This was a Saturday ride, so if you turned up on Sunday, you were too late and you missed a great day for riding.
The ride leader was meant to have been Leo, but with the excitement of having his son and new grandchild arriving from Canada on Friday, it totally slipped his mind. That was not a problem though because Alan was happy to lead the ride for this one. (Leo – he says you owe him one!)
Just over twelve months ago we went on a cruise from Sydney to northern Queensland. On that cruise there was a man who was giving talks about the famous bushranger, Ben Hall and his gang. He was selling a couple of books about his findings and Alan was keen to buy them, but we had not travelled with a lot of Australian dollars (just American ship money), so we arrange to catch up with this man in Young at the Cherry Festival on the first weekend of December (that was last year). We never made it to Young – they had a huge downpour of rain that day and unfortunately the festival was washed out. So we were keen to go this year and catch up with this man, which we did. (I bet they would like to see a bit of that rain again this year – but not on the same weekend as their Festival).
Anyhoo, we had 5 bikes turn up at Nicholls for the ride. It was good to have a couple of new faces join us. The decision was made to go via Boorowa with a stop there for coffee.
We arrived in Young at 11.30 which left us plenty of time to check out the stalls. Not everyone was interested in staying for as long as us, so it was agreed that we would all make our own way home when we were ready. Mick was simply going to refuel and then head back, via Crookwell.
While we were there, we contacted previous Canberra Branch members, Ray & Mia Allan, who met us in the park. It was great to catch up with them. We were back at our bike by 1.30 and as expected, the others had already headed off. I trust everyone made it home safely. Thanks for your company on the ride.
The ride itself was uneventful. I found it interesting the difference in the level of traffic on the road on a Saturday compared to the usual Sunday rides. We came home via Harden, through Kingsvale with a stop at Bowning for an ice cream. You can see the effects of the drought in the areas that we travelled through. Some of the paddocks are bare and the ones with wheat in them don’t look like they will yield a very big crop for the farmers this year.
Riders:
Alan & Lyn Munday Yamaha FJR 1300
Jeff Jarvis Harley Softail Deluxe
Mick Beltrame BMW R1200GS LC
Craig Fraser Honda GL1800
Mark Micallef Suzuki M109R
