Hanging Rock, a very enjoyable cycle ride from Woodend....

On the train to Woodend, a bloke saw my t-shirt and said "London? Have you been to London, then?"

"Well, yeah, I live there."

"Oh, I always wondered what the food and veg was like there."

"It's alright, if you're careful where you buy it."

"Oh," he said, as he turned away to look out of the window.

His name was Bernie, if you're interested!

Anyway, once we got through the industrial north of Melbourne and out into the country, it was lovely. I was worried about the 100% cloud cover though - but the small patch of blue sky spread by the time we got to Macedon.

Woodend is the closest town to Hanging Rock, a small place, but with wide streets so it was still quite hard to cross the road - just too many places to look.

I bought a picnic at a great little bakers: sesame seed rolls with cheese,
lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beetroot and alfalfa. Guess how much? Two dollars
each. Ace! Over the road the cycle shop, where John, the proprietor said I was a bit early. Well, I had got the first available train! I could have the hire bike only when they'd moved a lot of stock out onto the pavement,
as the hire bikes were right at the top, at the back. Very handy.

It was a 21-gear mountain bike with front suspension.

And it was a surprisingly short, and easy ride to Hanging Rock itself, which does feel eerie. It looks like an ordinary hill to start with, but
then you realise, there are bare rocks showing through.

I walked to the top, and by this time I was a bit hot and sweaty from the ride of course. Having the bag on my back wasn't ideal, but you don't get panniers on a mountain bike.

There was a party of school children, in bright blue uniforms. I resisted the temptation to ask the teachers whether there were any students they wanted to lose.... the film Picnic at Hanging Rock was about a party of
school girls, on a picnic, some of whom go missing... But then I realised that these teachers probably get fed up with such stupid comments!

The Sun was getting hot now too, and there was no longer a cloud in the sky. The birds
and cicadas were the only sound when feet stopped crunching.

Some of the rocks and features have been given names, such as The Eagle, and of course the Hanging Rock itself which does look like it's suspended in mid-air.

The views were spectacular, Mt Macedon to the south, and the plains to the north. There were some sheer drops too - one is called Lover's Leap - but I didn't get too close to the edge.

At the 'summit', I listened to the teachers talking about the volcanic activity in these parts, and the lichens which give the rocks their various different colours. There are dozens of plant species which are unique to
these parts.

I started on the path going down, and I thought it was quite difficult in places, having to squeeze past rocks and climb down 2 or 3 feet at a time.  They'd never let mere tourists do serious climbing like this at home, I
thought. Eventually I got to the point where it was too far to get down to the next level, about a 5-foot drop. I couldn't even hear the school party any more... I realised I must have gone off the proper path ages ago. I was
lost. Damn - all this way to Hanging Rock at last and I'm going to die here... Just me and the Sun and not a lot of water. I figured I had about 4 hours to go. I wondered whether John would mind having to come out here to get his bike back.

What a twit, I thought, getting lost at Hanging Rock. The only way out was to go back up again, which wasn't easy with that 2-tonne bag on my back. But I got there eventually, looked around for the 'proper' path - and really couldn't work out how I'd missed it the first time! Phew! I would live to see the Eclipse, after all!