Penola Red Gum and Winery Ride

The Penola Red Gum and Winery ride was described in the brochure as 22 kilometres long. I thought it would be perfect to fit in before I went out to historic Yallum Park with my friend Renate. I planned to be back by 10 am so that I would have time to change and freshen up before our outing. Luckily I started out early at 6:45 am so there was plenty of time to recover if anything went wrong.

There would be no coffee shops open so early so I packed a thermal mug into the back pocket of my bike bag.

The day before I had ridden the Penola Short ride. Today’s ride started out the same way but then continued north along Bond Lane towards Coonawarra.

The road surface was good, there were vineyards on either side and large red gums lined the road. Bond Lane became Katnook Lane, which in turn became Giles Road as the trail headed north alongside the now disused railway line. As I approached the northernmost section of the trail I could see the large complex of Wynns winery to the right.

Before I left the railway line I took a picture of my bike Wanda at the former Coonawarra railway siding. Opening of the railway to this area in 1898 had made it possible for barrels of Coonawarra wine to be exported to the world.

My husband Derek is a big fan of Wynns red wines. I turned into the grounds to have my morning tea.

As I pedalled down the entrance lane I noticed this very old vine with white grapes – Chardonnay? Riesling?

After a nice hot coffee I crossed the highway and continued south onto Gaffney Road. At V&A Lane (Victoria and Albert) the trail took me east again. The gums that lined the lane were magnificent.

As I turned onto Old Comaum Road I looked at my Strava phone app to see how far I had travelled. Hmmm… something was wrong… I had already travelled over 23 kilometres.

I fired up Google Maps to work out how many kilometres back to the caravan park – apparently I still had 12 kilometres to go. I had been taking my time with lots of sticky-beaking and photography and it was already 9:15 am. As my average speed is generally 13 kilometres per hour, I would have to put some pace on to get back to camp by 10:00 am.

Fortunately I encountered no difficulties and made good time on my way back into town. I turned into Petticoat Lane to get a quick glimpse of Sharam’s historic cottages on the way.

I got back with a few minutes to spare. I had cycled 33.2 kilometres, climbing only 34 metres. The next day I sent an email to the Penola Tourist Information Centre to thank them for the lovely ride suggestions and also to let them know about the misprint in their brochure – it probably should have read 32 kilometres rather than 22 kilometres!

For a shorter ride around Penola, see Penola Short ride.