Brass Monkey Ride Report
Before getting into the report, I have not disappeared entirely, between work and the weather since earlier this year, I have been totally unavailable. However, my small attempt to catch up follows.
Each year, somewhere in June/July, a good friend (FJR), me and our wives, undertake a ride to colder climes. This year, we left on Sat 30th June arriving home on Monday 2nd July. Given we are Brisbane based, the New England area is a logical and cool to cold destination. For this year, Glen Innes (GI) was our overnight stay. That is the cold bit, the second night was at
This year the route we took was out of Brisbane(12oC) via the Mt Lindsay Highway to Beaudesert which was our breaky stop (McDonalds). They was a number of fog patches along this section with a great variance of temperatures ranging from 9 to 14oC. From Beaudesert, we decided to look at the Upper Albert River Valley. On the way, we visited a very beautiful camping area on the way to Darlington. This is worth a look if have an interest in camping. At the end of the road, we turned around as you do and proceeded to a road connecting to Running Creek Road which becomes Lions Road. While this is a beautiful forest ride, the Lions Road itself requires caution as it is full of potholes from hell. This is disappointing as this area is a beautiful place to enjoy, too much looking continuously at the road surface at 20-40kph. It will require more than donations at the gate to fix the road surface. However, the worst section I believe, is a local council road servicing properties along the way. On entering the Summerland Way, you can put the real “riding hat” on and get some spirited kilometres out of the way.
Casino(19oC) was our lunch stop. Now Maccas, 2 meals in a row, was a bit much. Choice of eateries at Casino is limited. One café was open but did not do lunches (at 1230?). Eventually, we found a burger shop in Barker Street which turned out an excellent burger. It was a busy place.
The ride from Casino to Tenterfield was uneventful but pleasing. The climb up to the tableland has one issue that everyone should be aware of and that is “bitumen mounds” on a lot of the tight corners. While most can be handled by the ST and the FJR, anyone on a cruiser will not enjoy the result of hitting one of these.
There is a good coffee shop in the main street of Tenterfield (10 oC) in an old bank building. They serve excellent coffee, a good selection of local food and sweets and the log fire was burning nicely. It is a hard place to leave on a cold day. The run to GI was good and enjoyable however it was a relief to arrive at our motel. Unfortunately, the management at our usual motel has changed, so little things like being greeted before getting off the bike and told which rooms were ours, was now missing. However, other things do not change and after freshening up, the RSL bus picked us up and another good meal and evening was enjoyed at the local services club.
The weather forecast for the Sunday morning was for a minimum temperature of -1 oC. This was the outcome with a slight frost. On our last visit it was -3 oC with a heavy frost. The temperature had risen to 4 oC when we departed at 0900. The ride to Grafton was a quick one. A Toyota ute (4X2) passed us on leaving Tenterfield and for the first 60klms, we were able to shadow the ute. He was averaging 130kph. After a short stop at the National Parks Office (9 oC), the descent down to the Clarence Valley was as always an enjoyable experience. The road surface is excellent and the views are inspiring. At the bottom (16 oC) the road passes beside the Clarence. Opportunities to pass several vehicles can be challenging, patience is needed along some sections of this part of the run to Grafton.
At Grafton, we made an error which annoyed us for the next hour or so. We chose to use the Pacific Highway from Grafton to Kingscliff. For an ST rider, this was a big mistake. Firstly, the number of “L” platers was surprisingly high together with the amount of traffic. Add this to the “Nanny State” method of reducing speed limits to attempt to reduce the accident rate made this part of our journey very unpleasant. We should have gone via Casino/Bangalow. It has been some time since travelling this part of the Pacific Highway, and I was amazed the find that the speed limit coming of the hill at Byron Bay is 60kph with a speed camera half way down. I do question our road designers for this sort of thinking.
We arrived at Kingscliff and stayed at the Mantra Resort. This was our “living it up” bit and it has a good range of restaurants. We chose an excellent restaurant of it was Margie’s (my wife) birthday.
The next day (12 oC) we backtracked south so that we could ride the Burringbar Range to Murwillumbah. We always enjoy this section of road as it is now a quiet road with plenty of room. Still has a speed camera on this section, do not know whether it is loaded and operational though, not about to find out.
After Murwillumbah, we went through Chillingham to Nerang and then home. The Murwillumbah to Chillingham section needs some care. The biggest problem is locals coming in the opposite direction around a blind corner on your side of the road. A did get one fright on the entire trip in this area, care of another “racer” bike rider. Staying on his half of the road was not part of his plan, no wonder serious accidents involving innocent parties occur. I was surprised at the number of bikes out that day as it was a Monday.
The M1 showed again that the quickest journey can be done by staying in the left lanes. The rest the trip was uneventful.
Total distance for me (Mango Hill) was 1304klms. We will be doing a Brass Monkey ride next year.
