Silo Art West – Ride Planning

This Silo Art West Three Day Ride was the ideal follow up to my recent Silo Art Monto overnight ride. There were a couple of other painted silos in western Queensland I keen to see. The first of these was at Thallon and the other at Yelarbon. Given the distance to Thallon I’d need three riding days to fit them in. With routes planned (see below) and motels booked I was all set.

Downloadable gpx files for the planned routes are provided in the Day 3 post.

Silo Art West Day 1 – Brisbane to St George

Tuesday – 16 November, 2021

No Silo Art on todays ride. An early start and a highway slog had me passing through Ma Ma Creek around 7:15am. Then Gatton Clifton Road (one of more enjoyable roads of the day) to Clifton.

With the best roads of todays ride behind me I continued west passing through Leyburn. Some shallow water over the road slowed me somewhat but not for long. Around 9:00am I arrived at Millmerran. Time for brunch and the Forage Kitchen & Coffee Bar did not disappoint. The Double Espresso and Brekky Wrap I ordered were as good as you’d find anywhere.

The rest of the way to St George was a little boring. Plenty of straight roads and flat pastoral land. Nothing that memorable or worth mentioning. The only photo I took was at the petrol station about 10km out of Millmerran where I’d planned to refuel. It appeared long closed with temporary fencing stopping access to would be vandals. I had to backtrack to Millmerran to refuel.

The lack interesting towns and scenery meant I was eating up the kilometres. On arrival in St George I refuelled and did a reconnaissance lap. It was around 1:30pm when I pulled into the Balonne River Motor Inn. First impressions of the motel were positive. Friendly staff, undercover parking and a clean room. My riding for the day was over but I had plenty of time to explore St George on foot.

St George is a delightful country town dominated by the Balonne River. I spent the afternoon wandering around town and the banks of the Balonne taking photos.

Late afternoon I stumbled upon the Australian Hotel and went in for a beer or two. I ended up having dinner in the hotel bistro before making my way back to the motel for an early night.