Stanthorpe Rider’s Run
Our first Co-Riders Run
After a week of storms and hail the Sunday forecast was for fine and they were spot on with beautiful spring morning without a cloud in the sky. A perfect day for what else? Ride our bikes of course.
Morag and I arrived at B.P. Aratula to find Larry and Annette fuelling up, then Thommo and Val arrived and followed by their round –Australia travelling companions, Bevan and Therese and then (in no particular order) Trevor and Lee, Gavin and Lynne, Dean and Andrea, Phil and Vicky, Eric – solo and Deb in the car. Having to face her operation on Monday, so was finding that getting on the bike was too difficult.
The plan was to meet the Stanthorpe crew at the first servo over Cunningham’s Gap at roughly 9.20am give or take as the top of the Gap is still only one way and unsure of what delay you will encounter waiting to get through.
After the last of them finally got their machines mobile, we departed about 9.15am and luckily we made it through the single section without too much delay and meet our Southern Friends with Hans and Georgie, John and Gwenda and Ted, and our first-timer-from Stanthorpe) there waiting for us.
A quick on-bike hello was said and off we set with Hans and Georgie leading.
We now had 9 x 1800’s and 3x 1500’s and 1 car and it looked quite impressive as you turned a sharp corner to see such a line-up. Congratulations to all who turned up.
We drove the Cunningham Hwy until arriving at the beginning of the “Cedar Route” which cuts across to Killarney. This is a fantastic ride with breathtaking scenery and if you haven’t ridden it, you really should.
We were now in Bevan’s “growing up” country and we had the commentary about his younger experiences and who lived there and that used to be.......
Great country Bevan, it couldn’t have been too shabby, growing up in this area. We passed through Freestone which Thommo asking on the C.B. where are we? A couple of more turns then approaching a “T” junction, with the choice of turn right to go to Warwick or turn left to Yangan.
All came to a halt as Hans had headed to Warwick and Ted toward Yangan.
All waited to see who would do the u-turn first and it was Hans so we all followed Ted as Hans came back through the pack to assume his original position at the head of the ride. He was later informed you only get brownie points if you make the whole group do a u-turn!
After a scenic tour or two along the way we reached the “T” junction with a choice to Killarney or Warwick. The Warwick turn was taken and an uneventful passage to Warwick, where we stopped for a chat and toilet break. No morning tea, our southern cousins had assumed we had morning tea before we met them! By this time it was getting quite warm and layers were shed, before we moved off. Our lunch hosts were rung to inform them of numbers arriving for lunch.
Heading off we made our way toward Inglewood until reaching the turn at Sandy Creek and heading to our lunch destination of Shane Webke’s Hotel at Leyburn.
Hit a bump at one section and the MP-3 player dislodged and luckily I trapped it between my foot and the carbie cover. So had to stop and get Morag to pick it up. A zip clip later cured any chance of that occurring again! Thanks to those who stopped to help, but a quick pick up and we were on our way again.
It was about 15mins later that we arrived in Leyburn and were met with the usual interest by the locals. Peak hour had arrived for the hotel staff as mother and daughter dealt with the task of feeding 23 quite hungry people and supply drinks also. A lovely pub and grounds and with naturally a bit of a Bronco’s Theme, thank to its owner. Apparently it was only two week earlier that the annual ride through the pub had occurred here. A pleasant 1hr plus was spent their along with the usual banter of course to go along with it. Lunch over, it was time to head off.
Our ride leaders were heading off toward Inglewood to pick up the road back to Warwick, but we decided to return via Clifton then down via Maa-Maa Creek to Gatton. Over to you Gwenda for that part of the return ride.
Morag and I were joined by Gavin and Lynne, Dean and Andrea as we headed off to the 60km to Clifton and a pleasant ride it was.
On reaching the New England Hwy I stopped to talk with Gavin as he was a bit concerned about the low fuel but as he was still showing a ¼ of a tank, assured him that would be plenty to get them to Gatton. Off we headed down the range watching the roads after the previous flooding still affecting some small sections of the road. New bridges have been built or up-graded but rather large potholes in the shadows caught out both Gavin and Dean, but luckily didn’t appear to cause any damage to their “Wings”.
Stopping at Maa Maa Creek for a break and some had a coffee. Again watching a bloke and his son on a Triumph stop and give the bikes the customary looking over and telling us we were really riding the comfortable life.
Fuel at Gatton, then all decided to travel the back road to Ipswich, trough Forest Hill, Laidley, Rosewood and Walloon, stopping to say our goodbyes at Leichhardt before the other’s headed off toward Brown’s Plains.
A really pleasant day and hopefully enjoyed by all.
Kevin and Morag
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