Big Girls Day Out, catchy title, eh!

Onion and I were keen to take the big girls out for a ride, so Pat ‘organized’ a ride which we made up as we went along. 

I met Onion at his place at 9:00 and we headed over to Pat’s place in Strathewen, where we met him at 10:00.

We took a (gravel) road out of Pat’s place, through the Kinglake Forest and onto Toolangi.  From Toolangi we rode to Marysville on gravel, till we hit the hwy.  Morning tea at Marysville  (as you do), then headed to Eildon.  From Eildon we took the Eildon – Jamo Road and surprisingly enough, after 60 (?) ks of windy tarmac, we arrived in Jameson.  We had lunch and decided to push onto Woods Point, including the mandatory stop at Gaffney's Creek.  At Woods, we knew the only option was 80ks (of mostly gravel) into Warburton, so off we went. 

We left Woods at around 4:00, so we realized we were gonna have a late one.  The run into Warby got a bit tedious with the setting sun and dust combination, and I was relieved when we finally hit the tar for the final run.

We waved good-bye to Pat as we passed the Woori Yallock turn off and Onion and I headed to the Mooroondah Hwy for our final stretch.

I learned a few things on this ride;
1.      Even a big comfy seat like the BM’s still givesyou a numb bum after 450ks
2.      Don’t  get to the Jamo pub at 2:05 and expect to get a feed
3.      Pat’s not as dumb as he seems.  He told us that the GS (in BMW) means Gelände/Straße (German: off-road/road)or Gelände Sport.  And that  Motorad means motor and wheels.  So there ya go.

Good day out, thanks guys.

That looks like good fun to me    How did the BMW handle the fast gravel roads Serge?

Evo wrote:
I think they do a good job.  I wasn't surprised, given what we rode in Iceland, it was one of the main reasons I went for the GS650.  

In the hands of a more competent rider, I reckon there'd be little that would stop one of these things.

I regret not fitting a new back tyre.

Both 650's were 30km/litre at 80-100kmh, allowing 420km from a 14 litre tank. Bikes still new so this should improve a little.

Congrats boys, they had BMW 650's at the Super Bikes for the boundary services and crashies collection service. They all lasted the 4 days OK as they should.

My first adventure ride was to Woods Point in 1966 on a 650 as well. The Monarchs touring club was out for a 2 day ride and we turned our BSA's and Triumph's into adventure bikes by strapping our camping gear on the back.

We were just going to Walhalla for the weekend but got there in real good time. After relieving the pub of all of their T bones we still had time to burn. A look at the map showed a winding road to Woods Point. The locals said the road was a good crushed rock one and there was a servo at Woods Point. John was out for his first ride on a brand new Bonnie and was not keen to get dust on it. After some heckling from the BSA and Norton crews he was good to go.

We were going OK but some of the guys were out of water with the gravel and it looked like we would only just make Woods Point before dark, and then the rain started. The guys that were struggling in the dry were now in deep poo and were saying rude things. 

A group of us said we would move on and mark the turn off to woods point and see about some accommodation. At the turn off we built a big fire to start getting warm and dry as the rain eased off. A couple of us rode into Woods Point about 9.30 and it was a very quiet little town. The pub was closed but a light was on upstairs at the general store opposite that lovely quaint servo hut. After a couple of bangs on the door an upstairs window opened and a grumpy head was stuck out. "Do you know what time it is" We replied yes with an apology and we explained our situation and our need for some food and water.

He came down eventually and we bought all the bread in the store plus tins of sardines and baked beans and a couple of knives and forks. We asked him if he knew somewhere we could roll out our sleeping bags. He advised that many houses in town were vacant and un-locked and if we did the right thing nobody would mind. We thanked him muchly and went back up to the intersection and fire.

Everyone turned up eventually except John and his by now very muddy Bonnie. What happened was John was so distraught that when he spotted a shed off to the side of the road he pulled up and crawled inside. At some hour of the morning the shed received it's second tennant and in the darkness there was some arm swinging and cussing until John found his lighter to lighten the situation, so to speak. He spent the rest of the night with the local swaggie who had an interesting if sad life tale to tell. John found us in Woods Point pub and joined us all for breakfast.


 

Thanks Kenny.

I wish I had stories like that to tell!

Serge C wrote:
You must have stories to tell Serge, everyone has stories to tell, I've got plenty.

Serge C wrote:
Serge you don't have to ride for 53 years to have stories to tell, although that does help of course.

There are many stories to tell and it just needs a trigger for them to be remembered, thanks for the trigger.

I'm sure the BIG GIRLS will give you lots of fun and adventures, just don't forget to share. And that reminds me - I hope you are going to share some of that red you tricked me out of with that bottle swop at Ted's ride