Another South Coast adventure ride was on the cards. It was meant to happen a month or two earlier but half of the people came down with covid so it was cancelled. But here we are in the middle of winter ready to freeze our asses off for your entertainment.
We rode down friday arvo and stayed with our gracious hosts Brett & Marjo, naturally a few too many drinks occured. Meeting up just south of Nowra the next morning we picked up our tour guide extraordinaire Dave and the immaculate GPS of wayfinding.
Brett assured Scotty we'd start out on some easy gravel riding. Just like tar road, without the tar he said. Nek minute, we are descending a steep rutted road with a big drop off a bolder, just like a road, without the tar or the road for that matter. I wasn't too thrilled with this and thought to myself if we have to turn around and go back up I probably won't get back out again. But it was only 100m of hard stuff before going back to normal gravel road. We then stopped in Milton for the obligatory bakery stop. It wouldn't be a real bike ride without one.
Scotty decided to head down the coast and do the Araluen road. It's one I'd very much like to do and I almost went with him. I was wondering how difficult this ride might become but thought I'd stick with it and see what happens, but unlike last time I was going to bail out if the riding got too tough. I'm here for a social ride and a good time, not for a punish and hurt myself and break my bike.
We took the Clyde Ridge road up into the great dividing range, which then turned into Mares Hill Rd. There was one slippery hill climb along here that had me slipping about with a bit of trepidation, but managed to get up without incident. This then turned on to the Western Distributor. It was fairly well maintain gravel riding. I was enjoying this section. Then I saw Stewie coming back my way, I slowed then saw a side track go down into a gully then into a steep rutted hill. Dave was at the top. I took a look at it and thought, fuck that. I'll continue on the road I'm on, no need to put myself at that much risk on a 250kg adventure bike whilst they are all riding enduro bikes 100kg lighter. Stewie asked me what I thought, based off that comment I knew he didn't want to ride it either. I said I'm not riding up that and I'll continue on or turn back. Dave looked at the GPS and said the road we are on goes to the same place the other road was going to go anyway. So we continued on.
A short distance later I saw a road closed sign then Dave came riding back the other way saying the bridge is out. F*ck it, I thought now they are going to want me to ride up the difficult hill.
Brett stopped and I stopped next to him and then saw some steam followed by what looked like coolant leaking under his bike. KTM down......
It was 12:23 when I took this photo above, here in Dingo Piss Creek. Brett started striping it down to try and find the leak. I was looking on the right, Brett looked to the left. Then Stu says 'hey the coolant is leaking out the back'. WTF?
Yep the radiator sprung a leak on the back on the second row from the top. Looks like it split the core. Stewie says no problem I've got this Knead it stick. I've had it for about 20 years, now it will come in useful. Yeah about as useful as a boat anchor. It was as hard as a rock. So Dave took off for Batemans Bay to find a radiator repair kit. And we waited.........
And waited,,,,,,,,,,
We waited some more............
Brett took Stewie's Tuareg for a bit of a spin up the road for a few minutes.
We ate some frogs and waited a bit longer. I could see the shadows getting longer and the sun getting lower. About 2 o'clock I said did anyone see this bridge out? Everyone said no it was Dave. Well we got nothing better to do, let's go take a look. I thought it strange the sign said road closed but nothing to actually block the road. So we walked down the hill the 500m or so and yep the bridge was definitely out, it was completely washed away by floods.
But as luck would have it there was a newly graded track down into each side of the river and it looked crossable. We saw bike tracks in the mud near the bottom. I would be much happier riding through the river than attempting the hill climb of doom. I moved aside some of the larger rocks on the descent into the river to make it easier. You can see the remains of the bridge in the photo on the right hand side behind the tree.
We walked back up to the bikes and did some more waiting and faffing around. Ate a few more frogs. Then we heard a bike approaching quickly. Dave was back and he wasn't mucking about. It was about 3:15pm by now. He had the required radiator JB weld mixture. Brett got straight to it. It was taking longer than anticipated to cure as it was probably only about 15°C out today.
Finally starting the bike up and adding some fluids we got underway about 3:50pm, 2 and a half hours later. Well it is an adventure ride right. So lucky that the JB weld fixed the leak.
So down we went into the river crossing. It's steeper than the photo makes it look, the photo flattens everything out. I was pretty nervous for sure, especially watching Stu struggle and nearly tip jamming his leg into the water. My turn came and the first bit was the hardest then I managed it across and up the steep incline. Wooh that was an adrenaline rush.
There were a couple more diversions on the Western Explorer with another road closure. We followed this small one lane road along for some time before we eventually popped out in the middle of the Kings Highway. I was happy to see this as I knew we would soon be at our accomodation for the night. The sun was about to set in the next 30 minutes and we are about 30 minutes out, we arrived in Majors Creek just after sunset. Perfect as I'd seen a few roo's in the paddocks. All up only 135km for the day.
Majors Creek is 18kms south of Braidwood. She's a rustic little pub that's for sure, but the locals were friendly enough. It was going to be around -1°C overnight tonight. There were many beers partaken. The night ended in a bottle of fireball........
Sunday morning was cold and frosty, and it was also hung over, no wait..... that was me. Went out the check out the bike. The bike looked like it had been through the ringer, no wait that was me again. The bike was just a little dusty, no....... me again. The bike was fine. Shouldn't have drunk all that Fireball last night I think.
A quick stroll up the street, the pub has a rail carriage full of beds that they hire out for $500 per night. Looking through the window I'd say it way over priced. Better to camp across the street for free. We rode into Braidwood for Fuel and the bakery. I was hoping for bacon & eggs but it was a pie instead. Yeah I probably should have left and went home with Scotty.
We rode back out through Majors Creek and Wallace's Gap Rd to Captains Flat Rd. Along here somewhere Dave turned into the Tallaganda Forest. I was going ok, until he decided to turn down a side track. I looked at the erosion mounds filled with water. I could see the last one was just a bog hole, I watched Stu go through nearly coming unstuck. I don't want to ride down there. The area looks wet, could get worse. Some encouragement from Brett against my better judgement and down the hill I went into the bog hole and almost stacked it. Went along a little more climbing back up came to a wet sand pit on the trail, nearly stacked it in that that about 100m later came to the main road we were just on, FFS.
The others rode across and up some small overgrown track that looked like it hadn't had traffic in months. I'm done. Punting the Africa through bog holes isn't my idea of a good time, and with a hangover even less so. I told Brett I'd meet them in Braidwood at lunch time and I'd ride my own ride.
I quite enjoyed the main roads, through the forest. I came out in Captains Flat a little while later and went out the Queanbeyan Rd, but decided to turn around and go back. On the Captains flat road I saw snow on the side of the road, had to stop for photos or it didn't happen.
I had to stop for a break along the roadside here. The countryside up here in the highlands is always spectacular. I always love riding through the snowy mountains area. It was a nice day for it, pity I wasn't really feeling it today.
I stopped in Braidwood for fuel and the bakery for some lunch, but no pie. I got a salad roll. Yeah I think I'm not well. I waited awhile then decided I'd head up to Nerriga, so messaged Brett again.
I took the dirt out to Nerriga, it's a quite enjoyable ride on an empty country road. I received a message from Brett they were in Braidwood, and would meet me at Nerriga.
Pity I was full from that salad roll about an hour ago, there was a mobile italian pizza van at the Nerriga pub. That would have went nice with my beer. I'd never stopped here before and it's actually a great little pub. Very welcoming and the fire roaring inside was inviting.
That beer didn't get rid of my headache...but it sure tasted good.
