Apollo Bay / Lavers Hill Loop

Tagging along with Steve Kennett and the Middle Distance Cycling Club for The Summer Roll (Day 2) out of Apollo Bay which is an absolutely amazing beach town on the Surf Coast.

The ride takes in some amazing sections of The Otways and some of the little towns that make this part of the world amazing!

Around 5km out of Apollo Bay, you’ll start climbing along Skenes Creek Rd which is a beautiful climb with a few gorgeous switch backs of about 9km that will take you to I think, my favourite stretch of road in Victoria – Turtons Track.

Turtons Track is approximately 18km of shared logging and tourist road deep into The Otways Hinterlands which they have asphalted with tourists (probably not cyclists) in mind.
Perhaps with not many tourists about at the moment, the road is quieter than normal, but it certainly is absolutely beautiful. Smooth roads, gentle climbs, descents and amazing scenery.
Just take care as it is a very thin road with hairpins and at times a little bit of leaf litter.

Shortly after Turtons Track you’ll find yourself riding through the small township of Beech Forest where there’s a small hotel affectionately known as “The Beechy” which is open for lunch and dinner and would make a great stop, however, we were a little early for lunch and just a bit further down the road in an even smaller town called “Ferguson” exists a little cafe within a shed called – “Otway Nourished”.

The Otway Nourished is open Thurs, Fri 10am – 4pm and Sat, Sun 9am – 4pm.
Lots of energy has been put into creating this unique little establishment and is indeed where we stopped for a pie, coffee and sandwich at about 41km into our ride.

Moving further on and about 11km down the road you’ll come to Lavers Hill which is again, another really small and really cute town with a pub, hotel and general store which would make another excellent stop if we hadn’t just stopped.
There was a little bit of climbing between Ferguson and Lavers Hill, so we regrouped and began the descent together down the Great Ocean Rd with spectacular views of the ocean flattening out at Glenaire for a little bit of a breather before beginning another climb of around 10km of pretty steady gradient (except the first 3km which is 10%) and poking our heads upon another peak before descending into Marengo and finally back into Apollo Bay.