Another way home from Tanunda

I work Mondays in Tanunda, and have been entertaining myself with the various ways to I can get there, or home. This is a new route home. Starting from the main street in Tanuda this trip home takes the main road back to Lyndoch.

 

From Lyndoch we go on to Williamstown and then take the road out to Kersbrook. The fun begins at Wattle Road, where instead of continuing into Kersbrook, there is a "shortcut" over the hills up onto the shoulder of Mt Gawler and the Kersbrook - Elizabeth Road.

You cannot do this trip in a car. Even with a four wheel drive, I'm not sure if it is possible to open the necessary gates.

I was riding my Avanti Blade 4 hybrid, which is fitted with 700x23c tyres, albeit not light racing tires. A mountain bike is not really necessary for the trip if you don't mind an occasional foot slog for a few metres.

 

 

The route takes Wattle Road, Crispin Road, Rake Road, and Kersbrook Forest Road. At the intersection of Rake and Kersbrook Forest Roads, a left turn will take you out to the main bitumen road between Elizabeth and Kersbrook. Our route turns right, instead.

 At the intersection this is a bitumen road, unlike the goat track in the picture to the left. The official Kersbrook Forest Road soon turns into a metal road, and then comes to an end at Kersbrook Forest. The picture is taken further along on a fire trail which some maps still call Kersbrook Forest Road.

Arriving here in a car and expecting to go further, wiill lead to some disappointment! The photo shows a section on which I had difficulty keeping my footing while pushing my bike.

The fire trail had three sections where I could not ride the bike. I think two of these would be negotiable with wider mountain bike tires. The main problem was traction in sand and gravel on relatively steep slopes. The final slope is very steep; probably approaching >20%. I could see tire burn marks on the dirt where 4WD's had struggled to get up it.

I began by following the Tom Roberts Horse Trail, which runs paralell to the fire trail. It begins to veer off course, at which point I hoisted the bike over a fence and onto the fire trail. There is a confusion of paralell fire tracks in the area, so good map reading or a GPS is invaluable. I used the GPS on my phone, and was glad of it.

At the top of the ridge look for a pipe gate, you can see it in one of the bikecam shots above, which will lead you out to Kestel Road. Kestel Road has a steep charge down into the valley below. It's great fun, but be warned that at dusk and in the  early evening this road has the highest roo population I have ever seen in the hills.

At the bottom it is a short climb up Basnett Road (left turn) to the Elizabeth Road. If you go right Basnett Road loops around to Humbug Scrub or to Williamstown, depending where you turn off.

The direct route from Tanunda to Elizabeth on the Barossa Highway is about 45 km. This route takes it out to 58km. Instead of a riding time of about 1.5 hours, I took 2.5 hours.

The high point on the graph below is the top of Kestel Road. You can see the map and graph at Bryton Sports. KML