wheelieharro: Day 2-Dederang to Bright over Tawong Gap 71 kms

Before I get on to today’s ride I thought I should update you all on the dinner we had at the Dederang pub....to put it bluntly it was terrible... the food was poor and the service was very slow... we had to wait nearly 2 hour from order to get the food... they were embarrassed and gave us some free drinks to compensate which was some comfort!

The accommodation was quite good which made for a good night of sleep

I was awake and up and about at 6.30 am and although the weather looked threatening it was warm and slightly humid

We were on our way to the Dederang general store for breakfast at 7.30 am... and what a great breakfast it was! The store was very clean and the staff were very pleasant and accommodating. My breakfast was coffee and an egg and bacon roll very yummy!

The discussion at breakfast and dinner last night was all about the Tawong Gap ride with horror stories about the gradients being over 20 pc!!! So it was with some trepidation that we took off towards Bright

The first stop was Mt Beauty after about 40 kms. This part of the ride was through the Kiewa valley essentially following the river. Very pretty ride with a couple of bigger hills to test the legs for the Big One!!!

Arriving at Mt Beauty at about 10.30 it was on for coffee and cake at the bakery. The bakery was excellent and the choices of cakes was great. We also bought our lunch rolls to have at the top of the Gap!

Then it was off for the climb up to the top of the Gap. The climb was about 9kms and about 750 metres so an average of about 10pc which was a bit of a test for us all. All of us completed the climb including Ray who drove the Ute up and then was driven back down by Rob to do the ride on his own... well done to everyone!

At the top the weather started to turn ugly with rain so we traveled down to Bright carefully. The downhill was quite steep with a lot of bends and was through some interesting country.

Coming it to Bright we passed through groves of walnut trees and saw some delightful lilac trees

Arriving in Bright at about 3.30 pm it was time for a celebratory beer in the pub to await our rooms being ready

Bright seems a very lively town with pretty avenues of trees and with a very lively town centre. In a funny way it reminds me of Queenstown in NZ as it seems to attract peoplywith a sense of adventure whether it is bike riding, Bush walking or skiing....

The hotel we are staying at is delightful with rooms just having been renovated and wonderfully clean

Tonight is Ellios dinner night and if the past is any gauge it will be a splendid feast for us all. Dave Little is in charge of the drinks and has promised us some good wines to accompany our dinner

Today was a wonderful day of riding with a real sense of accomplishment having ridden the Towong Gap

The sense of being a true Wheeliebinner is great for us all

Looking forward to the next 2 days

Looking along the Kiewa river