I am back again for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge so have made the commitment to blog every day in April except the Sundays. Some bloggers choose a Theme, and others do random posts. For me, a theme works better, so the theme  I’ve chosen for 2016 is Bendigo.  I live just outside Bendigo and have been in this area for only 9 years, so feel I still have ‘visitors eyes’.

H is for Heritage walking and cycling tours of which there are many in Bendigo. You can choose whether to do a self guided tour or a tour led mainly by volunteers. Bendigo tourism have put together self guided walking tours using an ipod, to discover the local history and goldrush heritage. There is also an ipod walking tour of the significant buildings in Bendigo. Of course, these tours could also be cycled.

It is also possible to collect one of the many walking tour brochures from the tourism office, and set off on whatever walking tour takes your fancy.

There are tours of the cemeteries of Bendigo, which are very historic due to the goldrush of the 1850s. Genealogists and history buffs would love these, but there are many strange stories told on these tours, making them appealing to anyone.

Bendigo is known for it’s cycling culture. As I have posted elsewhere on this blog, cycling is what brought me to Bendigo. There are many cycling groups that set out for training rides at particular times, and from pre-arranged starting points and are very helpful to new cyclists. These groups are very well organised, splitting up into riding ability. Also, departure times, are spaced to avoid congestion with riders and traffic.

We even have the Mulga Bill Bicycle trail, named after Banjo Patterson’s “Mulga Bill’s Bicycle”. This poem is a favourite of mine, and I have read it many times over to my children when they were young. This trail is quite short, but has spectacular scenery through the bushland around Eaglehawk.

I can’t resist just a few lines from Mulga Bill’s Bicycle:

‘Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze;
He turned away the good old horse that served him many days;
He dressed himself in cycling clothes, resplendent to be seen;
He hurried off to town and bought a new machine – Banjo Patterson

There are many, many, cycling and walking paths around and in Bendigo. It would take many visits to cover them all but they give a great reason for many to visit this region for fun and fitness.