BMBEN
Registered user
Wednesday 5th Oct 2011
Halfway House
The weather forecast was moderately good. Partly cloudy and 22 degrees. I rode the monster around to Maccas to join the already assembled throng of riders, which by 9.00am numbered 12 (I thought). John McCrae then turned up on a pushbike offering to lead the ride. He looked quite fetching in his shorts. Pity he wasn’t wearing that sexy Lycra gear. We dithered around for a while trying to decide where to go until Eric suggested the Halfway House on the Putty Road. Yes, I know it doesn’t actually exist anymore but the site is still there. I rashly offered to be ride leader or ROAD CAPTAIN as I like to be called. No egotism here.
We set off up the highway to Springwood and you can guess what happened. A large and very slow truck took the turnoff ahead of us. I groaned as we followed it through the roundabouts onto Hawkesbury road, never getting above second gear. Then, miraculously it turned off. Yippee! We cruised along to Winmalee free of school zones then down the bends to Agnes Banks. We used Crowleys Lane to by-pass Richmond then turned onto the Bells Line of Road. Through North Richmond and Kurmond to Kurrajong where we turned onto Blaxlands Ridge Road. I’ve always liked this road apart from the slow section at the beginning. We arrived at the Putty Road and turned northwards. It was a great ride down the sweeping bends and across the Colo River. Then up the hill to Colo Heights where we pulled in at the servo for smoko. I decided to do another bike count to make sure we hadn’t lost anybody. Bugger me there were 13! Some dirty sod must have been breeding along the way. Anyway we made use of the servo’s picnic tables (no, we didn’t buy anything) and got stuck into our coffee and bikkies.
Some impatient members of the group were becoming rebellious and wanted to get going again. Blimey! I was still drinking my coffee and I could hear engines revving. Wonder why they’re wasting so much fuel, I thought as I casually strolled back to my bike and slowly put my gear on. Anyway we headed off again up the Putty Road. This is for me a fantastic motorcycle road. I say that about a lot of roads don’t I. Terrific scenery with bushland both sides, long straights and sweeping bends. There were a couple of short sections of roadworks and at one of them, I looked in my mirror and saw Eric doing slalom with the witch’s hats. Wonder what the workmen would have thought of that. Eric wanted to arrive first at our destination so he could film us riding in, so I graciously allowed him to pass me.
We arrived at the Halfway house and quickly occupied the picnic setting provided for the motorcycling public. The place is now owned by Dave Thurston who walked over to chat with us (and make sure we didn’t pinch anything). Dave does terrific sculptures by welding old pieces of metal. He makes great Ned Kelly letterboxes with old gas bottles. He hopes one day to re-open the place as a gallery/cafe. The dominant feature is a huge sculpture of a figure which is a man on one side and a woman on the other. He calls the whole thing “WO-MAN”. I’m not sure if this the new name for the whole place or just the sculpture.
After an hour or so it was time to leave. We rode back the same way we had come. Not much choice really but we didn’t mind as it’s such a great road. We returned to the servo at Colo Heights for afternoon tea. One of our group bought an ice-cream so I figured we were justified in taking over their facilities again.
After leaving, we split into two groups. The plainsmen would carry on down to Windsor and make their way home while we mountain men returned along Blaxlands Ridge Road. At the Hawkesbury Lookout a few of us pulled in for a pit-stop. Who should suddenly appear for a chat but Francis and Jim. He’s looking more like Elvis Presley than ever these days! Anyway, after re-fuelling at Valley Heights I arrived home at Blaxland about 4.00pm with a neat 300km on the clock for the day.
Another great one! Thanks for your company fellas.
Peter M
Halfway House
The weather forecast was moderately good. Partly cloudy and 22 degrees. I rode the monster around to Maccas to join the already assembled throng of riders, which by 9.00am numbered 12 (I thought). John McCrae then turned up on a pushbike offering to lead the ride. He looked quite fetching in his shorts. Pity he wasn’t wearing that sexy Lycra gear. We dithered around for a while trying to decide where to go until Eric suggested the Halfway House on the Putty Road. Yes, I know it doesn’t actually exist anymore but the site is still there. I rashly offered to be ride leader or ROAD CAPTAIN as I like to be called. No egotism here.
We set off up the highway to Springwood and you can guess what happened. A large and very slow truck took the turnoff ahead of us. I groaned as we followed it through the roundabouts onto Hawkesbury road, never getting above second gear. Then, miraculously it turned off. Yippee! We cruised along to Winmalee free of school zones then down the bends to Agnes Banks. We used Crowleys Lane to by-pass Richmond then turned onto the Bells Line of Road. Through North Richmond and Kurmond to Kurrajong where we turned onto Blaxlands Ridge Road. I’ve always liked this road apart from the slow section at the beginning. We arrived at the Putty Road and turned northwards. It was a great ride down the sweeping bends and across the Colo River. Then up the hill to Colo Heights where we pulled in at the servo for smoko. I decided to do another bike count to make sure we hadn’t lost anybody. Bugger me there were 13! Some dirty sod must have been breeding along the way. Anyway we made use of the servo’s picnic tables (no, we didn’t buy anything) and got stuck into our coffee and bikkies.
Some impatient members of the group were becoming rebellious and wanted to get going again. Blimey! I was still drinking my coffee and I could hear engines revving. Wonder why they’re wasting so much fuel, I thought as I casually strolled back to my bike and slowly put my gear on. Anyway we headed off again up the Putty Road. This is for me a fantastic motorcycle road. I say that about a lot of roads don’t I. Terrific scenery with bushland both sides, long straights and sweeping bends. There were a couple of short sections of roadworks and at one of them, I looked in my mirror and saw Eric doing slalom with the witch’s hats. Wonder what the workmen would have thought of that. Eric wanted to arrive first at our destination so he could film us riding in, so I graciously allowed him to pass me.
We arrived at the Halfway house and quickly occupied the picnic setting provided for the motorcycling public. The place is now owned by Dave Thurston who walked over to chat with us (and make sure we didn’t pinch anything). Dave does terrific sculptures by welding old pieces of metal. He makes great Ned Kelly letterboxes with old gas bottles. He hopes one day to re-open the place as a gallery/cafe. The dominant feature is a huge sculpture of a figure which is a man on one side and a woman on the other. He calls the whole thing “WO-MAN”. I’m not sure if this the new name for the whole place or just the sculpture.
After an hour or so it was time to leave. We rode back the same way we had come. Not much choice really but we didn’t mind as it’s such a great road. We returned to the servo at Colo Heights for afternoon tea. One of our group bought an ice-cream so I figured we were justified in taking over their facilities again.
After leaving, we split into two groups. The plainsmen would carry on down to Windsor and make their way home while we mountain men returned along Blaxlands Ridge Road. At the Hawkesbury Lookout a few of us pulled in for a pit-stop. Who should suddenly appear for a chat but Francis and Jim. He’s looking more like Elvis Presley than ever these days! Anyway, after re-fuelling at Valley Heights I arrived home at Blaxland about 4.00pm with a neat 300km on the clock for the day.
Another great one! Thanks for your company fellas.
Peter M
