are both accessible by daily CityRail services from both Sydney and Newcastle. These train services require no booking and bicycles may be wheeled on without. Bicycles are free during off-peak services, otherwise a child's fare must be paid. Countrylink trains service Muswellbrook, Scone, Wingham and Taree. Countrylink trains must be booked and are restricted to carrying only two bicycles per service. Bicycles must be boxed. Boxes are provided at major Countrylink stations such as Sydney and Taree (but probably not Wingham). Please visit Countrylink's website and then contact them by phone to obtain up-to-date information on Countrylink's bicycle policy and provision of boxes.
Print Maps: I recommend that you purchase reasonably detailed print maps of the forested areas. The forestry roads (past Hanging Rock and around Doyle's River, comprising more than 60km the trip, are lightly travelled, not always well-signed and often intersect other unmarked forestry roads. With a detailed map, well-informed judgements can be made at such junctions. The Tamworth and Hastings maps in the Natmap 1:250 000 series (with 50m contour intervals) are ideal for this purpose. Although not essential for navigation, purchase the Singleton map of this series would give complete coverage of the tour.
I also used the NRMA NSW touring map series, which shows major and minor roads, distances, road-side rest areas and other points of interest for the tourist. Unfortunately, in this series the tour also straddles three maps:
• Lower and Mid North Coast (Touring Map 1),
• Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Hunter, Illawarra, Southern Highlands (Touring Map 4), and
• Central West, New England, North West (Touring Map 5).
If you plan on doing more cycle touring in NSW these NRMA maps are worth the investment. However, if you do not wish to purchase all six maps mentioned here then I would recommend buying the following three: (i) NRMA Touring Map 4, (ii) Natmap Tamworth and (iii) Natmap Hastings. This would cover the tour.
Accommodation: One of the highlights of this tour are the beautiful free camp grounds that beckon the cyclist along the way. It would be difficult (though perhaps not impossible) to do the tour without carrying a tent. Those carrying tents will be rewarded with campsites by Timor's limestone caves, the Sheba Dams of Hanging Rock, the rugged and magnificent Apsley River gorge and the secluded Doyle's River.
Drinking Water: It is recommended that water coming from streams, rivers and dams be treated (boiled, purified or filtered) before consumption. Tap water in larger towns (Muswellbrook, Nundle, Walcha, Wingham and Taree) need not be treated.
Bicycle Shops: Apart from the endpoints of the trip, there are no bicycle shops along this route. The cyclist should be well prepared to deal with any emergencies. Tamworth (50km north of Nundle, 93km west of Walcha) and Port Macquarie (100km east of Mt Seaview) have several bicycle shops. The Yellow Pages is a good source for locating Australian businesses (including bike shops). Some contact details that were accurate in July 2007 are given below:
Extending the tour: This tour could be made into a round trip by cycling over the beautiful Barrington Tops. From Wingham, head to Glocester, either along Buckett's Way (65km, moderate traffic, no consistent shoulder, fastest cycling route) or along various backroads (65km to 69km depending on the route; about half the distance on unsealed surface). The road from Glocester to Scone is 139km, more than half of which is unsealed. It includes a moderate climb on a sealed road over Copland Tops (15km from Glocester), camping options by the Barrington River (27kms from Glocester). Ten kilometers later marks the beginning of a 1200m ascent on unsealed road to the Barington Tops. There are several camping options on the tops (running water, picnic tables, fire places and toilets). The descent (still along unsealed road) from Barington Tops to Gundy is steeper and rougher; for this reason it is recommended that one cycles from Glocester to Scone and not the other way around. The road over Barington Tops is closed over winter due to snow. Even though the total distance is a little over 200km, it is probably wise to allow at least four days to cycle from Wingham to Scone via Barrington Tops.
This tour can also be connected with the Wollemi and Wellington to Wyong tours on this site. See also the extensive touring options in this area on Darrell Stone's cycle touring site.
Date Travelled: I cycled the route in July 2007.
© 2008-2009 Robert Taggart. Last updated 3 November 2009.