The grey skies did not last long and we rode under clear blue warm sunny skies all day.
Ian very kindly undertook "Tail End Charlie" duties.
Although, 1 of our group corner marked our turn off the Hume Highway to Harden, an Officer from the NSW Highway Patrol very kindly also marked the turn for us ☺.
After a non eventful ride directly to Harden for an enjoyable morning tea, a fun interesting ride then started involving a lot of zig zagging along some roads I have never rode along before. We could have travelled directly to Temora from Harden however, it was more fun to explore previously un-riden roads to Temora. The plan was to go to Temora via a road called the "Old Temora Road" but not via Cootamundra.
My plan started off really well and we travelled at a sight seeing pace, i.e, at a very cautious pace, through some enjoyable picturesque country side with paddocks full off sheep with their lambs, horses with foals, cows with calves, long horned hereford cattle and big bulls relaxing under shady trees, including farm houses with farm machinery scattered around their properties.
At one stage we crossed a stock grid which leads us onto a curious narrow little road with sheep all over it. As we slowly navigated our way through the sheep and around a few pot holes, I came across a 6 to 8 foot piece of rusty fencing wire lying in the middle of the rode. We stopped and I picked the piece of wire up and threw it off the road.
We continued meandering along this interesting little road and I then saw a semi trailer gravel truck in the distance heading towards us. This did not seem right as the road was so narrow, i.e it was really only one lane wide covered in sheep and I'm sure at one stage I saw a sign that indicated the road was only for vehicles 10 tonnes and under. I must have it wrong as I'm sure a truckie would not take a short cut along a road not capable of taking a truck of this size. ☺To our advantage I had plenty of time to find a very safe place to pull the group off the road and wait there until the truck past. The truckie gave us a smile and wave as he passed.
After the truck disappeared, we continued on our enjoyable sight seeing tour and some how I must have "zagged" when I was supposed to "zig" and we ended up riding through Cootamundra to find the main Temora Road. Some how I then missed a turn after Cootamundra and rather then taking the "Old Temora Road" directly to Temora, I inadvertently led the group to Temora via Stockenbingal.
The above mistakes did not affect the day's riding as everyone had fun exploring new interesting roads while sight seeing and the "OldTemora Road" is still out there to be discovered another day.
As we finally rode into Temora we were greeted by a beautiful display of purple Jacaranda trees in full bloom lining the roadway.
On arriving in the main street of Temora at about 12:45pm, we parked our bikes and it was decided that we would all wonder off to do our own thing for lunch, then meet back at the bikes at 02:00pm, fuel the bikes and head home via a stop at Harden for afternoon tea.
After fueling the bikes we said our goodbyes, to those that could not stop at Harden and Ian removed an echidna quill from his front tire. Luckily it was easy to pull out and did not punctured Ian's new front tyre. Hartmnt was also lucky as he found a screw in his rear tyre that also did not affect his ability to ride home.
We had a non eventful ride direct to Harden, waived goodbye to those that could not stop, enjoyed chatting over afternoon tea and then the rest of us headed home to Canberra.
Thanks to great company, good riding weather and the fun of exploring new roads including getting a bit lost, taking a few wrong turns, all agreed the day was very enjoyable.
Garry.
- Garry McCurley - Honda VFR1200
- Mark Morey - Triumph Bonneville
- Mick & Kipper - Victory XC
- Hartmnt Kehm - BMW R 1200GS
- John & Eleonor - Yamaha FJR1300
- David Formica - Kawasaki ZX14R
- Manfred Halton - BMW R 1200R
- Les & Julie Robinson - BMW R 1150GS
- Ian Paterson - Honda GL1800
- Marilyn Stark - BMW 800.
