Decided at 9 am to get out for the day, nothing of interest on TV, as I don't know a horses ass from it's kneecaps. Topped tank as I left.
Minor sprinkles of rain as I headed north from Portland, not enough to need the wet gear. Not a lot of traffic, but enough to keep one alert. Fairly strong side breezes from the west.
Cruised through downtown Hollyrock (Heywood, for the uninitiated) on the way to Hamilton.... there's some nice stretches of road, until just nearing Hamilton, where it appears the local kindergarten was conscripted to do road repairs. The choppy stuff is only a few short stretches, not much more than a Km or so. Stopped in at a takeaway for a coffee, just a drink break, then a breatho check by the local
. Weather was warm, but just an occasional spit on the visor to be aware there were clouds overhead. On to Dunkeld, a left turn, and then a right to whizz up through the Grampians via C216 to Halls Gap. Great ice cream shop there, and just a sandwich for lunch. Had 2 deer cross the road in front of me about 8 Km south of Halls Gap, near lake Bellfield, and reached for the camera.....
That's when I discovered my camera was not in my pocket, I left it on the desktop at home.
Headed west through 20 km of windy-windeys on the C222 to Horsham, nice touring road, slow and steady because there are some great views through there. Road signs advise against caravan towing through this area. Some of those blind bends are a bit tricky. Puttered into Horsham and had a coffee at a servo.
Return trip by the A200 through Cavendish and into western Hamilton was a bit lively, with 4 furred grasshoppers and a couple of bush chooks who decided to cross the road just 20 metres ahead of me, but no fur or feathers were ruffled by my passing.
Uneventful trip the last 90 km home. Total distance covered, 470 Km, time taken, 7 hours including stops, give or take a few minutes, as I refuelled around the corner from home on arrival back in Portland. Still had 2 litres in the tank.
A great days ride, never went over 90 Kph, and bike purring beautifully after timing belt change and tune up last week.
Adrenalin Factor:
Saw several bikes on the trip, all waved back or nodded in passing, except one crotch-rocket rider who was under hard braking at the time to avoid a head-on with a speeding mentally handicapped Pajero driver, who was overtaking me across double white lines on a blind left hand bend. Advisory sign for this bend was 70 Km, ... it's anybody's' guess what the Pajero was travelling at, but he ended up skipping along the dirt verge, wrong side of the road after the bend, with a steep 100 foot drop off and no barrier just outside his door...
He stopped a couple of hundred metres down the road, I think to change his underwear. I just cruised by... never saw him again.
