Another beautiful warm sunny day. I headed west out of Daylesford along very quiet roads and soon confronted a steep climb through a forest. Note the frost warning on the road sign - this is high country and it does get cold here in the winter.
The road soon flattened out, across rolling pasture land:
After about 20km I reached the small village of Smeaton, where the entire population seemed to be inside the pub, even though it was only 11am:
The route passed by numerous mallock heaps and ruined buildings from long-abandoned gold mine sites:
After 40kms I reached Clunes, one of the very first gold rush towns, now little more than a ghost town, but retaining the grandiose buildings which are the legacy of its wealthy past:
I had lunch in Clunes, and during this time the skies turned distinctly darker and it seemed as though a thunderstorm might be imminent, as it was very humid. However fortunately the rain held off all afternoon. I passed through another small gold rush town, Talbot, after 57kms, and stopped briefly to take a look around:
Around 3.30 I arrived at the destination for today, Maryborough, a pleasant, busy rural centre, with many interesting buildings. I spent a couple of hours walking around the town enjoying the sights:
The Town Hall, War Memorial and Post Office, together with the law courts not shown in this photo, form an impressive cluster:
The railway station is simply vast, and out of all proportion to the size of the town:
A view taken from the High St:
On a hill outside the town is an observation tower built as a memorial to the pioneer gold diggers:
From the top of the tower I got a great view over the town:
Distance ridden today 77kms, total so far 1576kms.
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