Port Rickaby to Hardwicke Bay – Walk the Yorke

What do you do when you are on a Walk the Yorke cycling camp and a blistering northerly wind (up to 50 km/hr) is forecast? You find a north to south ride: Port Rickaby to Hardwicke Bay on the west side of the Yorke Peninsula.

Fortunately, with my non-cycling husband Derek to assist us, some of the pain of shuttling cars was sorted.

Port Rickaby

Only sixteen kilometres from our base at Minlaton Caravan Park, Port Rickaby is a charming seaside village with a jetty and its own caravan park.

Before our ride at Port Rickaby

A short ride along a back road soon brought us to the entrance to Barkers Rocks Conservation Park.

Barkers Rocks Conservation Park

Before long, we began to realise that we had quite a challenge in front of us.

Edging along the back of the coastal dunes, the track was very sandy. Our tyres frequently sank to the spokes.

However, the scenery was aridly beautiful.

We rode where we could

Cycling Walk the Yorke between Port Rickaby and Hardwicke Bay
Cycling Walk the Yorke at Barkers Rocks Conservation Park

and walked the rest.

Sandy track at Barkers Rocks Conservation Park with canola field to the left

After what seemed like an age, we finally emerged at the Walk the Yorke Shelter at Barkers Rocks.

Looking north from the Walk the Yorke shelter at Barkers Rocks

Canola Fields

After a short break we pedalled east along Barkers Rocks Road, experiencing the northerly blast as a cross wind.

As we turned south onto Parsons Road, the northerly blew us along for a wonderful four kilometres. Some of us had never cycled so fast on a gravel road!

Then, as we turned back towards the coast, we enjoyed a short three kilometre break on bitumen. However, the powerful cross wind was still giving us plenty of challenge.

Throughout the month of August and into September, the rich agricultural fields of the Yorke Peninsula are dotted with iridescent yellow canola fields in full bloom.

As we cycled east, we passed this glorious field on Parsons Beach Road.

Cycling Walk the Yorke between Port Rickaby and Hardwicke Bay - canola fields in August
Cycling past a canola field – photo by Di Cuthbertson

Parsons Beach to Port Minlacowie

Now we came to one of our favourite sections of the ride. Starting with a well-compacted double track, the Walk the Yorke headed south again.

Cycling Walk the Yorke between Port Rickaby and Hardwicke Bay

We cycled past magnificent white sand dunes.

Cycling Walk the Yorke from Port Rickaby to Hardwicke Bay - sand dunes south of Barkers Rocks
Photo by Kerri Newell

After Watson Beach Road, the track became sandy in places, but not overwhelming.

Cycling Walk the Yorke south of Watson Bay on our ride from Port Rickaby to Hardwicke Bay
Cycling Walk the Yorke south of Watson Beach Road

We were able to ride the whole way.

Nevertheless, we felt we had earned our lunch stop at the Walk the York Port Minlacowie Shelter.

Photo by Kerri Newell

Cockle Beach

Between Watson Beach Road and Cockle Beach Road, there are a couple of sandy tracks that lead to the beach. On a ride later in the week, we followed one of these and found a beautiful lunch stop.

A lunch stop at Cockle Beach later in the week

To Hardwicke Bay

From Port Minlacowie, we rode eight kilometres on a straight and solid dirt road all the way to Hardwicke Bay. With the northerly behind us, we covered this distance in next to no time.

We were pretty pleased with ourselves when we arrived at Hardwicke Bay.

Hardwicke Bay

Summary of Walk the Yorke from Port Rickaby to Hardwicke Bay

While the track through Barkers Rocks Conservation Park had been tough, we enjoyed the variety of this section of the trail. The powerful northerly wind had been our friend for most of the way.

I particularly enjoyed the trail between Parsons Beach and Port Minlacowie, and the track through to beautiful Cockle Beach was an extra bonus.

All together we had cycled 32 kilometres and climbed 66 metres. I would definitely recommend this section of Walk the Yorke. However, I suggest that you tackle the Barkers Rocks track early in the ride, while you are still fresh.

Two other good-for-cycling sections of Walk the Yorke are between Port Moorowie and Edithburgh and Stansbury to Edithburgh. Or, for something completely different, why not try Walk the Yorke from Port Wakefield to Port Arthur?