The last few posts on this site have been a bit angry and a bit ranty. Whilst I’m still not sorry about that, I am now going to move on to lighter topics and cheerier moods. For a while anyway.
Samford is a magical little locality as a destination for riding a bicycle if you’re situated in Brisbane as I am. It’s very rural and far enough out to make the ride feel like an adventure but close enough that you can easily do it in half a day (depending on which part of Brisbane you’re riding from). It’s got some of the best food around Brisbane on offer, interesting historical venues and there’s even a place to camp not too far out of town if you wanted a short little overnight bikepacking trip to do (that’s still on my to-do list).
(Tip: Scroll to the bottom if you just wanna see the photos).
Avoiding as much of civilization as possible was a core requirement of my ride so I cobbled together a route that encompassed the Dawn Rd Reserve at Albany Creek, Leitch’s Crossing at Brendale and Bunya Crossing at Eaton’s Hill. That provided me with an almost car-free corridor of natural surroundings that included bush, river crossings and some real live horses before joining up to Bunyaville and Ironbark Gully where I would dart down the hill into Samford Valley.
The route covers a mixture of terrain including sealed roads, fire roads and even a little bit of single track. It’s probably doable on a gravel bike but, honestly, unless you’re looking to break some speed records, some kind of rigid or hardtail mountain bike or possibly a short travel dual susser is going to be the most comfortable and practical. Having said that, I pumped and lubed my steel Bombtrack Beyond+ and added drink bottles as required.
And whilst I would normally take the Ferny Grove Rail Trail into Samford, today I decided that maybe there’s an alternative route to try. A quick search on a popular web based mapping application confirmed that there is indeed a way along the unappetisingly named Sewer Rd which joins onto Burns Rd, through a small park and deposits you in the back streets of Samford where you can quickly make your way out to the town centre.
Although quite hungry by the time I arrived, I thought a quick visit to the Samford Museum might be in order first since it was on the way anyway. On arrival I noticed smoke coming out of a proper old style blacksmith setup and lots of old farming and railway machinery which really gave a sense of what life might have been like a century or more ago around the area. Indeed, the museum is packed with artefacts from the area dating back to the 1800s. There’s everything from an entire school building complete with furniture and uniforms from the era to a couple of complete railway stations, tractors, toys and even a few historical bicycles. It’s very well worth the $5 entry fee.
After a few quick photos and a look around the museum, hunger started to get the better of me. I headed straight over to the famed Samford Patisserie where a sandwich, coffee and a very exotic European style pastry awaited. One of the other great things about Samford is the many park and street-side benches to rest on and take in the atmosphere which meant I could get my food to go and enjoy it away from the main cafe area.
I sat for probably a little too long and felt myself starting to get a little cramped up so it was high time to hit the road again. The way I came in was interesting and picturesque by also very steep so I decided to go back via Petersen Rd and the bikeway linkup back to the Ferny Grove Rail Trail which also made the trip a nice loop rather than needing to be an out-and-back.
From there, I headed back through Ironbark Gully and back into the Brisbane conurbations.
That’s it for today.
Ride safe and see you out there sometime.