Ride #5 - May 4th
Ride #5 - 4th of May
In a galaxy far, far away, all the stars aligned just so and I was able to get away for a 3-day Grand Tour ride, departing last Thursday, May 4th.
This date will have significance for those of us who record our religion as " Jedi " on all Government forms.
The B.o.M forecast was for a strong wind front to pass through the state on Wednesday night, with fine, dry and warm weather for Thursday, Friday & Saturday.
Day-time temperatures were expected to be around 23*C (75*F), perfect riding weather.
Now, that may be all well and good, but the early morning temps were expected to be only around 4*C (40*F) on our escape route over the Blue Mountains, so an extra layer of thermal underwear, silk glove liners and heated handlebar grips were not considered inappropriate.
The Bells Line of Road had very little traffic (for a change) and we made good time to the Wallerawang Bakery for a hot coffee and a delicious custard tart.
After the hot coffee had done its job in warming us up, we made the short 10 km trip from Wallerawang to Portland for the first bonus, the storage silos at the defunct cement works.
These silos were painted by Guido van Helten in 2018 and depict five males and one female past Portland Cement workers. For some unknown reason most of the people's faces are on the other side of the silos.
From Portland, we took the Sunny Corner Road, which has more potholes than actual road, back to the Great Western Hwy, and passed sedately through Bathurst and onto Orange for lunch.
I say "sedately" because there is always a Highway Patrol presence on this particular stretch of road.
After a lunch of a Big Mac and Chocolate Shake, I was able to bag a few murals in Orange without excessive suburban traffic hassles.
Our next destination was the Water Tank mural at Molong, about 35 km northwest, but as there was no safe parking directly near the tank, a "2 photo split" was required.
After Molong, it was 65 km up the Mitchell Hwy to Wellington, where the mural at the Tourist Office turned out to be a vinyl wrap and therefore unacceptable. Time for Plan B.
During my research, I found a single mention on-line of several murals in Fong Lee's Lane, so I asked Betty, my GPS lady if this lane-way still existed.
The Force must have been with me, as Fong Lee's Lane was directly across the road from the Tourist Office and I was able to bag a suitable wall mural from the several that were there.
The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, and the temperature was dropping, so it was time to bee-line to our overnight accommodation in Dubbo, about 50 km up the highway, again being careful of our speed as this stretch of highway is also heavily policed.
Friday morning was a bracing 2*C (35*F), but duty called and I was determined to bag a few murals that were scattered around town before the morning traffic became troublesome. My favourite being this mural
After grabbing a quick breakfast from Maccas ( Big Mac + large hot coffee ) we headed northwest to Narromine and the start of the Western Plains area, where the roads are long, flat and more or less as straight as an arrow.
The only excitement on what are rather boring roads, is trying to avoid fresh road kill as the B-Double semi-trailers have numerous encounters with mobs of kangaroos at night.
They say that time and tide wait for no man, I would add that a B-Double waits for no kangaroo to get off the highway.
From Narromine, we headed to Trangie and then onto Nevertire, a small rural village ( population ~150 ), about 110 km from Dubbo.
Nevertire was once a bustling rural town with a railway station servicing the local grain and cattle farms. It also has the dubious history of once being completely destroyed by a tornado in December 1896.
The town was rebuilt, but unfortunately, like so many other small rural towns, the railway station was decommissioned and dismantled in 1985.
Nowadays, there is a Pub, a General Store, and only a handful of houses, but it does have an impressive example of Water Tower art.
From Nevertire, it was a quick trip to the nearby, and much larger town of Warren, which also has an impressive Water Tower.
The Warren-Conbara Road is not a main highway or even a minor highway. It is just a narrow country road that runs for about 110 km in an almost dead straight line with no towns or villages along the way.
It is not a road that you want to have a problem with your bike as there is very little traffic.
I guess the Force was not with me on this leg as there were some road works about halfway along, which required the use of a short, narrow dirt detour road around the work site.
The detour was not a problem, but the B-Double semi-trailer truck coming from the other direction was, as it was kicking up a lot of dust on the dry dirt road.
Self-preservation kicked in, and I just pulled over to the side of the dirt road and sat there while the truck slowly drove by, engulfing me in a fine dust cloud.
The dust was so bad that I could not see the truck when it was less than 5 metres away and the truck was way bigger than a bus.
Having survived the "Great Dust Storm", we headed to Coonamble which was our planned lunch stop, and while there, I was able to bag a few more murals, including this Water Tower.
After Coonamble, we headed southeast to Gulargumbone, and another Water Tower, and then onto Gilgandra and our overnight motel.
There are a couple of murals in Gilgandra, the most "famous" is this one which depicts the 1915 "Coo-ee March" where 25 local farmers walked the 515 km from Gilgandra to Sydney to enlist in the Australian Army for World War 1.
Along the way, they enticed an additional 238 farmers to join them.
Day 3 of our ride (Saturday), was the homeward leg, but the first order of business was a country breakfast of eggs and bacon and a nearby cafe. Why is it that country-cooked breakfast always tastes better ??
And as luck would have it, the cafe had a suitable mural in their outside seating area. Unplanned and unexpected, but I bagged it anyway.
From Gilgandra, we headed to Mendooran and a couple of wall murals, then onto Dunedoo for their grain silo artwork, depicting "Winx".
Winx is a retired champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. She won 37 of 43 career starts, winning her last 33 races in succession. Over her career, she earned more than $19,000,000 in prize money.
From Dunedoo, we headed along The Golden Hwy to Meriwa for morning coffee and the last mural of this trip.
With all the Grand Tour business completed, it was just a matter of "sitting back" and riding home, albeit having to use the dreaded M1 Motorway between Newcastle and Wahroonga.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike this road ??
Until next time, and as Luke Skywalker would say, "May The Fourth Be With You - Always "
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