VVCMCC-ACT SPRING TOUR |
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Day 1 : Monday 28 September: The weather during the week preceding the Spring Tour had been very ordinary to say the least with several viciously strong depressions crossing the SE of Australia, the first of which brought the infamous red dust storm of 22-23 Sep. A second similar depression brought more storms & rain, which washed away the red mud of the earlier storm. This second system brought very cold weather & rain, which persisted over the weekend preceding our departure. I recall all this as it had a direct bearing on our trip. The forecast for Monday 28 Sep was for very cold weather & gale force winds abating. This persuaded all of us to wear our full winter suits, complete with thermal underwear & overmittens. This was very wise, but what were we to do about the forecast of hot weather later in the week? 'Layers', we supposed with room to carry excess gear. The four of us set off, with Peter Davey the least well kitted out. The ride to Goulburn via the Federal Highway was its usual boring self, but also very cold & windy. We refueled at the Big Merino, & we were all ready for coffee & a warm up in the bakery opposite. Thus warmed a little, Peter put on overtrousers to offset his lack of kit and we were away again towards Taralga. I pulled us up there to warm the bones & chat a couple of other riders who were heading south one a Queenslander. Then came our freeze test. As we crossed the very high ground between Taralga & Oberon (around 1250m) the temperature dropped to hover on freezing & south of Black Springs we encountered a lot of snow, thankfully cleared from the road itself. Our fingers froze just taking a few pictures. We arrived in Oberon, reputedly Australia's coldest town,, we were in high spirits, & in need of a hot meal. This was provided by the Royal Hotel, which was warm & comfortable. After lunch, we headed down the mountain via Hampton & Hartley & into Lithgow. This road is a treat to ride, especially the first section from Oberon to Hampton, which sweeps down through meadows & forests. The road then follows a high ridge gradually descending into the valley where the ghost village of Hartley nestles. In Lithgow we took fuel & then rode on to Kandos, where we were expected by Billy Johnson, a Triumph Club member & a friend of Lorraine's. His wife Robin warmed us with tea & cake, before we rode on the few extra miles to Rylstone & our overnight stop, the Globe Hotel. Our rooms were comfortable,. The bikes locked up in the pub shed & the bar had an open fire, so we were very contented. Billy & Robin came over to join us for a drink. We ate a heart meal in the pub bistro, the first of several this week ahead of us. Day 1: 390 Km. |
Day 2: Tuesday 29 Sep. Our second day dawned warm & sunny, a large contrast from freezing Monday. So after breakfast we all decided to shed layers: pullovers & thermal underwear were removed & packed away before the ride to Mudgee. This is a pretty town & it was warm enough for a street-side coffee break when we arrived. The fellows called wives & Peter received news of the death of his lady Cath's Father. This through us all in a tizz as Peter decided he had to return home. He left soon afterwards: and then there were three of us. Undeterred Len Graham & I rode on to Gulgong, where we stopped for a look around this very historic & interesting little town. North again & into the bush proper we rode. This is no joke, beyond Gulgong you feel as if the yuppie latte set have been well & truly left behind as the land opens into wide vistas & the road becomes lonely. We continued across this country passing several sad failed villages: you all must know one, derelict buildings & an air of decay about them. Our lunch destination of Coolah however is a thriving little town tidy & well kept. But we were almost in trouble: low on fuel & no premium. Fortunately the tanker arrived to deliver some & we breathed a sigh of relief. We had lunch in a very pleasant cafe, where we ate in the garden. A good place to stop. Coolah declares itself the Black Stump Town, & we asked the whereabouts of this mythical place, 9Km north of town, came the reply. The lady told us that in the 19C the black stump marked the end of cultivated land & hence civilisation. We rode the 9km & sure enough there was a black stump. Photos were taken & our band rode on 'beyond the black stump!!' |
We arrived at the Liverpool Plains, a vast fertile valley ringed with distant hills. Graham conjectures that this may be a volcanic caldera from the ancient past, which seemed possible. The very warm afternoon prompted a refreshment stop at the pub in Spring Ridge (I saw no sign of a ridge mark you.) This is a pleasant pub in a pleasant village. Riding on, into the afternoon sun we arrived at Werris Creek, once a thriving railway town before the car age. Now a faded little town, with a massive railway station. The once grand refreshment room of the Werris Creek Station is now a museum & a delightful one too. Old railway folk made us very welcome & we enjoyed the museum very much. A train even came through as we were there, yes the station still lives. Our last leg was into Tamworth on the busy highway: to the Art Deco Central Hotel in Tamworth's lovely main street. Again our bikes had the luxury of a lock up garage at the pub, which is a very welcome benefit, which seems to be becoming more common these days as pubs woo the motorcycling trade. The rooms in the Central Hotel are only basic, but quite clean & satisfactory. We had a pleasant walk on Tamworth's main street as the light failed, choosing our dinner spot. This was the Tudor Hotel, near the Central & with a busy bistro, which indicated the excellent food we were served. A lovely evening passed with a bottle of good red wine consumed. We all slept well. Day 2: 355 Km. |
Day 3: Wednesday 30 Sep: The day dawned promising an even warmer day ahead, so more layers were packed away & we were very lightly dressed under our winter suits, which themselves were getting a little sweaty. But before all of this we had a morning walk before breakfast was served in the pub at 0800. The city of Tamworth is indeed a pleasant place & worthy of a stay for any of you visiting there. Our breakfast was a massive affair, which we struggled to eat. Our fault, we did order everything! We were away by 0900 & soon fueled for the next leg to Walcha. But first we visited the motorcycle museum. This contains a collection of mainly 60s & 70s machines, all in immaculate order. Just the sort of bikes most VVC members love. This is well worth a visit if you are passing through Tamworth. We were already hot inside our suits when we left Tamworth, but small relief was as hand as we climbed steadily into cooler mountain air. We rode into Walcha, a town that has become something of a motorcycle town, standing as it does at the end of both the Thunderbolt Way & the Oxley Highway, both renowned motorcycle roads. You can even buy 98 Octane here, which is very unusual in such a country town. There is a great cafe here but we only had a snack with coffee, being still full with breakfast. The Thunderbolt Way had long dirt sections until very recently hence it has only recently gained its reputation as a motorcycling Mecca with the completion of tarmac all the way to Gloucester. The surface is still not great however in places, but very rideable. It passes through high country of meadows & forests with sweeping curves. After about 40Km is begins to descend, with lovely views of distant hills & valleys. Halfway to Gloucester we stropped at Nowendoc, which is no more than a hamlet in English terms (a very small village). But it does have a shop where you can get hot & cold drinks & unleaded fuel in an emergency. We refreshed ourselves before riding on descending in several more steps, past the lookout, where you must stop when on this road. |
The final greatest descent is rather like a poorly maintained version of the Brown Mountain, so really not scary for any competent rider, which we all are. The temperature rose rapidly as we dropped into the valley & it was over 30C when we reached Gloucester. Cold drinks in the Roundabout Hotel were really needed before we continued, & fuel of course. The road south of Gloucester is slow going, with several villages all with long 60kph limits. Once we turned of the main road however we were able to make better progress, that is until we reached the border of Dungog Shire. Here the roads suddenly became very much poorer & care was required, as the road was both hilly & winding. A couple of Dungog locals later apologised for the poor state of the roads, pleading poverty as the reason. But I have known many rural shires do a much better job of their roads. Dungog is a pretty town & our accommodation, the Bank Hotel, is a pretty federation era pub. This pub was good value & the rooms large & comfortable so consider it if you need a room in Dungog. The pub even had a luxurious lock up garage, where the owner was very happy to accommodate our bikes with his vehicles. We could have eaten at the hotel, but instead we took a stroll around the town & ended eating up at the most impressive RSL, a post-Great War building of imposing design. The evening was warm & sultry & very pleasant, compared to the Canberra chill we had only recently escaped. Day 3: 300 Km. |
Day 4: 1 October 2009: We slept well & took another walk around Dungog in the very early morning before our breakfast at 0800. Dungog really is worth a visit if you are up that way. I once considered dropping out to Dungog once. (I used to spend a lot of time planning to drop out!). Our breakfast was another feast & surely enough to keep us going most of the day. We all declared our overnight stop in Dungog to have been grand. We needed no fuel so instead rode over the wooded ridge to Gresford & then descended to Singleton, where we did refuel, with 98 Oct. We did not stop there except for fuel, instead riding on across the open-cut coal mining moonscape created by our greedy recourse boom. I have watched this disaster grow over mile upon mile of countryside over the past 25 years & it certainly does not please me. Denman arrived & we felt like lunch, but were too early for the Royal Hotel & after a cold drink we decided to ride on. The temperature had reached the mid 30s & we really were baking, so the thought of climbing out of the Hunter Valley into cooler air was inviting. Our route took us to the Bylong Valley Way. This road too has recently been tarred, & it does not even appear on the majority of maps. This wonderful road passes rocky sandstone bluffs in a narrow valley. The only place along the road is Bylong, yet another hamlet, with a shop, a church & a few houses. We stopped here for a cold drink, then began the climb out of this lovely valley to Rylstone. Here we needed more fuel & a bite to eat. We had a light snack in a cafe before riding on to Kandos where we again visited Billy Johnson & Robin, who offered us refreshments, which we gladly accepted. Whilst there we took a look at Billy's bikes (Triumphs) & a rigid Speed Twin Special which had been blown up at the Triumph Rally a fortnight before, a nasty sight inside! The last stretch ride of the day was across another range of hills to Sofala, the cute 19c gold mining village & then down the ranges again to Bathurst; our stop for the night. I had picked a motel for this, our final night. We had stayed at this motel in May during a VVC overnight run, so we knew our way around. We ate at the Knickerbocker Hotel, a restored art deco pub with very good bistro food. Actually the rooms upstairs looked good too & worthy of consideration when in Bathurst, but little chance of secure bike parking sadly. Day 4: 360Km. |
Day 5: 2 October 2009: Our last day on the road. However after dry sunny weather since Tuesday rain was forecast for the afternoon. Consequently we decided to miss the motor racing museum & instead head for home immediately. We picked the fasted route via Woodstock, Wyangala & Boorowa. We regrouped at Woodstock, where the pub is undergoing very extensive refurbishment, then to the Wyangala Dam, which is ever more empty every time I see it, tragic. We stopped for a light snack at the bakery in Boorowa, which took a while. When we emerged onto the street again it looked like we had done our dash, & rain would hit before we reached Yass, darn it. But we were delighted when the leaden skies cleared near Yass & we arrived home before 1500 dry as a bone. It had been a great ride with a drastic variation in temperature between Monday, when we experienced 0C to 35C on Thursday. It is very hard to equip yourself for such wild temperature changes. Indeed the liner from my suit desperately needed washing, which it got. I thought that would be the end of the Winter suit for the season, but no, several cold runs followed & the suit came out of the cupboard again. Day 5: 280 Km. Total distance for the 5 Days: 1690 Km Lorraine Litster |