Next weekend will be the last weekend of Autumn, but here where I am, it hasn’t exactly been “Autumny” so I have been taking advantage of the mild weather to enjoy the great riding roads around here. Yesterday I decided that I’d do “The Lap” the other way around to what I usually do it and take the opportunity to take some photos as well. It was 19 degrees down here so I knew that it would be 14 or so up on the tops but that wasn’t really an issue so I wore my Summer jacket and my mid-season gloves.
From home I headed out through Albion Park and down the backroad to Jamberoo. Because the weather has been so mild the pastures are still green and the scenery on a bright, sunny day, was just awesome.
Yes, that’s the ocean in the distance.
At Kiama I turned south and stopped at the Mount Pleasant Lookout at the end of the famous Kiama bends. Despite passing it hundreds of times I have never actually stopped there and I’m glad that I finally did.
From there I rode down through Gerringong, Bomadery and up the Mountains to the top of Cambewarra. The roads were pretty busy as it was such a beautiful afternoon but I had to laugh when a guy in a Nissan Xtrail tried so burn me off on the overtaking lane going up the mountain 🙂 I put up with the traffic to the top and had a much better run down the mountain and into Kangaroo Valley. Here I have to say that it doesn’t really surprise me when motorists have a low opinion of motorcyclists. Heading down Cambewarra I was passed by around 10 motorcycles, ranging from ZX010’s to a KTM 390 whose rider was on “P” plates. None of the riders passed me in a situation where it was legal to do so, it was all over double unbroken lines, at high speed and often in the face of on-coming traffic. When I got to the village they were all stopped at the pub so it was clear that their hurry was totally justified…not.
The section of road from Kangaroo Valley to the bottom of Barrengary is notoriously rough and, despite the amount of roadworks that has been done there lately, it still seems as bad as ever. Nevertheless I got a reasonable run up the mountain and said goodbye to the traffic when I turned right just before Fitzroy Falls onto Myra Vale Road. Nothing unusual here except that I was on the lookout for some trees showing some Autumn colours even though the season is nearly over. I saw a huge stand of trees that were still bright red but it did look like it was on private property so I hung a u turn in a convenient driveway and went to go back to see if I could photograph the bike in front of the red trees.
As I turned into the driveway, which I assumed was for a house, blow me down if it wasn’t the driveway of an old stone church! Now I have driven and ridden that road literally hundreds of times and I had never noticed this building before, nestled behind a row of tress and a little picket fence. There were no church-related signs out the front and the gate had a sign indicating that it was private property. There is a little timber extension on the back of the building and a TV antenna on the roof so I deduced that it was no longer a church but that it had been repurposed as a home.
Amazing what you find when you slow down and look around.
My doubling back was well and truly worthwhile, however. The stand of trees was on a private road down to a property but there were no “Trespassers will be Persecuted” signs so I rode on down and took several shots of the bike and the trees, the best of which appears at the head of this article. I also took several looking the other way which were not quite as successful, the bike being in the shade. They do show the beautiful farming country for which the Southern Highlands are famous so I’ll include them as well.
I didn’t stop at the Pie Shop as I’d spent quite a deal more time on the road than what I’d planned and I didn’t want to worry Helena. I thought about going home via Jamberoo Pass but decided that, since I’d only ridden it a couple of days ago, I’d head straight down Macquarie Pass, take my chances with the traffic, and get home. Did I say traffic? It was 1 o’clock in the afternoon and there was NONE! I had a completely traffic-free run all the way down, an almost unheard-of thing at ANY time, but ESPECIALLY on a sunny, Sunday afternoon.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable time in the saddle. Today it’s still sunny but there is a blustery and cold wind blowing proving, as if any proof were needed, that you should make hay while the sun shines.