It was quite a pleasant Sunday morning when I arrived at Reg Hammonds residence in Yarrambat , the surroundings are just so pleasant and tranquil you would have no idea you are on the outskirts of Melbourne. So first things first the jug was on and a hot cup of coffee was the order of the day certainly this is a great way to start a ride, to stand around and have a chat, a coffee, and just take in the pleasant surrounds and to appreciate how fortunate we are with what we have . Can you guess who this is?
It was good to see 10 bikes rollup for the ride and 9 of them were classics, so before too long Reg took control as ride leader and got us all to gather around and tell us what he had planned for the day. Just before we headed off I turned around and much to my amazement Ross Patrick had his handkerchief out and was busy polishing the fuel tank on my Vincent, a few of us looked at him with amazement then he announced, have to look after the “bosses bike”, good one Ross. So time to head off up through Yan Yean and onto Whittlesea for a short regroup, not being familiar with the area it looks like a regular Sunday ride road for the big boys, reminded me of the ocean road between Geelong and Lorne, the powerful bikes, and more gear on than the actual race riders at Philip Island, it's no wonder they splat when they come off, however I was a hoon once just in a different era !!. Next stop was Kinglake West, toilet stop, regroup then off again through Flowerdale, Strath Creek, Trawool and onto the Highlands pioneer rocks. From there we rode onto a little place called Caveat, it certainly was little because all it had was a church, out in the middle of the countryside, narrow country roads lined with trees, Reg proceeded to tell us that one day he was riding in the area and spotted the church and being the curious man that he is couldn't help but have a wander around. To ease his curiosity around the side there was a long wire hanging down, Reg thought I bet this rings the Bell I must find out, however he couldn't reach the wire so he found some blocks of wood to stand on, perfect I can now reach it, and much to his surprise as he grabbed hold of the wire the blocks of wood went out from underneath him but he hung onto the wire ringing the bell several times and very loudly, Reg was very happy with this as he had proved his point even if it was only to himself . Next thing two four wheel drives turned up at great haste with men in them, little did Reg know the bell is used only as their emergency alarm signal for the area and can be heard for miles around, so a certain red-faced gentleman had to explain his actions but he tells us they saw the funny side of it (nobody dared ring the bell on our ride day). On the bikes and of again along some more beautiful country roads through Gobur and onto Yark then Yea for lunch, that was very casual, just wander to around and get whatever you felt like for lunch which is a good way to go. After an hour or so it was suggested we go to Killingsworth reserve to view the pumping station for the controversial north-south pipeline, it's only about 8 km out of town and a nice little ride to get there. At this point we discussed our route home, some are going the way we came, some were going the Melba highway, Neal Videan, Wally Walsh and I headed for Broadford as the classic racing was on, as we came to the track turn off I decided to ride on and keep heading for Ballarat, arriving home at 5:15 PM. It was a fantastic day's riding through a picturesque part of our state.
I would like to personally thank Peter Kinlyside for giving his time and effort in doing the backup trailer and donating his service to the club.
Once again it was a great day, fantastic to see the classics coming out as the rides are being tailored to suit them...Burger
Participants List:
Neal Videan with pillion rider Nok HRD 1200cc, 1950
It was quite a pleasant Sunday morning when I arrived at Reg Hammonds residence in Yarrambat , the surroundings are just so pleasant and tranquil you would have no idea you are on the outskirts of Melbourne. So first things first the jug was on and a hot cup of coffee was the order of the day certainly this is a great way to start a ride, to stand around and have a chat, a coffee, and just take in the pleasant surrounds and to appreciate how fortunate we are with what we have .