Today was the first day of the Ducati Turismo and started early at Fort Scratchley, an historic site on the water in Newcastle. 60 bikes met up on a cool but damp morning for a coffee and a quick briefing. Fort Scratchley has a small contingent of volunteers who look after some old military equipment: a Ford Jeep, an old Land Rover troop carrier, a Studebaker truck and a … [Read more...]
2015 Road Trip #3 Day 1
Well, I'm back on the road again, this time for 7 days and three of those will be the 2015 Ducati Turismo. This will be the 5th Turismo I've done in the last 10 years and I love doing them. These runs introduce me to roads that I have continued to use because they are in the country and pass through stunning areas and ones that need our dollars to survive! So today was a short … [Read more...]
Road Trip – Final Day
The final day and what should have been a cruise day, however the word abysmal springs to mind - that pretty much covers what the road surfaces were like! I started at 8am with a short run from the Abbotsleigh Motor Inn at Armidale back to Uralla where I had a good breakfast at Trina's Cafe on the main road. Then on to Walcha for fuel 40 kms away. Walcha is a nice little … [Read more...]
Road Trip – Day 3
So day 3 was a truly hard day of riding! It started out hot, very hot - most of the day was between 38 and 40C. The first section was from Brisbane to Rathdowney and this took about 90 minutes. I was sweating from the started and I took the M3 out of the city and then a section of Logan Road before getting back on to the M2 which put me on to Mount Lindesay Road through … [Read more...]
Road Trip – Day 2
Day 2 started with a cool morning, 13 degrees C but dry and hinting of hotter times. I left Uralla at 8am and continued North passed Armidale and on to Glen Innes still on the New England Highway. On the way I passed through Guyra who were competing with Tamworth for a festival, this time something much more interesting: it was the town's annual Lamb and Potato festival! A … [Read more...]
