Bridle Track
The sun poked through the Cirrus cloud, warming my face and hands, then the icy wind sprung up again making me happy I had put on that extra layer. Sometimes I’m never sure what to wear when riding the Flinders Ranges with its’ icy mornings and warm to hot days.
We had been poking around the Southern Flinders Ranges for a while and today we would tackle the Bridle Track 4WD route starting from Murray Town. Murray Town used to be a thriving town, but that was back in the era of the horse and bullock carts. Today it is a small collection of houses along the highway that hardly anyone notices and with the average age of the few remaining residents around 80 years it is not surprising that I have never seen much activity in the past, especially after dark.
But once every couple of years it comes to life with the Flinders Ranges Country Music Festival and we lobbed just in time to pay our $5, listen to 5 hours of country music, sit by a roaring fire and eat way too many donuts.
Our route would take us 48kms from the town through wheat and sheep country, then onto the Bridle Track, crossing the ranges and down to the plains where we would follow the Port Germein Gorge Rd uphill for 20km back to camp.
Our first stop was a little unexpected as we waited for a new born lamb to find its’ feet and move off the road; a true “nature stop”. Robyn used the stop to make a minor adjustment to her new Henty MTB backpack which is designed to put weight on the hips rather than the shoulders which should help on our upcoming longer rides.
The first part of the ride was on good gravel back roads and we were able to make good time with constant altitude gain, but soon we hit the Bridle Track where things changed a lot.
Robyn the “snake whisperer” managed to spy a small brown snake sunning on a rock next to the track. I didn’t see it as I was trying to achieve warp speed on the descent. I don’t like snakes, no matter what colour and the brown being the world’s second most venomous just adds to my dislike.
The track varies from rutted wheel track sections to good gravel sections with some very gnarly downhills and is best ridden in dry conditions. In the wet it would be difficult to maintain grip and some sections would be impassable.
We spent some time admiring the view from the summits and checking out the downhill route ahead.
At the last summit we had a great view over the Gulf St Vincent
On a very rocky descent we came across a local couple in their 4WD who had pulled off the track for a morning tea with a view. They were a little concerned as I approached only just in control through the washed out section and skidded towards them and were surprised to see Robyn picking her way down the steep, rocky and very loose track after me. I put on my best exhausted and hungry look but didn’t score any biscuits but we did get an interesting story about the name Bridle Track.
It appears that in the early days of the colony it was called the “Bridal Track”, being the route that sailors and miners took to the Murray Town area looking for a bride. It’s always interesting getting local knowledge of history.
Sorry no photos on the descent, just a little too busy for that.
We came down onto the plain and headed along a pipeline maintenance track to the link up with the Pt Germein Gorge road for the 20km climb back to our camp.
After a well deserved coffee, lunch and cake at camp we grabbed our cameras and strolled around the town.
Charlies Aeroplane was a landmark that I remember well and it’s great to see it restored.
I don’t remember ever seeing the pub open and it’s certainly not going to happen again in my lifetime.
I came across an interesting gate but sadly it led nowhere.
The sun set on another great day of riding with some interesting photos.
A great ride on the Bridle Track with my Bride.
Interesting to read about the origin of the name 😎