We met at Greensborough and Reg, who recently moved in just down the road, asked with a twinkle in his eye that all subsequent midweek runs should start from here. Nice try Reg. A sprinkle of rain as we listen to Ed’s briefing had us all wondering if we should climb into our waterproof gear, but it was a little warm for that so most of us didn’t.

Ed announced we were going to Healesville for morning tea and led via a series of attractive back roads. After Warrandyte we turned left at Watsons Creek, through Panton Hill, Smiths Gully, then a lovely winding tree-lined minor road past Rob Roy, site of a recent hill climb event I’m told. Then we rode the more familiar Christmas Hills route emerging at Yarra Glen, and still heading east in more open country we took the old road to Healesville. At last, CRT (Caffeine Replacement Therapy) at the Beechworth Bakery in Healesville. This is a large and busy cafe with a range of savoury or sticky sweet things and beeper technology to summon you to the counter when your order is ready. We needed to be refreshed and alert. With the weather still holding fine we set off north and uphill to Toolangi via countless tight corners. At Toolangi Ed led us south via Healesville West and more forest country. Ed had told me earlier that he had planned going up to Toolangi and back in the anticlockwise direction, because at that time of day any logging trucks would be coming the other way – we wouldn’t be stuck behind them.

Back south near Healesville again we turned west then headed up the road that passes Dixons Creek and leads to Mt Slide Junction. From there, and with no traffic to spoil the fun, we zoomed through the Kinglakes, then downhill on the sweeping bends leading to the flatlands of Whittlesea and lunch. Now it was too hot to stand in the sun with motorcycle gear on, so we quickly parked and went to our cafes or bakeries of choice. Whittlesea on a Wednesday seemed to be bustling and busy, perhaps because of the rapidly increasing population in the area.

The enjoyment wasn’t over quite yet – homeward bound we rode through leafy lanes at Arthurs Creek and Cottles Bridge before going our separate ways. The forecast heavy rain arrived after I got home so I hope everybody else was as lucky.

Thanks are due again to Ed for leading this ride and Ray who rode shotgun behind us.

John Best.

Participants:

Adrian Nash, 1981 Kawasaki Z250

Peter Cullen, 1971 BMW R60/5
Tony Border, 1982 BMW R100RS
Ray Isles, 1995 BMW R80
Ed Sleightholm, 2005 Triumph T100
Reg Hammond, 2006 Honda TransAlp
Ian Roddick, 2007 Yamaha FJR 1300
Phil McArdle, 2007 Honda Deauville
John Best, 2008 Suzuki Bandit.