You know how when you’re on a ride and you find a really good road but you’re on a timetable and you can only ride it once??? Well, I put a stop to that nonsense.
Today is Day 4 of my north coast adventure and it’s been as good, if not better, than every other day. I started out at Grafton this morning, on the road around 0700 in the cool of the morning. What a great time to ride. I basically tossed a coin and decided that I’d start heading south again and leave myself one free day to play on the Oxley. So, I headed south from Grafton until I hit the Glenreagh road that heads towards Coffs. This is a lovely, winding road that follows the Oara valley and goes through some very picturesque little towns along the way. Glenreagh is a real picture postcard. The road drops you into the western side of Coffs so I avoided the main street and headed straight across to the harbour. Amazing that, since the place is called Coffs Harbour, it had never occurred to me that there WAS a harbour, but a very pretty one it is.
Form Coffs, a short and boring run down the Pacific to Raleigh where I cut out and headed west again. Amazingly, considering all the work that was being done on the Dorrigo just a couple of days ago, there was only one short piece and the rest of the road was clear. It was also clear of traffic till nearly right at the top so I got the magic run that I was hoping for, booming the V4 burble off the cliffs.
Today was always going to be a sightseeing day so I took the time to go out and see the Dangar Falls, just out of town. What a delightful little spot it is. If you haven’t been there, go, it’s only a couple of kays out of town and well worth the detour. My apologies again for the lack of photos, I will redress this shortcoming when I get home.
Continuing west I hit the Waterfall Way and followed it all the way to Armidale. Fuel and a snack then south to Uralla and across the link road to Walcha. Can you guess what I did next? Yep, and I had a heaps better run than the other morning. No traffic, and a dry road helped the confidence and I wrang it out to a much higher degree of satisfaction. Lunch at Ginger’s Creek Cafe and a photography session of flowers and wildlife.
Speaking of wildlife, if you stop at Ginger’s, beware of the local honeyeaters. The birds are very tame and very cheeky. One of them climbed up on the table, walked across to my plate and started helping himself to pieces of my carrot cake while I was sitting there watching him; amazing.
So, I’m in Port Mac, one of my favourite places on the coast. It’s cool and the evening is closing in. 550 kms today and I still feel fresh and alert.
Tomorrow is my 2nd last day on the road and I’m going to devote it to a few runs at the Oxley before I start heading home. I have to be home by Friday night so that should give me plenty of play time as well as the opportunity to do Wollombi and the Old Road as part of the return journey.
Amazingly, the radar was good again today, both times I passed a Revenue Raising car I was doing bang on the limit. Time for dinner and a good sleep. Oh, incidentally, very few bikes on the road and the ones that I have seen have nearly all been Ewan and Charlie wannabes riding pristine, clean GS BMW’s; sad.
Catch you tomorrow.
