Turon Gates Ride

I was speaking to Geoff on Friday who said there will be a ride on Saturday. Great, I'm keen as. I was up early waiting for a message where our ride was going to start. Come 9am and no texts, nothing. I decided I'll go on my own ride as the day was already starting to waste away and I'm sick of waiting I want to go riding. I head up into the Blue Mountains and see what happens from there as this was completely unplanned. 

I stopped at Mt Banks, you can't see much from the carpark the views back up the road are better so I stopped there for a look. I notice I had a message, meet at 11am for the ride. Look at the time and it's 5 to 11. Message back, 'not gonna make it'.....

I was wondering where to go next and then I thought I could go take a look at the Glow Worm tunnel in the Gardens of Stone Conservation Area. Riding up the Old Bells line of road I was surprised the dirt road was well graded along here. I saw a sign that said the Glow Worm Tunnel was closed no access till June. Damn. Oh well that's an excuse for another trip after June.

I spotted these nutters out abseiling down the cliff faces. I head back towards Lithgow thinking a pie would be good for lunch. Then I had an idea. Why don't I ride out via Turon Gates to Sofala pub for a beer. Haha a cunning plan that cannot fail. On the way back into Lithgow I saw this tired old train.

A quick stop at Pearsons lookout over the Capertee Valley. It was an awesome sight to behold today. The Capertee Valley Canyon is the second largest in the world, even bigger than the grand canyon in the USA, just not as deep.

Pantoneys Crown

I stop at Capertee to get some fuel, I don't need it but I want options from Sofala as I'm not sure where I will go after that, possibly a beer at Hill End pub. The Turon Gates Rd is only 1km out of Capertee and I'm running my Gaia GPS app on my AT screen through to Sofala. Seems to be working ok so far.

It's some pretty easy riding and I find an extremely well kept crushed granite road, I swear some of our country dirt roads are in better condition than our main tarred roads.

I make my way on to the first bridge over the Turon River and camp grounds at the Turon Gates Eco retreat. As soon as I pass the campground entrance the road narrows and gets rougher. From this point on to Sofala I think I only passed 2 or 3 cars.

The road winds its way around some hilly countryside, with spectacular views over the farmlands and rolling hillsides with the river below.

I come upon the first creek crossing. I can see the bottom through the water it is so clear and it's only running very slowly so I dive right in. 

Turning right onto Palmer Oakey Rd the road winds through farmland for a while until it goes back up into the hills and more stunning scenery.

Then I was at creek crossing number 2. This one was a concrete crossing and I could see green moss on the bottom, it was pretty shallow. Oh well I plough through anyway. I'll either end up on the other side or in a hospital bed looking at hot young nurses sponge bathing me.....

Damn made it.

Lots of logs built up here after last weeks rains. Not long after crossing 2, came crossing number 3. Same again but twice as long this time and mossy looking patches but didn't have any moments.

It wasn't far from here into Sofala, 2 more concrete  creek crossings to navigate and after the 5th one the road turned to tar for the run into Sofala. I was looking forward to a beer at the pub.

Pulling up in town the place was pretty busy today. The pub was packed out the front and cars and bikes lined the length of the street.

The pub isn't doing food anymore but there are two shops across the street, a cafe and general store that both do food. I just needed some liquid lunch and then was out of there.

mmmm beer

I was thinking of heading to Hill End for a quick beer, but looking at the time it was just after 2pm. If I'd got away at a decent time instead of waiting to see if there might be a ride on, then it wouldn't be cutting it fine in skippy territory so I decide on heading back via Tarana. There's a couple of roads heading there I've never ridden on before so that will be the new plan. I take the Limekilns Rd down to the Great Western Highway and then take Diamond Swamp Rd to Tarana.

Another good day out on the bike exploring some new roads. That's the reason I bought this bike, so I could explore roads that I wouldn't normally get to ride if I had a road bike. There were a few roads I went down today where I though I wonder what's down there.........not a milk bar at least.

Cheers.....

 

Back Roads to Home

So I was due to go to Canberra for the kids softball tournament but due to the Omicron variant surging the tournament was cancelled and I had a couple of extra days leave. I was going to go home and visit my Dad for a few days to help out as he is in his 80's and not getting about as well as he used to. So I thought I'd ride the bike out there and take all back roads.

The weather wasn't looking great for Friday, I wasn't concerned as I wanted to test the water proofing of my textile suite, I've not used it in proper rain yet only a short light shower last Snowy ride.

First stop was for much needed coffee and a not needed hot apple pie from Mountain Bells Cafe. These apple pie's are superb.

I was the only customer at the cafe this morning, looks like the rain or threat of it has kept everyone away. 

Just after leaving I got into thick mist/fog with wet/damp roads and temp was a cool 15°C. What happened to summer?

 It was a bit hard to see far ahead. I turned down Darling Causeway and then turned again and went down through Hartley Vale and into the back of Lithgow where I made my way out past Lake Lyell and onto Tarana and the back roads to the west.

Through Barry, Neville and out at Mandurama the weather had cleared up and the temp was now rising up now to around 30°C. I didn't get a chance to test my gears weather proofing. Entering Woodstock it was 1pm the pub looked inviting. I rode past........

But soon did a u-turn and came back. I was hungry and thirsty. Man is not a camel.

I'd ordered one of their finest hamburgers and an ice cold beer. Yeah that beer tasted even better than it looked.

After my nice lunch break I did a quick look around. Not much has changed here in the last 20 years. 

I think I was illegally parked in front of the pub, as everyone else was parked around in the side street. I noticed a bus stop sign near the end of the verandah. Local copper must book all the locals parking out the front as they seem well trained. Not me I'm a slow learner.....

It's been a very long time since any trains have been through Woodstock. There were even tree's growing in-between the tracks.

Next up was the ride to Wyangala dam, this road I have ridden on many times as it was one of the nearest winding mountains roads near to home back in the day. Its a good little ride and quite scenic too.

All the cows were standing around looking at me wondering what I was doing. Nothing to see here, move along.

These rocky hills around Cowra on the way out to the dam are unique and beautiful, its a bit rare. I don't see rocky hills like this much around my travels in Australia. The dam wall is now insight.

The road across the dam wall has been blocked to all traffic and you now bypass through Wyangala township.

You shall not pass.

The dam levels is high at 100% now and was in flood condition in the middle of November due to all the rain. This year has been a very wet summer.

No water coming out of the spill way now however.

It was hot standing in the sun in black motorcycle gear and I was ready to get going. I was going to have to stop in Cowra for fuel. 365km for 15.4L, the petrol pump said I put in 14.4L. Could have come close to making the 90kms to Forbes from here, but didn't feel like pushing the bike in this heat just to prove a theory, there is beer to be had at the other end.

The last bit from Cowra to Forbes is quite boring as it gets flatter and the road straightens out. So I set the cruise control and droned along thinking about getting a beer when I get to Dad's.

Riding around the lake coming into town and I come across this beautiful site. The walk ways around the lake in Forbes sure is a pretty spot.