The weather indicated a cloudy day in Canberra, but the further North you went the more iffy the weather got. At the ride briefing at BP Watson, Ron suggested morning tea at the Meridian Café in Marulan – where we would decide depending on the weather where our final destination would be. The corner marker concept was explained to new rider Mark, and Chas was voluntold he would be Tail End Charlie (he didn’t seem to mind). Jenny Carlin came along to see us off at Watson, but wasn’t up to a long ride, and Mike Kelly (aka Steve) said he would leave us at Tarago.
We headed toward the lousy weather, on the way into Tarago we came down the hill and Garry the Echidna magnet had no choice but to stop …. a cute little spiky guy was crossing the road. We all hit the anchors, poor old tail end Charlie had a panic attack because he thought someone had come off – but then he saw Garry gently moving our precious, iconic wildlife off the road.
Into Tarago we waved goodbye to Mike (aka Steve) and headed straight ahead to Windellama and Bungonia at the Loaded Dog. The road here is in good condition, with minimal pot holes. Neil had warned us that Oallen Ford Rd is 80km/h … and so it was. The whole way.
We arrived at the Meridian Café in Marulan and only two riders parked legally, the rest unknowingly parked in the no standing area, but luckily no renegade cops were about. When Kim alighted from her bike she joked to Ron that the angle was quite sharp, and she doubted she’d be able to right it when she got back on. Having just replaced the battery in the BMW with a Lithium Ion job, he said “nah…she’ll be right, its 3 kg lighter up top now”. We headed in for coffee and checked the weather – Bowral looked pretty lousy from where we sat, and Neil and Garry said “aint nobody got time for that” when it came to washing their bikes, so we decided on the Green Grocer in Goulburn instead.
We had a cuppa and got back on our bikes, and Kim did the usual stand on the peg with your short legs and get on …. this time the angle really WAS too steep and the bike started to tip …. Thank <Insert name of the god you worship here> she was able to hold it up and it didn’t hit Ron’s bike, but it did loosen the left mirror which could no longer be used – we only had one shifter and needed two.
Heading up the freeway to Goulburn doing copious head checks, she remembered that the Green Grocer is also a Cycle Shop so the repair man lent us the spanner we needed to fix the mirror. What a great place for lunch this is since the rebuild – pizza oven turning out great pizza, the best-looking soup I’ve seen in a long time, and a yummy piece of barramundi. The carpark is full of small gravel, so recommend parking outside instead.
After lunch we fuelled up and took the Gurrundah Rd back to Gunning at Garry’s suggestion – this road is pretty narrow and bumpy in spots. We all needed a quick break so we stopped for afternoon tea at the Merino Café in Gunning. Mark lost his key, but Ron found it in a secret jacket pocket (gotta watch that). We all went our separate ways and headed home. No rain, fun riding and great company.
Riders:
Ron Tito R1200 GS
Kim Tito F700 GS
Neil McRitchie GTR1400
Garry McCurley VFR1200
Mike (aka Steve) Kelly Triumph 1600
Chas Towie ST1300
Mark Sayer W800
