Day 7 - Yass to Cootamundra

The good news was the rain stopped today!

Thank god as it was another big day for us both as we rode 119 kms and climbed 1708 metres!

As I said it was great that we started with no rain and all through the day we only had slight drizzle very infrequently and the sun was quite hot when it came out from the clouds 

The first stage of the ride took us on to the Hume freeway for a short 3 km time which was ok as there appeared to be very little traffic including trucks.

The shoulder was also very good thankfully 

The first stop was Bowning for morning tea which was in a delightful replica of a bush hut and the coffee was okay… can’t say the scones were fresh but they filled a spot.

We chatted to the owner who was a delightful woman who with her now deceased husband built the coffee/ cafe shop and the adjacent house!

It was also good to catch up with the Melbourne Wheeliebinners who were at coffee on their Sunday ride .

After coffee it was on to Harden for lunch and I have got to say the rolling country was at its splendid best with green pasture, some wheat growing and plenty of canola just about to flower!

The only issue was there were plenty of shortish climbs with thrilling descents.

At Harden we went to the Harden Country Club for lunch and had a delightful and big roast chicken meal.

The meal was excellent and meant we could have a snack dinner!

Now full after lunch it was off to Cootamundra… once again we passed through delightful country where there appears to be more beef farming.

The other thing was there were a few challenging late ride climbs just to test the legs!

We arrived safely at the motel in Cootamundra shortly after 5.00 pm which was good timing.

Of interest is the sights today of animals…. There were kangaroos, tortoises ( on the road), a fox and a dead snake!

The birds have been delightful but every now and then we get swooped by magpies!

All in all a challenging day with good rewards for the effort!

Coffee at Bowning… delightful reproduction of a bush home!

View of the rolling hills of the ride and the road… generally ok today but there are plenty potholes!

View of the road and rolling farmland 

Day 6 -Canberra to Yass

This was supposed to be an easy day!!

Well no it turned out to be one of the more difficult rides on this journey….why you may well ask!

We part of the answer lies with advice we got in Canute take the “scenic” route to Yass… the other park related to the weather….rain!

On the weather front there was considerable rain overnight in Canberra and as we started on our normal 7.30 ish ride the rain was gentle but steady.

We made good time to the scenic road which included travel on the wonderful Canberra bike paths. The road out of Canberra to Yass was terrific until we reached the crossing of the Molonglo river where the road was closed. With no alternative roads available it was back to Canberra again and on the bike paths for what seemed an eternity until we met the Barton Highway which leads to Yass 

The Highway road had a good shoulder which made for good travelling but the rain was fairly steady for most of this part of the trip. We made a couple of rest stops which broke the journey which seemed to be timed to the heavier downpours luckily 

We arrived at the Australian Hotel in Yass which is a traditional Aussie pub. After some mucking around we headed for a warm shower and a clean up after a heavy day of riding. 

Today we rode 124 kms and climbed over 1300 metres. The original plan was for us to do about 70 kms and about 1000 metres of climbing… so a lot of additional work!

I/we w were pleased with the day despite the additional challenges and all the additional riding makes us a lot stronger for the days ahead…. Hopefully the rain will ease!

Bugger! The road is closed!

Back to Canberra!!!


WTF we do now Chris?

Hooray we have finally reached the start of the Barton Highway!!!

Day 5 Rest in Canberra

This morning despite being a rest day we were up at around 7.00am and after breakfast in our room we rode to the nearby bike shop called Lonsdale Bikes to get a few bike bits!

We left the bikes for the day at the shop and after trying the scooter hire app we agreed public transport was probably a better way to see the sights of Canberra. We walked to the tourist information centre at Regatta Point where we were able to obtain bus cards to allow us to travel on the bus network. Being seniors this was all free!

The first stop was Parliament House which was great to visit. First time for me in the new Parliament House.

We then took the bus over to the War Memorial which was again a great place to visit.

After a bite of late lunch we made our way back to the bike shop and from there we rode back to the motel.

After doing the washing and cleaning the bike we the Ubered our way to the local shops for dinner.

The place we chose was a lovely pub and we ordered our meal….. then to our surprise the music went louder and a lovely young lady proceeded to undress herself to the music…. Yes we could not believe what we were seeing…. And no it was not a sleazy strip joint!

The rest of the diners were mainly ladies and they loved the performance!

It was straight out of the Moulin Rouge text book!!

We stayed and ate our meal and low and  behold she did a second performance!

After this we had a chat to her and a few of the younger girls in the audience and all were staggered on   our riding holiday and we ended up swapping Strava links!

Well I must admit this was a memorable night for us both…

A good day of rest ahead of the next 4 days of riding to Albury…. Let’s hope the weather is kind…. Although as I write this blog there is thunder, lightning and heavy rain!

War Memorial 

View from War Memorial to Parliament House 

Chris at the reflection pool at the War Memorial 

VC winner who was a scholar at Wesley College… my school!

View from the Parliament House to the War Memorial 


Parliament House

Day 4- Goulburn to Canberra

We started the day early but were held up having coffee at the bike shop where inevitably we were attracted to getting helmet lights as mine was not working all day on the rides so far. I think the battery is stuffed!

We made our way out of Goulburn around 9.30 am on a route that avoided the major highways and took in some lovely farm land initially and then some challenging climbing. All up we climbed nearly 1300 metres which is the record for the ride…

The interesting observation made by us both was the lack of farm animals in the paddocks … I can only think that it might have something to do with the wet weather in the region recently.

The other observation we made was the poor state of the sealed roads with significant potholes on all the roads! Presumably this also relates to the wet weather taking it’s toll on the roads.

After lunch at Collector at a lovely cafe where we had smashed avocado sandwich. Quite a surprise I the middle of nowhere but it was very popular!

After lunch it was on to a “killer “ of a climb up along to a razorback which we travelled along to the outskirts of Canberra. The initial climb had me walking for about a km with gradients of over 20% in some parts!

The view from the top was quite outstanding as the photos show.

The ride in to and through Canberra was enjoyable despite being on unmade roads for most of the traverse along the range.

The Canberra bike paths were terrific and took us through many of the suburbs which are interspersed with big open fields.

Quite outstanding planning.

The day was a big challenge but I was pleased to finish in okay shape but tired.

Dinner tonight was in our room with roast pork and coleslaw rolls…. All good to replenish the energy stocks

Looking forward to the day off tomorrow 

For some reason I am having trouble getting the photos to download and will have publish them later 

Enjoy the blog!!

Day 3- Mittagong to Goulburn

Today was always going to be a tough ride and it certainly did not disappoint!

We did 120 kms with 1316 metres of climbing!

The good news was the weather was really good for riding and the roads were quite quiet apart from a short 2 km ride on the Hume freeway!

The route took us through some lovely country from the Southern Highlands through to the Southern Tablelands.

Around Bowral, MossVale and Bundadoon the houses and properties we rode past were quite spectacular!

We stopped for coffee ( and scones for me!) at Moss Vale in an exceptional cafe in the old post office and had lunch in a cafe in Marulan.

The last part of the ride from Marulan to Goulburn was probably the most difficult with a really long climb ahead of a lovely downhill into Goulburn.

The other difficulty was our map route took us through a road that was closed and turned into a tip!

Unfortunately we has to make a backtrack and travel for a short period on the Hume freeway. The noise of the trucks was terrible but the road shoulder was very wide so there was good distance from the trucks and cars!

I was pleased with my riding today after an adjustment to the seat height and courtesy of a good night of sleep!

I must admit not doing longer rides has left me a bit out of shape but by the end of the whole journey I should be back!

At the end of the ride we had a bit of a SNAFU with the motel bookings with the room only having one bed!

We sorted this out by canceling the boot and going to the motel next door 

I am a little annoyed with this as I booked through booking.com with a special request for 2 beds which was ignored by the Carlton Suites motel…. Don’t book them.

Interesting to be in Goulburn which has some family history from my mothers family. Her mother was a Gray and the family were involved in the wool auction business in the early 1900’s. We also had many family holidays in Goulburn visiting family over the early years of my life… interesting fact was Dunc Gray is related to my mother as I said earlier and he won an Olympic gold medal for cycling at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The event was the mens track time trial!

How about that…. And here I am in Goulburn doing a bike ride from Sydney to Melbourne!

All good so far and Lind forward to the ride to Canberra 

Interesting trail along a river near Moss Vale

Coffee at Moss Vale/ Chris is posing for the photo 

Day 2 - Sydney- Melbourne ride/ Campbelltown to Mittagong

We had an early start again this morning being up at around 6.00 am. The weather was good with a cool start and temperatures in the low 20’s … and no rain!!!

We had to make a choice early on in the ride whether we took part of the ride along the Hume freeway or not!

Not much of a choice really as the thought of going along the road shoulder with BDouble trucks and a lot of traffic really made the alternate route much better and as it turned out far quieter and more scenic!

We had a coffee stop at Camden and lunch at Picton following in a large part the old Hume Highway. The road was good with some traffic…. Every now and then our route took us on side roads which were both challenging in terms of climbing and rewarding in terms of being quiet where we could enjoy the countryside.

The country between the major town’s was interesting in that there were a lot of very expensive houses on farm lots. Seems an ideal place to have a place to chill out if you lived in Sydney!

To be frank… on a couple of the climbs I walked my bike as my legs were “ cooked “…seems the legs are struggling at this stage. I am sure they will come good as the ride progresses.

Today we rode about 75 kms and climbed about 1160 metres!!

Big day.

Looking forward to a lighter day tomorrow!

A nice view of the Camden valley 

Another view of the Valley…. Note the bike paths are well organised 

On one of our climbs…recent road erosion from the rain!

Home for the night…. Melrose Motel. My dads middle name was Melrose!

Day 1 - Sydney Melbourne Ride- Sydney to Campbelltown

After a restful night of sleep it was up at 6.00 am and breakfast before heading out on the ride

It was with great trepidation we looked out the windows to see it was raining….bugger!

Getting our bikes from the garage we were met with a huge downpour of rain and waited for it to subside which it did thankfully!

So off we went in the drizzle which cleared as we moved out of Sydney 

The travel for the day was mainly on bike paths which were pretty well looked after 

The first part of the trip included travel past the Olympic Park which looked completely deserted and frankly a Bit tired!

We tried to get in to the main stadium but were prevented by security guards 

The trip to Campbelltown included stops for coffee near Parramatta and lunch at Leppington

We arrived at the motel at about 3.30 in the sunshine 

The motel is very comfortable with good facilities 

A good day 1 of the ride with 82 kms covered and about 700 metres of climbs 

A great first day despite a wet start!

The Olympic stadium….not a soul in sight!


A wet start!!