Lately my riding seems to be in fits and starts. Despite being retired now for some time, I seem to be busier now than I ever was and I have to MAKE time to ride. Where did I go wrong?
Anyway, this morning I decided to redress the balance. It’s been two weeks since the Cessnock run so it was time to get the bike out of the garage and do something. Not that I had anything too radical planned, just the lap with some variations. I topped up at home and headed up the Pass. I haven’t stopped at the Pie Shop for ages for a number of reasons but I pulled in today, bought an iced coffee and sat back to have a chat with a few of the visitors. It was great to catch up with Dave West from West Sliders, he’s a very cool guy. After righting all the wrongs of motorcycling I headed west with the intention of doing the lap but also of taking some photographs. Yes, I know, I often intend that but it rarely happens. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that, once I get into the swing of riding, I really don’t want to stop. The other reason is that it’s usually difficult to find a good spot to pull over and park the bike so that you CAN take photos. The majority of roads I ride for pleasure are narrow and don’t have very reliable verges so finding a good place to stop is an issue.
Anyway, I was determined to get some shots today and I started at the Pie Shop. There were some lovely bikes there including this mint Hyabusa (discontinued as of December this year)
And some pretty tasty cars as well including this lovely 928 Porsche..
And new GT4 parked next to it..
Leaving TFRPS I headed through town and down Pearson’s Lane, Myra Vale Road and out onto Nowra Road at Fitzroy Falls. As usual I was disgusted to find that this lovely road has been marred by the addition of huge lengths of double unbroken lines where previously overtaking was allowed in complete safety. With the exception of a few, law-abiding riders like me, the new lines will be largely ignored, and justly so.
I got a great run down Barrengarry and, like Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea, the traffic that I caught up with in town parted in various directions to allow me a completely unimpeded run through the twisties between town and the bottom of Cambewarra AND an uninterrupted run up the mountain; what a great road road that is.
At the top of the hill I turned left instead of right and enjoyed the link road that takes you across the saddle of the range and brings you out on Berry Mountain Road. Despite having lived here for nearly 15 years, I only recently found this road when I was out on a ride with my good mate, Jeff Black, who introduced me to it a few months ago. The road is narrow and winding and I found that I had made a mistake by wearing my prescription sunglasses as the very shady sections of road made picking the right line a little more difficult than it would have been. Nevertheless, the scenery is superb and it was particularly easy to stop and get some shots of the surroundings (see gallery below)
I wended my way through Berry (so much better now that the by-pass is completed) and turned east at the end of town and headed across towards the ocean. At Gerroa, such a pretty little town, I turned into the village itself and followed the road down to the seaside (so I could say that it was a true mountains to the sea ride) and stopped at the beach for a few more photos. I’m chuffed that I caught the parasail in the middle of the picture.
It was such a beautiful day on the road I decided that I didn’t want to come home yet. At Kiama I headed west to Jamberoo, up Jamberoo Mountain (almost traffic-free except for an ill-mannered 4WD driver), right at the highway and back down Macquarie Pass.
Now, those of you who know the Pass will know that it is always filled with traffic and doubly so on the weekends, Sundays especially. Well, this afternoon it wasn’t, like it was DESERTED, nothing, nil, nada, not a vehicle of any sort. I got the BEST run down the mountain, cut left at Albion Park and came home the back way through Marshall Mount and arrived home not long after lunch time. Not a long run in terms of kilometres (185) nor a far-reaching one as the whole area of the ride was within a small radius, but it was still the best way to spend a Sunday morning.
From the mountains to the sea, I am constantly grateful that I live where I do, who else could have such wonderful choices of where to ride?
jeffb says
Great day for a ride,Phil. You may also have inadvertently captured my daughter and 3 grandkids in your Gerroa beach shot! They were there most of the afternoon. Let me know if/when you do this again and I’ll come along if I can.
Phil Hall says
My eyesight isn’t good enough to determine, mate, but there sure were lost of people there. I haven’t been right down to the end of that road since I worked on Kiama Council more years ago than I care to remember. It IS riding season so let me know when and where you’d like to go. All the best to you and Bernadette and the family.