May Mudgee Muster - Adventure Style

It's that time of year again when our May Mudgee Muster arrives where several mate's all gather for a giant piss up....er motorcycle ride, yeah that's it. Rather than the usual nowhere ride to Mudgee I decided to kick it up a notch and do the mudgee adventure ride and take roads much less travelled.

It pissed down rain here for nearly a week and I got text from Scotty saying he's not keen on doing any dirt roads after this weather. That's fine you do you, we got about 100mm here but you didn't bother to look at central western NSW weather, where they get stuff all rain. Sofala/Hillend had less than 15mm and that was a week ago. So yeah thats not going to be any problem.

We met at maccas McGraths Hill as usual and the usual suspects started arriving. Stu and I got going earlier than the others as we were doing the adventure ride whilst the others were heading out to Oberon then O'Connell for lunch. It was freezing cold this morning with 7°C displaying on the dash across the Blue Mountains. It was so cold I couldn't make it to lithgow before my bladder was going to explode.

Stu creating puddles

Stu and I rode through to Capertee where we fueled up as there won't be another fuel stop until we get to Mudgee. We decided to get an early lunch here so we could pass through Sofala and keep going. Only small towns out here in the central tablelands.

Our route was to take the Turon Gates road through to Sofala. Then from there head down the turondale road and take Box Ridge Road to the bottom of the Bridle Track. We encountered four 4wds at the start but they moved over and let us through which gave us a car free run through. There was hardly any signs of rain out here it was dusty but there was the odd wet patch near the river.

We stopped after the first creek crossing to take off a layer as it we were getting warm now we were going slow. It was a cracking 13°C by now.

It wasn't far before we got to the next water crossing which was a concrete crossing and the water level was pretty low and I ploughed through. I filmed Stuey riding through but no shithouse moments to report.

The next crossing wasn't far we ploughed through no problems it was pretty easy going so far.

We take a right turn just after the crossing towards Sofala and through the farm lands. The road isn't as steep through here as before but still very spectacular scenery.

Sofala was very quiet this morning as we passed through. We take the Hill End road and ride through the superb tar twistys here, much better than I remember and the surface was in fantastic condition. We then take the Turondale Rd for about 10kms then turn onto Box Ridge road. The first 4-5kms is tar on the steep bits then turns to dirt.

I stop to open the first gate on the road and let Stuey through. Beautiful scenery out here.

I quickly catch up to Stuey as he has just opened another gate over the next hill. Then he had to change gloves.

Riding Box ridge road from the farm gates seems like an endless down hill section with sweeping corners and rolling hillsides.

Box Ridge Road

It wasn't long before we get to the bottom of the hill where the road intersects with the Bridle Track. We take a right turn onto Bridle Track and start the final section of our adventure ride.

The track was a bit more rocky and a lot more loose dirt on the hill sections with a lot of loose rocks. Looks like the rain and 4wd are starting to deteriorate the track. It was still fairly easy run along the way. Just had to pay attention on the steep sections on Monaghans Bluff and Hawkins Hill.

Views from Monaghans Bluff

The creek crossing was pretty easy with not too much mud on either side. Not long after starts the climb up out of the valley starting at Hawkins Hill. The first 50m is steep then levels out to a easy graduation. I had to wait for three 4wd's coming down the hill before going up.

I got to this lookout and there were 3 dudes there on their dirt weapons. I had a quick chat with them and they proceeded back down the hill whilst I went up to the pub whilst slowing for another 4 or 5 4wds just before the top.

The road at the top pops right out in Hill End only 2 streets away from the pub where Stuey was waiting for me.

We didn't have to wait long before I heard the sound of bikes coming and the rest of the crew started to roll up, literally 2 minutes after I pulled up. Time for a beer. At $10 a beer and 14 of us here plus a few others the publican was raking it in.

The Mudgee Muster crew was only a couple of minutes behind us, impeccable timing.

Plenty of autumn colours on the road out of Hill end makes for spectacular riding through there.

The ride from Hill End to Mudgee is a great little run that only takes about an hour. Plenty of twisty bits all tar, but there are many shadows on the road this time of the afternoon and need to take it carefully. There's plenty of Roo's around out here and we saw a couple standing on the roadside.

We were staying at the Oriental Hotel again. It's a really good pub with great food, great ambience and a great crowd of people and with a great selection of beers on tap. It was $60 each for a shared room, nice clean rooms beds are a bit soft. Can highly recommend the beef brisket, yum!

Next morning there was a frost so it was a tad cold. Riding out of Mudgee was in 8-9°C temps just after 9am. My phone went flat so no more photos for today's ride. It was a good ride back via Bylong Valley and Putty Road to home. I've posted many photos from those rides before.

Cheers and thanks for reading.