Sunday 17th Oct 2010 Ride - Gatton and surrounds
Woke early Sunday morning and was greeted with a
magnificent Spring day , it was going to be around 23Deg and clear and I thought
this is “fantastic” I couldn’t have asked for a better day . I got myself ready
and jumped on the bike and headed off to meet with Mr Bribie on the highway for
our ride to the starting point at Blacksoil only to find out that there were
already 5 bikes waiting (obviously very keen for a ride) . After filling up and
grabbing a coffee we stood around and chatted for a while hoping more of our
members were keen for a ride .
Starting time came and I was asked if we should have brought “Morning Tea” as
there was no mention on the ride calendar so a few people did a mad rush to grab
something for smoko . After a brief discussion I proceeded to explain details of
where our ride would be heading and I got a little confused on which towns we
would actually be riding through first . Once we riding everything fell into
place (including my CB working) so I was able to communicate with everybody on
directions and any problems as they occurred . My thanks to Trevor and Eric for
electing to be tail end Charlie and 2nd rider prior to departure.
Our
ride took us through Walloon , Mt Marrow and then some pretty ordinary rain
damaged back roads to Lowood before heading through Lockyer Waters to Lake
Clarenden where we stopped for our morning tea break . After all the rain we’ve
had I would have thought the dam would have had a lot more water in it .
After everybody had consumed their coffee/tea/cakes that they had managed to
bring we headed through some more out of the way back roads to the old Toowoomba
Highway and turned off at Grantham and yet more back roads to Ma Ma Lilydale
road then on to Upper Flagstone taking in some very picturesque views (had to be
careful with the local Fauna ) .
We then headed up the range where I managed to wake a few members by screaming ,
BUS ! BUS ! over the CB , the driver (who was over the double white lines coming
down the hill) managed to put the bus into the drop off and regain control much
to the surprise of a few of our members further down the hill. Approx. half way
up I took a side street for our compulsory U-turn which was welcomed by Thommo
as the U-turn was on Bitumen .
After
our little detour we finally managed to reach the top where we skirted part of
South Toowoomba for a leisurely ride back down the range with a short run to
Helidon where we detoured through some back roads to Gatton RSL for lunch .
After Lunch a few members had decided they couldn’t do the remaining section
that I had planned because they were low on fuel so I cut short the ride and
headed through Laidley , Grandchester and Rosewood to our final destination of
McDonalds at Yamanto where we had our usual ice-cream/coffee and chit chat about
the day , we then said our farewells before head home.
All in all a very good days riding in the Lockyer with great weather , nice
green scenery and great company that was enjoyed by those who were able to
attend .
p.s. – raffles were won by Trevor and Mr Bribie (hope the chocolates didn’t melt
on the way home)
Keep upright
Kaos
| Click any photo for a larger version | |
 Lockyer Valley |
 River crossing |
 A Pan head? |
 Phil nad Vicki |
 Mr Bribie |
 Thommo and Val |
 Winston and Jan |
 Eric and Deb |
 Peter "Kaos" |
 Trevor and Lee |