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 Riding to the start on this run wasn’t a particularly nice experience. Almost the entire distance I traveled on the Western Ring road before my turn{mosimage} off for the Ballarat Road was a car park.
Lane switching through stationary and crawling traffic for about 20kms was a poor start for what turned out to be another most enjoyable midweek run.
Others on this run had much the same problem. However the 7 of us still had time for a welcome coffee before Eddie led us off within 5 minutes of the start time.
What a breath of fresh air to be able to turn off the Ballarat Rd and head up Greigs Rd to Mount Cottrell and Exford at our normal enjoyable pace with the sun at our backs. Through the Southern end of Bacchus Marsh, a brief stint up the Western Freeway before turning off to Myrniong and then a very pleasant run up to the lovely little town of Trentham for our morning break.
From here Ed led us on one of my favourite rides across to Daylesford.
We then headed for Creswick but not on the direct route. Eddie is much
like me in that he prefers the roads less traveled and again to this
end we turned off to go through Creswick via Kingston, Allendale and
Broomfield. Places I had never set eyes on before. A lot of farm
producers up this way seemed to have some crop or other on the go.
Through busy Creswick and then over to Dean, Mollongghip, Claretown,
Springbank, Bunding and turning onto the Western Highway for lunch at
the Ballan Freeway road house. Lunch? Lets face it – no names no pack
drill- some of the group had their lunch at ‘morning tea’ in Trentham!
By this time it had got a bit warm as we had a quick burst down to
Bacchus Marsh. Here Ray and Bill kept on the Freeway homeward bound
with five of us turning off onto the Gisborne Road and then heading
West to Toolernvale. We stopped briefly for a brief photo shoot at the
remote war memorial commemorating the citizens from the Coimadai
district who served their country in all the armed services including
the Merchant navy. I suspect that the Coimadai district covers a fairly
large country area and it was difficult to track down the names of
everyone that was lost from this region during all the wars hence no
names on the plaque. A fitting dedication that deletes no-one.
The memorial was erected in April 1973. If ever your on the Bacchus
Marsh to Toolernvale Road (C706). It’s on the left just before the
Merrimu reservoir. Stop, reflect, look around- hardly a house in sight.
Lest we forget. Riding on to Toolernvale ,Diggers Rest then joining the
Sunbury to Tullamarine Road through Bulla and splitting up just before
the Western Ring Road turn off. Another excellent ‘Ed led’run, great
weather and looking forward to the next one.
My klms from home and back 322.
Reg Hammond
Participants:
Ray Isles BMW R80 1995
Phil McArdle HONDA DEAUVILLE 2007
John Best YAMAHA FZ 600 2007
Reg Hammond HONDA TRANSALP 2006
Tom Myers MW R 100 R 1994
Bill Weedon HONDA ST 1300 2003
Eddie Sleightholm TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE 2006
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