Overnight Adventure to Uralla

Bruce was headed to Qld on a two week ride with a mate and had invited us to ride with him for as far as we want to go. For me it was a overnighter only and the other also did their own thing.

We met at Pie in the Sky on the old pacific hwy. I arrived about 7:45 for a quick breakfast then head off. D'oh it doesn't open until 8am so we wait and are first in line. A coffee and sausage roll hit the spot before we get under way.

Leaving our breakfast spot behind we get on the old road. Its so slow now with 60kmh speed limits, we come upon a bunch of 20 push-bike riders riding uphill into a bend two abreast taking up the whole road and they are doing about 25 km/h. Talk about a rolling road block, hold everyone up why don't you. Single file so other road users can get past safely you f#cking twats.

We ride up through Kulnura where it starts sprinkling. We pull in an I put on my wet weather top as I can't see it easing up anytime soon. I also put my phone away and do away with any navigation on my screen. Last time I rode in the rain with my phone plugged in it got water in the charge port and turned off, not going to do that again.

We ride out through Jerrys Plains and back roads to Denman in light rain. From here no one knew where they were going to get to Aberdeen. So I put my phone back on and started self navigating. If your going to lead a ride at least know where you're going. There was lots of turns in the next 30 minutes and would have been totally lost without gps navigation. I think a proper GPS setup would be much better idea than trying to use the phone. In wet conditions the phone it pretty much a fail a proper bike GPS is always on and waterproof.

We stop in Gundy at the pub for lunch where we meet up with Doug. He wasn't riding today as he was living nearby in Scone and drove along with us in the ute.

I had about 4 litres of fuel left and the next place was Nundle 80kms away. I was hoping we could make it. We found out that there was fuel in Nundle so I put 2 litres in just incase. I shouldn't have worried, when I filled up in Nundle I had 3.9 litres left, Plenty. It was sprinkling most of the way so didn't stop to take any photos. We head out of Nundle north along river road past Chifley Dam. When we get to the end we head left and up the main highway to Uralla and the Top Pub. It was getting late and I didnt want to be out on dusk riding amongst skippys. It was beer o'clock. The beer and food at Uralla Top Pub was as good as ever.

Next morning after breakfast the other guys went their own way, I was last to leave not exactly sure which way I was going to go. I head down back roads to Kentucky and onto the Oxley Highway and headed across to Walcha to fuel up. From Walcha I decide I'd head back down to Nundle and see from there, either do the 20 creek crossings or head back over Crawney pass and through Timor

The weather today was much better with blue sky's, but I saw lots of large puddles along the roadside so we must have got a fair amount of rain overnight. First stop was at Chifley Dam before heading into Nundle. I decide against the 20 creek crossing solo with a lot of overnight rain and take Crawney Rd.

The Crawney rd over Crawney pass to Timor is spectacular riding, mostly gravel for about 70 kms, but easy riding gravel with one water crossing on a concrete causeway.

I stopped at the top of crawney pass for a photo before descending the other side. Lots of pools of water on the side of the road. 

I come around a corner to see an echidna walking along the road. I pull over and grab my phone to get a quick photo of this little fella before he disappears.

The road follows the Isis river for a while with spectacular scenery along the way.

After a while the road opens up with long sweeping corners and straights over the hillsides.

Not far after Gundy I come upon the Allen Bridge Rd. I found this in the Sydney Adventure bike riders forum on facebook. Its a back road into Singleton so I decide to check it out.

The first 10km was narrow tar before it turned to dirt. The road wound its way up high into prime farming land following several ridgelines with spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. One thing I wasn't expecting as I didn't look much at the route prior but there was about 20 creek crossings and they were all concrete causeways. Some of them looked mossy and slippery, half of them were empty but I didn't have any moments. Steady throttle and through to the otherside. One of them had a 90° bend in the middle of the crossing. Top ride, will do this one again.

I got into Singleton at about 3pm and fueled up and headed for the Putty rd and home. It was monday afternoon and the Putty rd was completely deserted. I think I saw 1 car on the entire length of the road so had an awesome run, but did see 2 skippys on the road that were very close so took it easy most of the way home. Another good ride.