The genesis of this Crows Nest Adventure Loop was my desire to do more dirt roads on my easy adventure rides. Yes indeed, it was time to explore further afield than my Helidon & Ma Ma Creek Adventure Loops. So I planned a ride that would take me into Crows Nest and take the dirt roads from there to Toogoolawah.
Using the Ma Ma Creek Adventure Loop to Ravensbourne, I’d get to Crows Nest via Perseverance Dam. Have lunch in Crows Nest and take the dirt roads to Toogoolawah. From Toogoolawah taking the backroads passing through Mount Beppo to Esk Kilcoy Road. Then my usual way back to Bris Vegas using Wivenhoe Sommerset Road to “The T”. Finally a blast on Northbrook Parkway/Mount Glorious Road to Samford.
As I live in central Bris Vegas, it’s always a fair haul to get to the good roads. The Crows Nest Adventure Loop was no exception. The more interesting roads started at Marbug and ended at Samford. The majority of the dirt roads are from Rosewood through to Toogoolawah.
Here’s how the Crows Nest Adventure Loop appeared in Garmin BaseCamp.
Click on image to enlarge.
With the BaseCamp Track transferred to my BMW Nav VI GPS, I set off around 8:00am on the morning of 15 August, 2021. After 50 minutes of highway riding I stopped for coffee on the outskirts of Marburg. The foggy gloom when I left home was now clear skies. The rest of the ride went as planned and hoped. I took a welcome drinks break at Helidon. Then up the range to Ravensbourne on Seventeen Mile Road. At around 12:30pm I stopped for lunch in Crows Nest.
The dirt roads between Crows Nest and Toogoolawah were new to me and in good shape. Whilst I like adventure touring on my BMW R1200GS I’m by no means expert – more of an enthusiastic novice. I do a lot of solo riding so my preference is for well maintained dirt roads. Rarely will I risk the dirt if it has rained in the week prior. Mud isn’t that easy on a heavy Adventure Motorcycle.
As I got closer to Toogoolawah the dirt roads ended, replaced with good quality sealed roads. And that’s what I had all the way back to Brisbane. My final stop was at White Cedar on Northbrook Parkway. After a refreshing drink I headed up the range to Mount Glorious. Then my usual route back to central Brisbane via Samford.
All up I was out for about 8 hours of which 2 hours were stationary and covered 420km.
As they say “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Not sure how many words a video is worth. If you have time or are an insomniac, check out my videos to see more the best bits of this ride. If not, the Relive Video provides an overview in much less time.
Better still download the GPX file – this is a very doable ride for a someone new to adventure touring
Fancy a guide for the day – let me know!
Ride safe.
