Mark for TEC on day 1. Thanks also to Birky for leading and Bob for TEC on day 2.
Five Wanderers met up for a 9.30am start on the morning of Friday, 7 March. It was a glorious, sunny day with a top temperature of 33 degrees forecast.
To make the trip interesting, we headed up Eastlink to Ringwood, then through North Warrandyte, Kangaroo Ground to St Andrews and up the Heidelberg-Kinglake Road to Kinglake for morning tea.
The Kinglake National Park is spectacular, but difficult to take in while riding on this goat track of a road, with plenty of traffic ahead of us and coming at us. Not sure why a truck would use this route, but one came towards us occupying a fair chunk of our side of the road – as a necessity. He was almost scraping the cutting on his left side.
From Kinglake, fun riding down through the hills to Whittlesea, where we took a sharp right to Wallan and stopped at Kilmore for lunch. McNamara’s Irish Pub was our chosen lunch spot. A great menu, a lovely old pub and friendly people. Spirits were high and the conversation was lively! Bob and I can vouch for the Guinness pie – delicious.
One of the group (you’ll never guess who) entertained us at lunch with a quotable quote. With his arms held out to each side, he said: “I’m a lateral thinker. I think sideways.” 😂
After lunch, for reasons unknown, I questioned the planned route, which had us going back the way we had come (briefly). It didn’t seem right to me, but it didn’t take more than a block or so in Kilmore while nervously checking the GPS to realise my mistake. So, we took a right turn arrow to perform the weekend’s first U-turn! – required.
Holy CAPOW Batman can we do a 'U' Turn in the Bat Cave??
From Kilmore, the roads flattened out a bit – across to Lancefield and onto the Calder Freeway, turning off at Malmsbury, to Elphinstone (nearly a U-turn there, but not quite), Chewton, Castlemaine, Maldon, Lockwood South and then into Bendigo. By this stage, the temperature had soared. We stopped for fuel at Golden Square, then onto our digs at the McIvor Motor Inn.
We spent some time recovering with pre-dinner drinks at the hotel. Those amongst us with ‘tatts’ had them out on display. Happy proudly declared that you can tell who the real bikie is by their koala tattoo!
An ex Nat Comm member, Perry, also had a room at our hotel and kindly offered us a lift to the dinner at the Tyson’s Reef Hotel. A good crowd there with what are now becoming familiar faces – Paul B (organiser), John H from the Grampians branch, Marlene and Stan K from the Geelong branch, Lyn Tout, Nat Comm Secretary and Melbourne branch member – along with Wanderers past members, Ali W, Chook and Mac D.
Ahh yes, the old social lubricant , say no more!
After dinner and social lubricant, Chook kindly drove us back to the hotel, where nightcaps followed (for some).
The next morning started off pretty warm. The venue for the breakfast was a shaded courtyard at Percy and Percy café, a stone’s throw from the pub the previous night. It’s great to see everyone gather and enjoy the moments together.
A delicious breakfast followed by an auction of a leather vest and belt, donated by Perry, the proceeds going to UCARF. One of the ladies, Jan, did a fabulous job as auctioneer.
Birky rallied our group so we could get home in reasonable time. He chose a route east out of Bendigo, past Lake Eppalock, to Redesdale, where we turned towards Lancefield and rode down the gorge to the Redesdale Bridge, a wrought iron truss bridge with a wooden board platform over the Campaspe River, built in 1868.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the 2nd U-turn of the weekend – performed between Bendigo and Redesdale. A few moments spent consulting the GPS – as is the usual practise. We all know the feeling, so enough said.
We turned onto the Burke and Wills Track for Lancefield. Along the way is a plane propeller monument which commemorates the first Australian to build and fly an aeroplane in 1910. From Lancefield to Kilmore for a short break, then on to Wandong and back along the same route we’d covered the day before. Great roads, very little traffic, a good mix of twisties and open road.
We said our goodbyes at the BP Service Centre at Caribbean Gardens, then headed home – hot but satisfied. Another great overnight ride, 523km in total. Thanks to Mark for TEC on day 1. Thanks also to Birky for leading and Bob for TEC on day 2.
Cheers, Val