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The Cormanus Chronicles
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Cormanus Online
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Queensland, Australia
Posts: 20,659
Joined: Dec 2013
Post: #1
The Cormanus Chronicles
Introduction

EmptySea’s Letters from West Virginia have established a new literary benchmark for the forum. All yours, mate.

Meanwhile, here’s a description of a modest little ride I took during October and November 2016.

I wrote a lengthy introduction about the year leading up to this trip, but, blah, blah, blah. I don’t care now. Why should you? Suffice it to say that, other than (a brief sortie into the central highlands of Queensland in April it’s been slim pickings for decent rides this year. So a leave pass to ride to the Phillip Island MotoGP and then keep going across Bass Straight for a couple of weeks with my favourite pillion rider was a lovely gift.

So I took it.

Day 1: 12 October 2016
Brisbane to Uralla (531.9 kms)

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Day 1: Link to Map

It’s different living in the country. You turn out of the drive and within minutes you’re on the freeway heading south at the speed limit. In the city you have to navigate the traffic and the lights and the pedestrians and the cars just to get to the freeway. When you get on it, there’s way more traffic; hundreds of cars jostling for position. And trucks, all offering the possibility of throwing a retread at a hapless motorcyclist.

On the other hand, I’m at least an hour and a half closer to where I wanted to be than had I started back in the country; probably more because I couldn’t have resisted a quieter ride down more peaceful but longer country roads.

So, by 08:30 I’ve arrived in Kyogle where it’s time to refuel and have a cup of coffee.

But it’s actually 09:30 as I’ve crossed the Queensland-New South Wales border and they have daylight saving time and we don’t.

When I was a lad and living way down south, Queensland had something of a reputation of being a land of rednecks. It was known for its artfully constructed gerrymander and generally authoritarian approach to anyone with an opinion that didn’t align with the government of the day. All that came to an end in 1989 when the populace, fed up with the corruption of the incumbent government finally voted it out of office.

Some years later I had moved to Queensland and was at a function in the summer months when daylight saving was under way south of the border. It was being opened by a former Prime Minister of Australia who, by then, was into his eighties. He was introduced by the former Premier of Queensland—the man who succeeded in pushing out the corrupt cabal in 1989—who relayed that in the car on the way in from the airport, the former PM had said, ‘It’s so much easier coming to Queensland now. I only have to put my watch back an hour not a whole generation.’

I’ve written before of the dilemma of crossing the border from Rathdowney. There is the difficult choice of the Lions Road or the Mt Lindsay Highway. Bits of the Lions Road are treacherous: narrow with blind corners, nothing resembling a centre marking and some crappy surface, but, on a nice day it’s a very pretty ride. The Mt Lindsay Highway takes you between a couple of spectacular mountains and, on the New South Wales side at least, is a great ride. On the northern side of the border, it should be a great ride, but the road surface is so appalling in places that great care is needed.

It was a lovely day, and I took the Lions Road arriving in Kyogle, as I said, at around 0830.

The chronicler’s dilemma: tell again and again of roads of which you’ve already told or skip over them with references to earlier reports? Given two factors: first there’s a fair bit of repetition in my route to Sydney this time; and, secondly, my innate laziness, I’m opting for an indication that there’s another description somewhere unless there’s something special to report. The Lions Road is the first of these rides. If you missed it—or, more likely, went to sleep—there’s a sort of description of its history in this post. There are other tales of adventures on the Lions Road which I’m happy to share. A search of the forum should reveal them, or ask and I’ll post links.

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Some views of the Lions Road. The final picture shows the collection box on the border where users are asked to contribute to the upkeep.

The road from Kyogle south to Casino and then Grafton is mostly straight and, on the bike, relatively uninteresting. It’s pretty, pleasant, but ultimately a bit boring. This day it was uneventful too.
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A view of the Summerland way between Casino and Grafton. Pretty, easy riding, but ultimately uninspiring

Grafton is famous for its wonderful display of purple jacarandas, but I was a bit early in the season for them to be in great display. Children in Queensland (and probably northern New South Wales) hate the advent of the jacaranda blooms as it signals time for their major exams.

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A jacaranda entering Grafton. They were not at their spectacular best

I took a break in Grafton and enjoyed a brief wander along the banks of the Clarence River and a bite to eat. The CB was rewarded for its good work with the second tank of fuel for the day.

Then it was time for the best part of the day’s ride: the Grafton-Armidale Road that winds its way uphill from Grafton, through Nymboida and Dundurrabin to Ebor at the top of the Waterfall Way and thence across the top of the Great Dividing Range to Armidale. It’s all good really. It’s an easy ride out of Grafton to Coutts Crossing and then to Nymboida. The road then starts to climb and finds its way through lovely Australian bush and some magnificent twists and turns. Shortly before Ebor and the turn off to Dorrigo the road flattens out and it’s a quick run through farming country until you reach Ebor. It is one of the better roads between Brisbane and Sydney and worth the investment of the couple of hours it takes to ride it.
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At Nymboida

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The road south of Nymboida

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How can you not enjoy a road like this?

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At the top of the range the road flattens and straightens

I had a welcome cup of tea at the biker friendly Fusspots Café in Ebor and added the thermal lining to my jacket. It was considerably colder up here and I had a way to go to Armidale where I planned to spend the night.

It’s a pretty good ride to Armidale too. There are some excellent twist and turns and some very fast sweepers during the 80 kilometres or so until Armidale. It’s always further than I think it will be; and a better ride too.

I met some other bikers on the way—maybe they passed me as I am generally careful about speed limits and I find others are not—and I followed one into the poplar-lined streets of Armidale.
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As I arrived in Armidale it was about 5 pm (or 4 pm where I’d come from) and I’d ridden about 530 kms. I intended to stop and filled up with petrol in preparation for the morning.

I rode south looking for a motel or a hotel where I could stop and get a meal and remembered that Uralla—one of my favourite towns for no reason I’ve ever understood—was not terribly far away. I’d spent a comfortable night in the Top Pub there on the way home from the MotoGP in 2014. Why not repeat the experience?

Twenty minutes later I was in Uralla where I again checked into the Top Pub and came face to face with one of those fundamental philosophical questions that confront us all from time to time: why, when you’re on a motorcycle and have heaps of gear, do they always put you in an upstairs room? At least three trips later, my gear was safe so I had a shower and headed for the bar.

I forget what I had for dinner; but it was better than ordinary and I slept reasonably well.

Day 2: 13 October 2016
Uralla to Singleton (396 kms)

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Day 2: Link to Map

Although I’ve ridden on various bits of the New England Highway, I’ve never ridden the stretch between Uralla and Tamworth. In the cool of the morning, it was a lovely ride. The road surface is good; there are some good hills and corners to make the trip interesting; and, finally, you get to ride down the Moonbi mountains. One day, I’ll be sure to ride up them.
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Down the Moonbis and into Tamworth. The road is much more fun before this, but with my heavy winter gloves on, I found it very hard to turn the camera on and I needed both hands for riding

Tamworth is the home of both my wife’s family and Australia’s major country music festival which is held for a week or so in January each year. It was, I think, also the first place in Australia to have public street lighting.

My plan was to turn off at the northern end of the town and head for Dungowan so I could ride through the Port Stephens Cutting to Thunderbolt’s Way. As I rode into Tamworth, though, it occurred to me that there was a bit of family business I should attend to, so I kept going into the town. That detour does not show on my map.

After a bit, I returned to Nemingah, filled up the tank and headed for Dungowan.

I discovered the Port Stephens Cutting some years ago when I was driving my son’s car to Sydney. I suppose I should really say I came across it as I didn’t ‘discover’ it in the way James Cook is said to have discovered Australia. I missed a turn to Hanging Rock and found myself on a stretch of road winding up the range to join Thunderbolt’s Way. I’ve been meaning to ride it for some time.

The road runs through pretty agricultural country through Dungowan, which is now pretty much a ghost town, before climbing sharply through the Port Stephens Cutting onto the plateau of the Great Dividing Range. The road joins Thunderbolt’s Way (about which I’ve written before) around 50 kilometres before the road gets steep and twisting on its way down into the Manning River valley and then up the other side and on into Gloucester.
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Looking back down the Port Stephens Cutting
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Looking up the Cutting

It’s worth a brief digression here to make mention of the Great Dividing Range which separate’s the Eastern seaboard of Australia from the great big often very flat inland. It’s not actually a single range; rather a number of them all loosely joined to form a barrier. It’s said by Wikipedia to be the third longest land-based mountain range in the world, and is the reason Australia’s east coast is blessed with so many great motorcycle roads: the old timers found the only way up hills was to turn regularly. Generously for their descendants, they built a goodly number of them.

After I made it through the Port Stephens Cutting, it became clear the ominous looking grey clouds were getting lower and I was going to get wet. So somewhere near the highest point of the road, I stopped and hauled on my hitherto unused and highly recommended Frogg Toggs. I’m tempted to say I may as well not have bothered. They were nearly useless and it was not terribly long before my crotch was sodden, my boots full of water and the front of my jacket soaked.

The rain wasn’t much fun, particularly as it was combined with occasional patches of mist. Nor was the road surface. I hadn’t been on Thunderbolt’s Way since late 2014 when parts of the road were not good. Now more parts of the road were not good. I was careful on my way down and up and then down again into Gloucester.

It’s a great ride from Gloucester to Singleton, although on this afternoon it was marred by patches of rain. Luckily, I guess, there was more dry than wet and my outer layers were a bit drier by the time I got into Cessnock and checked into a motel room at the rear of The Royal Hotel. The stairs were rickety, but there was plenty of room to dry gear and undercover parking for a very, very dirty CB1100.

There were few photos from the afternoon as the camera was tucked away out of the rain, but I did pull over and take a couple.

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Between Dungog and Singleton: one of those palindromic shots

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Between Dungog and Singleton a few minutes later: a milestone shot

I ate acceptably and then slept.

Day 3: 14 October 2016
Singleton to Sydney (202 kms)

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Day 3: Link to Map

It was a truly gorgeous morning and I was on the road early, riding quickly to Broke where I stopped for fuel. On the way there, the road has been reconstructed, I suspect to suit the needs of a coal mine and probably at its expense. The result is one enormously long, sweeping corner which, with the knee down and the right rider could probably be taken at a speed faster than the CB1100 is capable of. Even with my limited talents, the corner was a lot of fun.

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Early morning just south of Singleton

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The Broke Village Store sells everything—petrol, beer, food. What else is there?

South of Broke begins a wonderful journey. The pretty, winding road runs alongside and crosses Wollombi Brook. From Broke to the start of Paynes Crossing Road was heaven on a stick—great road, great surface, lovely day, no traffic. From there on, the road is excellent and enjoyable, but it’s narrower and there is no centre line which increases the likelihood of finding a large ute or SUV on the wrong side of the road.

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Looking back from the start of Paynes Crossing Rd: you can see the change in road quality

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A section of Paynes Crossing Rd

All too soon I came to Wollombi where I once had lunch with Perodactyl. This was a week day and the population was greatly reduced as I passed through.
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At the town boundary of Wollombi

The road south from Wollombi is a favourite of motorcyclists as it winds its way through the pretty bushland. It is particularly famous for Lemming Corner in which it would be humiliating beyond measure to come to grief. Pterodactyl has written of the corner, although I don’t know what’s become of the photographs. The following is taken on the other side of the corner and I did not fall off on the way through.

İmage

Having survived I continued my ride. In my view, the road gets better to the south of Lemming Corner. It still winds happily, but the surface is better and the corners are more sweeping. It is possible to maintain a cracking pace while enjoying the ride.

The next bit of motorcycle road I was aiming for was the Old Pacific Highway. The new freeway is fast and wide and, well, a slab. The old road, which I had not ridden is a gem, even if the regulators have hacked away at the speed limit until. (Grits teeth) To be fair, it’s a very winding road at the northern end and a great many cyclists use it, so the limit is not completely without merit.
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You know this road will be good when you turn on to it.

It’s a beautiful road and there wasn’t much traffic at all as I made my way through the twisties and down the hill to the old b ridge across the Hawkesbury River. On the other side the road began to climb again and there was more evidence of energetic motorcycle activity. At the top of the hill you come to Pie in the Sky, a pie shop with great views. It’s also a resting place for motorcyclists. There were a few there when I pulled in, so I took some photos of their bikes.
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I had a pie and a coffee, looked at the bikes and then made my way through Sydney to Pterodactyl’s place. We talked about the ride south and agreed that I would stay Sunday night before we cleared out early on Monday morning. I left my large bag of camping gear in his garage and went across the city to find my son with whom I was to stay for the next two nights.
(This post was last modified: 01-03-2017 06:44 PM by Cormanus.)
01-03-2017 06:29 PM
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Rolls Offline
High Mileage

Belmont, CA
Posts: 971
Joined: Jun 2013
Post: #2
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
Sheer delight to read. Many thanks to you, Cormanus, for sharing.
01-03-2017 08:14 PM
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EmptySea Offline
Lives On Two Wheels

Chicagoland, USA
Posts: 7,004
Joined: Jun 2013
Post: #3
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
Great installment. As a Lion, I never tire of reading about "our" road. We need pubs of the type you have there here in the states and we most certainly need more places like Pie In The Sky, not only because we need more pie places, but because we need more random gathering places for motorcyclists to gather.

Looking forward to more of your chronicle.

MTC

"If you can’t go home again, at least you can enjoy the ride” — Peter Egan


2013 CB1100 non-abs
2013 CB1100 abs
01-03-2017 08:15 PM
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suhawk305 Offline
High Mileage

Orange County, NY
Posts: 1,098
Joined: Nov 2016
Post: #4
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
Fantastic read! Thumbs Up

2014 Honda CB1100 Standard
1967 Honda CB77 Superhawk
You don’t stop riding when you get old, you get old when you stop riding.
01-03-2017 08:23 PM
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Rocky Offline
Been There

Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 3,397
Joined: Apr 2014
Post: #5
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
Great post! I love reading your adventures Thumbs Up Thumbs Up

Still rockin', rollin', and ridin' after all these years
'67 BSA 441 VR, '70 Triumph Tiger 100, '02 Honda CB900F, '06 Triumph T100 Bonneville, '14 Honda CB1100A
01-04-2017 04:07 AM
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Capo Offline
High Mileage

Sea Girt, New Jersey USA
Posts: 1,210
Joined: Sep 2013
Post: #6
The Cormanus Chronicles
Wow, that absolutely made my commute on the bus this morning fly by. Great read!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No more CB, but a GB.
Triumphs and Ducatis.
A Norton, MV, and Morini 175.
Probably others.
01-04-2017 05:06 AM
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EmptySea Offline
Lives On Two Wheels

Chicagoland, USA
Posts: 7,004
Joined: Jun 2013
Post: #7
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
oh...I love the last picture of Day 1 --- with the rows of trees standing sentinel on either side of the road. Could be a cover picture for Road Runner magazine or something.

MTC

"If you can’t go home again, at least you can enjoy the ride” — Peter Egan


2013 CB1100 non-abs
2013 CB1100 abs
01-04-2017 05:44 PM
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crutch Offline
1st Service Completed

n.w. arkansas
Posts: 128
Joined: Mar 2016
Post: #8
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
Thanks so much for the post.
A good read and really enjoyed your including the decision making process behind it as well.
Since I will probably never get the chance to get to that part of the world, I really appreciated the pictures. It's funny how you see pictures of some exotic place and how much it looks like..... home?
Thanks for sharing.
crutch
01-04-2017 05:59 PM
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DAC Offline
High Mileage

Central Ohio, USA
Posts: 1,267
Joined: Jun 2013
Post: #9
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
A fun read as always, Cormanus. Helps make a 22F evening tolerable! (Although I'm sure Ferret is out riding somewhere.)
01-04-2017 07:11 PM
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Stichill Offline
Road Warrior

Northern Kentucky, USA
Posts: 2,353
Joined: Oct 2014
Post: #10
RE: The Cormanus Chronicles
A terrific geographic log, Cormanus - fun, enjoyable, and informative! I feel like I made the escape along with you.

2012 Honda CBR250RA Candy Ruby Red/Silver
01-04-2017 08:08 PM
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