Five of us met at the Caltex service station on Diamond Creek Rd. Diamond Creek and Eddie led us off on the button at 9:00am. The first few kilometers was very much local for me in that we zig zagged our way around the back minor roads of the Diamond Valley area. In fact I spotted my daughter-in-law and tooted and waved as she was leaving the Arthurs Creek primary school in which two of my grand-daughters attend. From there we headed back down through Hurstbridge via Nutfield and up to Panton Hill. On to Kangaroo Ground then down into research and then the winding back road to Warrandyte for a morning cuppa at a small but busy bakery near the Yarra River.

To see photos click here or go to Gallery/2008/Midweek Runs/May 2008.

After the break we headed over to Wonga Park via Jumping Creek Rd. and then over the back way to Coldstream. Here we crossed the Maroondah Hwy and headed over to Gruyere, market gardens everywhere some small some large. Makes you wonder how they keep going in these drought conditions. Then south down to Wandin North. This time we crossed the Warburton Hwy and took the Beenak Rd. and up to Wandin East. Seriously big market garden producers down this way. Through the Yellingbo area and over to Hoddles Creek. Here I lost concentration of the route as I was enjoying the fantastic autumn colours of the trees. What a great area it is down this way and the roads are just made for bike riding. You would be hard pressed to find a more picturesque area. From Hoddles Creek it was up to Launching Place where we again crossed the Warburton Hwy and rode up to Yarra Glen via Healesville for lunch. We then rode up to the Sugarloaf Reservoir at Christmas Hills. A very a sad sight to see this once lovely reservoir so depleted of water. Even in good times the Sugarloaf  Reservoir gets very little water from natural land flow. It is fed almost entirely by water being pumped up from the Yarra River. I’ve been told this is the catchment that is now planned to receive supply tapped from the Goulburn River by a controversial pipeline running from Killingworth near Yea, a very hot topic!

While here we were approached by another visitor about this and that. In passing we  learned that ‘Glen’ plays sax in a jazz band.   He gave me his card and his quartet is called “Jig Walk”. They are currently playing at the Kew RSL second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. There’s nothing much better than a jazz band for atmosphere on an evening out.  Might just check them out. If the venue is OK it might be good for us to organize an evening there. Will keep you posted.

As we were near the end of our ride and I wasn’t far from home, I decided to take a further look at the outlet complex over the other side and take some more photos. Bill joined me and we fare welled Ed, Phil and John as they departed for home. At the outlet tower wall gangway we must have been at least 100ft above the surface of the water. The old high water mark was only about 15ft below us!  Later as Bill and I headed home we had a brief stop at the new viewing platform built at the Western end of the Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Park and Lookout Tower. The views, which take in the city, were quite impressive, but you can still see a lot more from the old lookout tower which is also the CFA’s official fire watchtower.

Our final leg was through Wattle Glen and Diamond Creek where I parted company from Bill at the traffic lights near the starting point. Yet another most enjoyable ‘Ed led’ midweek ride, thanks again mate. The weather was good to us, sunny spells, mostly overcast and not a drop of rain. Although it seemed longer, my klms for the day where only 235.

Reg Hammond

Participants

Ed Sleightholm    Triumph Bonneville   T100  2006

Phil McArdle       Honda Deauville                   2007

Reg Hammond     Honda Transalp                     2006

John Best             Yamaha  FZ 600                   2007

Bill Weedon        Honda     ST1300                  2003