The morning was sunny and the forecast was for a warm day. What a fabulous day for a ride! 5 headed off at 7.30am for Heathcote where the Victorian Breakfast Club had its monthly get-together.

We needed to get some substantial kilometres behind us so we could arrive in reasonable time at the Juniper Café in Heathcote, so rode up Eastlink, through Doncaster, Greensborough onto the Western Ring Road, taking the Hume Freeway exit – much to the confusion of the group since I’d told them we were definitely not taking the Hume Highway. Ooops!

Turning left onto the Northern Highway, we stopped briefly at Wallan, which was very busy with a Saturday morning market. Having done what we needed doing, we were back on the road, arriving at Heathcote a little late and with quite a hunger.

The café is quaint. LP covers were stuck to the ceiling – and there was something for everyone: Demis Roussos, Tom Jones, Nana Mouskouri to name a few. As the bulk of Ulysseans had already enjoyed their breakfast, ours arrived … eventually.

Great to see John, a Grampians Ulysses club member who rode with us on the Halls Gap weekend. Also bumped into Jim (Mij) and Cogs, friends of Trev from Geelong.

After breakfast, a petrol stop and then we headed south out of town, turning onto the Seymour-Tooborac Road, through Puckapunyal. Along the way, we saw an emu under a tree. Not long after that, a group of 3 in a paddock. It’s such a pleasure to see different places and experience things we often wouldn’t otherwise.

We crossed the Hume at Seymour, then headed south-east on the Goulburn Valley Highway to Yea, then taking the Melba Highway to the Toolangi turnoff. A spectacular section of road winding its way through the Toolangi State Forest to Chum Creek and eventually Healesville. By this stage, it was pretty warm and Bob suggested we find the nearest pub for a beer. Being unplanned, we got ourselves a little tangled up, having to do a U-turn back to the Healesville Hotel.

Thirsts quenched and on the road again through more familiar territory – Woori Yallock, Cockatoo, Berwick and stopping at Cranbourne West to say goodbyes.

All up, approx 410km. Thanks to Mark for doing his usual great job as TEC, and thanks to Bob, Shots and Glenn for a great day out.

Cheers, Val