Last weekend was such a blast. My good mate, Wayne, from Kiama, has been itching to do a longer ride on his new Honda Crossrunner and he had scored a rare Friday off. So it was a long weekend on the road. He asked Paul and I if we’d like to go as well as he hadn’t done most of the roads that he was planning on riding and he knew that we’d relish the opportunity to explore some of our favourite twisties. Needless to say it didn’t require a lot of thought before we answered.
So, Friday morning at 0600 we met at Hungry Jack’s at Yallah and, soon after we were off.
Even though the route was familiar that didn’t diminish the excitement as we started heading north west. Fuel top-up at Wilberforce and then on to a virtually deserted Putty Road.
Brunch at Grey Gum,
and a very appropriate number for our table. The Ten Mile was deserted and we made the most of it..:) I have to say that I am very disappointed with the local shire councils in the Hunter Valley, the condition of many of the roads is nothing short of criminal. By the time the Explorer’s Lookout at the top of Thunderbolt’s came in sight, we were well and truly ready for a break.
Walcha was the goal for the night and, as usual, the people at the Apsley Arms made us welcome, complete with a lockup garage for the bikes. 630km for Day 1.
In the morning we headed east in the early morning mist. It was pretty cool, about 4 degrees, but a combination of my good jacket and being the super-tough action hero that I am, it didn’t worry me at all. The goal for the day was to play on the Oxley for most of the day and then seek accommodation somewhere down on the coast in preparation for the Sunday return leg. Amazingly, the road was also pretty deserted and it wasn’t until later in the day that the VR46 wannabees started making their appearance. Several laps of the fun bit which included both Wayne and Paul losing the hero blobs from their left hand side footpegs and we were very satisfied with our efforts. Coffee and cake at Ginger’s (of course – see picture at head of the article)
Late lunch at the Fuzzy Duck’s Cafe at Wauchope ($7 all-day breakfast)
and then a meet-up with one of Paul’s Netrider friends at Port Macquarie before we ground down the short transport stage on Highway 1 to Taree where we cut east, along another eye-wateringly rough road through Tinnone and Krambach and onto Buckett’s again till we reached Gloucester again. 380kms for the day but the intense concentration required to get the Oxley right made it seem like we had actually travelled much further.
The Motel was clean and comfortable and we patronised the aptly named Roadies Cafe for both dinner on Saturday night and breakfast on the Sunday morning. A chance encounter with another Netrider identity, Nick_of_time at breakfast gave us another chance to swap yarns. Nick works in the mines at Narrabri and he was heading home on Sunday from doing a round trip to Gloucester and back.
The countryside looks wonderful at the moment, a combination of some rain (finally) and the new Spring growth. This is the view from the verandah of the motel..
We retraced our steps and, just outside Dungog we pulled up to say hullo to a group of local riders heading out for a Sunday jaunt. Some pretty nice bikes, too, including this delightfully restored 1976 Zed.
The group also included an 81 year old rider on a period ELR who, unfortunately, had broken his gear lever. Having little to offer in either practical terms or advice, we left them to it, and, in the finest of “Top Gear” traditions, we rode on.
Great weather favoured us all the way and the combination of that and it being a Sunday meant that, by the time we got back to Grey Gum, it was hard to find a parking spot so crowded was the place. We opted to continue on and had a very pleasant late lunch at the Colo Riverside Cafe, highly recommended.
I pulled into home around 1700 having covered 440kms for Day 3. It was a great weekend made even more so by great company, entertaining roads and perfect weather. 1450kms altogether. If you haven’t down a tour like this you really should. Thanks to Wayne for organising it and the invitation to go.
I’ll leave my review of Valencia till tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
