Monthly Archives: May 2012

Sunny but cold (10C).  I was on the road by 0930 and filled up at Kyneton.  Up the old Calder Highway to Maldon for a coffee.

Parking on the footpath is permitted in Victoria – very civilised.

Then a quick run up to Laancoorie:

Cut across to Dunolly then down to Maryborough, taking the truck bypass to Carisbrook.  Nice run down to Clunes.  Quite a picturesque road with old gold mines, abandoned stone buildings, good road surface and sweepers along the valley.  Into Clunes for a leak and another coffee:

Then a fast run through Smeaton to Blampied

and Daylesford – packed as usual – and onto Tylden and Carlsruhe ( named by the first settler there after his hometown in Germany.  Here’s a pic looking over the Calder Freeway towards the Jim Jim (on the horizon):

Then home, clean the bike and have a Coopers!

The sun was shinin’ here in central Vic with showers forecast.  So we set off for Ruffy and lunch at Yarck.  The sky was dark over the Strathbogies as we passed Tallarook.

But fearlessly we turned at Ghin Ghin for Highlands – the rain started and the temperature dropped.  The rain made the road greasy – not heavy enough to wash off the leaf litter – so we took it easy.  By Ruffy the Chief was feeling a bit crook with the cold and had trouble getting off her Duke.  After a quick walk, we set off for Yarck.

“Farck!” is what I thought I heard from behind me as we approached that “terrible descent” – in the wet – feeling crook – on an unknown road.  But second gear and some judicious use of the back brake saw us through and onto the valley floor for a nice run into Yarck.

A pie, chips and a cup-of-chino at the (warm) Yarck General Store brought some life back into the Bride.  We sped off, in rain, to Yea where the promise of a patch of blue encouraged us.

Yep, dry and “FAB, Scott” all the way home!