Happy Valley - Linton Parks

Happy Valley - Linton Parks - 15.9 Kms

November 26, 2020

U3A Hike No. 128

Hike Report by Mark Bevelander

Seven of us walked on what began as a cool day, we started walking on the Ballarat-Skipton Rail Trail passing wide open fields with lush grasses. We came upon the old platform of what was the Linton Railway Station, not much left except some broken toilet bowls.

The Skipton Line was a branch line running south west from Ballarat to Skipton, Victoria. The line branched from the main Serviceton Western line just after Ballarat at the Linton junction and was 55 kilometres long. The line was opened on 10 October 1890 and finally closed for passenger services in 1972 and for freight on 4 December 1986.

It was very pleasant walking along the trail. After 4 km or so we were able to look down on parts of the 530 hectares of the Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary. We followed the Springdallah Creek until it flowed into a series of small lakes. There are bird hides around this lake for bird enthusiasts. From the 1960s the owner, Gordon Clarke worked to bring the area close to a natural environment by removing gorse and other weeds and maintaining old dead trees for bird nesting.

After another two kms or so we came to the remnants of the Happy Valley Station and shortly turned off the rail trail into the eucalypt forest. We reluctantly bid farewell to our flat easy walk and immediately began climbing a long hill to a knoll where we were able to see more hills. Stopping for morning tea, we extracted our thermos and nibbled away on goodies.

The hills continued and, admittedly so did the downhill walks and we came to the pine plantation, a fair percentage of this had been cleared. Skirting the Glenelg Highway we eventually came to the Cross Rd crossroad and it wasn’t much further for houses to appear and the return of the rail trail into Linton. By this time it was warming up considerably.

We had a very enjoyable lunch in the shade of some trees at the Linton Reserve.