Southern Region Midweek Ride, 5 Apr

Southern Midweek Ride – 5^th April 2022

I was in two minds as to whether to join the April midweek ride and was disappointed to find that it had been raining overnight. A quick review of the BOM Radar showed that the weather was clearing so I decided to head off to the start at Chirnside Park.

By the appointed start time, we had 11 riders and one pillion. A short briefing and a summation of the ride ahead by Ride Leader, Mike Walker and we headed off via the familiar route to Yarra Glen and onto Healesville. By this time the grey clouds had cleared and we were riding in beautiful sunny conditions.  We then proceeded through the Don Valley to Yarra Junction and then took the very enjoyable road to Noojee for our morning tea stop at the Little Red Duck Café. Coffee and cake and the usual friendly banter kept us all entertained for quite a while. Many people would have been aware of the recent smoke haze effecting many areas of south-east Victoria and our group gained its own personal smoke haze when Greg Costello, who failed to make the start on time, joined us all in Noojee on his 2-stroke RZ 350 Yamaha. Greg also managed to create a fair bit of noise pollution as well as he unfortunately lost an exhaust baffle en-route to Noojee.

Coffee fix completed, we headed of on a narrow road out of Noojee through heavily timbered forest which then turned into the rolling hills and picturesque farmland this area of Gippsland is renowned for, on our way to Yarragon for lunch. I thought that I knew this area pretty well but Mike managed to take us on a couple of exceptional motorcycling roads which I had never ridden before. Just before our lunch stop, we encountered some newly laid bitumen, so the group made very slow progress for the last few kilometres, us all hoping to keep the fresh tar and stones off the bikes. Roads in this area have been in poor condition and neglected for some time so I suspect there may be an election soon. At Yarragon, there was a very welcome toilet stop and then the group settled in for lunch, with several of us choosing the offerings of the local bakery. We were also very happy to meet by Club Member, David Gray, who is unable to ride at the moment, who especially made the trip from Warragul to join us.

After lunch, we headed north through Shady Creek and onto the flowing corners of the Old Sale Road, through Buln Buln, Drouin West where we joined the old Princes Highway and onto Longwarry. At Bunyip we hit more roadworks and a quick detour through the town got us back onto the road to Nar Nar Goon, where we assembled for our farewells. Everyone greatly enjoyed the days ride through some magnificent country in great weather and with good company. If you were a bit put off by the rain early in the day and decided not to come along, unfortunately you missed a great ride. Many thanks to Mike Walker for leading the ride and to Laurie John for carrying out the TEC duties.

Peter Mathews

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