Ride #3 - Hunter Valley Day Ride

 As I  have mentioned a few times in my previous blogs, my preference is for multi-day rides through rural areas and away from city traffic.  

So why did I decide to head 150km up the M1 motorway to a Hunter Valley town for a day-ride and spend a few hours riding around in suburban traffic?

Simple.  It seems to me that an unintended consequence of the way this year's Grand Tour is constructed, is that the competition draws you towards large population centres, and away from small country towns and villages.  

Murals, by definition, are hand-painted images on buildings, walls or structures, and it follows that large towns and cities have far more walls and structures than small country villages.  

So, the "low-hanging fruit" in this year's GT are cities & towns.    After all, why would you ride 150km to a village to "bag"   1 mural, when you could ride 150 km to a large town and "bag" 20.

I had originally planned this 1-day ride for last Monday, but the weather forecast (which turned out to be spot-on) had been for a high of 40*C / 105*F and that is just way too hot for ATGATT in suburban traffic.  

Tuesday & Wednesday were forecast to be almost as hot, but later in the week looked OK, so Thursday it was.

I was up and about at 05:30 and after my morning heart-starter (black coffee), I was out the garage door by 6:15am, and more or less in front of the morning peak hour traffic.

The ride up the M1, as is the case for all motorways, was boring and uneventful.  The air temps were pleasant 15*C / 60*F, the motorway traffic was light and the only distraction was the early morning sunlight "strobing" between the roadside trees.  

This, and occasionally being blinded by rounding a bend and riding directly into the sun.  I can now understand how Maverick took out Hangman in Top Gun II.

As is my routine when riding up the M1, I stopped at the Oak Cafe at Freemans Waterhole for a refreshments & comfort break, but rather than the usual coffee and a chicko roll, I stayed with plain water and a muesli bar instead.  

The caffeine in coffee is a diuretic, and as it was forecast to be a hot day (30*C +/-), staying hydrated was important.  Besides, my wife is always "suggesting" that I should drink more water.

The Oak Cafe has been there for literally decades, and it has always been popular with truckies (a good sign) and more recently, has become a bit of a motorcyclist's hang-out.

As luck would have it, I found a parking spot next to a very good-looking Harley-Davidson.  Not too much chrome, with a nice grey/black colour scheme.  

I now know this bike was a 2016 Fat Bob (whatever that means) because the owner told me so, and while Harleys are not my cup of tea, he was clearly proud of his bike.  Each to their own, I guess.

After a few minutes of chatting, it turned out the proud owner was waiting for 2 friends to arrive before they all headed down to the Central Coast to pick up a brand new 2023 H-D Sport-Glide (whatever that is), valued at AU$46,000 (US$32,000).  Unbelievable, and I thought BMWs were expensive.

From the Oak Cafe, I headed north to Kurri Kurri, a large-ish town that was founded in 1902 to service the local collieries and mining communities.  

Today, it has been designated a "Street Art Town" and is becoming internationally renowned for the more than 60 murals painted on buildings and walls around the town and in the nearby region.

click to enlarge

Now you can see why I went there.

My first mural was at the Lawn Bowling Club, which unfortunately turned out to have been painted over while the Club is being renovated.  Hmmm . . .  not a good start.

From the Bowling Club, I headed to the 2002 Ashes Cricket Tour mural on the Station Hotel wall, which thankfully, had not been painted over.

click to enlarge

From there,  I progressively made my way through the various street and lane-ways, "bagging" murals as I went along, and "enjoying" the slow suburban traffic, bumpy roads and midday sun.

I should also mention that I was always mindful of the 90-metre / 100-yard rule, which meant that although there were 60 murals available, not all of them were valid GT bonuses.  

In fact, a couple of my bonus photos have captured multiple murals in the same shot.     Pity that they are each only worth 1 point.


click to enlarge

The one benefit of riding around suburban areas is that local folk will walk on over and ask what you are doing.  

I used to say that I was on a Grand Tour and needed to take a photo, but that just led to more questions like "what's a Grand Tour ?"  Nowadays, just say that I am on a Treasure Hunt, and they seem to understand.   

By 1:00 o'clock, I had bagged most of the valid murals, so it was time to ride back to the M1 motorway and head for home.   Did I mention how much I dislike riding on the M1 motorway?

All in all, a good day's mural hunting.  Now, if I could only stop going to large towns and cities . . . . . .

Until next time, " keep the rubber side down, the shiny side up and may your lid never skid "


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