Stroud Group Overnighter

Another great 2 day ride taken in the best time of the year, in my opinion. The weather was absolutely perfect both Saturday and Sunday with clear, blue autumn skies and temperatures in the high twenties and hardly a breath of wind.

As it happened, a NSW Riders group who had planned to ride the Saturday before, joined our "overnighter" group up the Putty as last Saturday was a rain out with bad weather hampering their plans. This made for a large line of bikes of almost 30, snaking its way through the Putty - a sight to see!

You Tube Video

Day 1: 273 kms travelled (Map)

Both groups descended onto Mcdonald's in Mcgrath's Hill for a coffee and a chat before a debrief and we were off just after 9:00am.

 It was great to see Mick, Chris and Dal once again.

People who met for the first time, were talking like they knew each other for years. 

Our first stop for the day - The Grey Gums Cafe on the Putty. 

It was great to see conversation flow so freely among us all. This stop was originally schedualled for half an hour, but people in the group were just having too much fun to be rushed along and it ended up being an hour or so.

A group shot, however a few had already left to head back home by this time. This is the great thing about these rides though, they are very flexible and any individual can make the ride as long or as short as they like and can even deviate from the route the main group is taking to suit themselves.

This is the Cockfighter Creek Tavern in Bulga. A great day ride for lunch for most of the group.

The food here is quite good and reasonably priced while the setting is in a very peaceful, section of the Putty. 

After our 1 hour lunch stop that lasted for almost 2 hours of good food and friendly chatter, it was time for the "day trippers" to head back home.

Riding through from Singleton to Dungog, the countryside was just perfect, and I just had to stop the group for a Captain Kodak moment.

We finally descended onto Stroud, and here we are outside the wonderful Central Hotel which has been recently given a lick of paint and other renovations.

 The scooter showing her better side.

 Graham with his BMW adventure tourer.

Jim and Chrissy with their Boulevarde. 

Lance with his Triumph Sprint. 

Justin and his CBR. 

Ed with his big Yamaha cruiser. (7 months old and already with 25000 kms on the clock) 

As promised. a lock up for our bikes for peace of mind. 

 Sunset over the town.

After unpacking and a hot shower, in the pubs new bathrooms, it was time for a well deserved drink or three.

When Justin says he's hungry, he aint muckin around.That's Ed's pumpkin soup he bought stole.

The food at the Central Hotel is well above the average meal you would expect at a pub. 

This bacon,sun dried tomato and spinach pasta was to die for. 

 Oh look, we were there too.

 The night's entertainment. Quite a good voice.

I'm not sure why I took this shot. I was tired and the sign looked good after a few drinks.

Come to think of it, I don't know why the hell I shot this one either? These are the internal stairs from the rooms down to the bar.

Day 2: 305 kms travelled (Map)

After a great night's sleep on what seemed to be new, comfy mattresses, we woke to another perfect morning. I caught Ed wandering the streets in "peak hour" risking his life and limb for some photos.

No Justin, Noooooooo !

Having a chat and absorbing the country morning atmosphere while we were waiting for the cafe across the road to open.

This poor "guard dog" was asleep in the back of the ute for the night.

 

Here's a few pics to capture the morning atmosphere.

The traffic through the town was unbelievable.

This shot best describes the morning, crisp and clear. 

The post office. 

We've been to this town a few times before and yet this is the first time we noticed this historical home. 

Over 180 years old. 

Here, we took the bikes from the lock up and parked them in front of the cafe, ready to ride off after breakfast. 

They even had a post to park your helmet. 

Someone told me that food, food and more food seemed to take its place throughout our blog and on all our rides .......... yep they're right.

It happened to be Ed's "21st" birthday this week, so Justin organised a cake from the bakery next door.

Sharing is caring Ed. 

So it was time to start off on the day's ride through Clarence town, Cessnock, Wollombi and Spencer for lunch. Here I explained that I'd never done the roads from Maitland through to Wollombi and Central Mangrove and so Ed thought better of it and put his GPS to use.

As you can see the weather was perfect once again, When we rolled in to Wollombi we were met with a huge line up of bikes parked out front the Wollombi Tavern, famous for its Dr Jurds Jungle Juice.

Here's a close up of the signage just beside the Tavern. 

The ride down through Wollombi to Mangove Mountain was superb and Cathy and I had never rode it until today. The scenery through the area is simply breathtaking. Here we finally ride in to Spencer for lunch where we met up with Irene and Phillip, Anne and Charlie, Joe Joanne and their children.

Spencer was picture perfect today. 

 Once again, great conversation with a perfect background.

It was great to finally have two separate sides of our riding come together with family and friends meeting with friends of NSW Riders. Needless to say, conversation flowed easily.

Another great overnight ride through excellent country roads with perfect weather.