SA catchup in Strathalbyn

After a few weeks of planning the day was here, forecast mid 30's in Adelaide, 35 where we were finishing and only 26 where we were headed earlier in the day

There were 2 groups heading into Strath,

One was myself, paul, Davo1063 and gflennmcc

The other, madmax, Kim (Mrs madmax), a mate of mine from Coonalpyn, Graeme and his partner Carol.

madmax and Kim had left suburban Melbourne the day before and travelled to Mt Gambier on the Friday, Saturday they left the Mount and headed West stopping at Meningie to meet up with Graeme and Carol, then possibly catch us somewhere en route during our day tour. A winery near Langhornes Creek got in the way of that meetup, by all accounts a great time was had by all, Bryan can fill the gaps here  

Cal has been bikeless for a few years while he pursues other interests, Strath is his town so it was catch up time for the 1st time since the infamous Edenhope SA/Vic meetup in 2015



getting through the suburbs


glennmcc rode over to my place in the Western Suburbs, at about 10:30 we headed to pick up Davo1063 (who had ridden in from Whyalla the day before) from his mates place he was staying at. Davo' mate and another bloke tagged along for a while on their Harleys, much to the suprise of Paul when he heard them rumble into his street with us.

From paul's we continued South and as we hit Main South Rd at Aldinga we waved good bye to the Harleys, that should have been the end for mechanical issues for the day, right? Well sort of, I was leading and a bit over a km up the road I glanced in my mnirrors after going around a bend and the 3 headlights that were in my mirror 30 seconds earlier were gone  
I pulled up and waited for about a minute then finally managed a U turn on one of SA's most ridiculously busy single lane highways, not far past the bend there they were, 2 GSX's and a GSF sitting on the side of the road with paul giving me a flat tyre signal, another dodgy U Turn and I pulled up next to them, Glenn had a flat rear.




Bottom of the beautiful McLaren Vale wine region


between the 4 of us we had 4 snot repair kits and David had a compressor,



The compressor started to get slow after 20psi so we headed the km back to a servo and used their air to finish.

Then the short ride up Sellicks Hill along the coast and soon after heading inland through the gorge we turned off and headed towards the Myponga Reservoir dam wall and lookout







After a photo op at the lookout we headed over the dam wall ond onto Carakalinga and another stop at Normanville Beach







After a short stop we hopped back on, rejoined Main South Rd and headed along some really picturesque coast line before the road headed back into the hills and Valleys of the Fleurieu Peninsula



At Delamere we turned onto Range Road, one of my favourites, it never fails to put a smile on my dial, it's only problem is hanging onto your licence  



This road rums along the top of a range for nearly 50km, lots and lots of big sweepers, corners that make you want to twist the throttle hard. I dont know how many times I came out of a corner, saw I was doing 1**kmh nut it still felt 30, 40 or 50 kmh too slow.
We pulled up at Victor Harbor for lunch, David took off his helmet and the smile said it all    

After German Hotdogs from a local legend we headed back across the pennisula on a nother "Put A Smile On Your Dial" road, Inman Valley Rd



Another 30+km of twisties and sweepers and we again rejoined Main South Rd at Yankalila, about 3km from where we had rejoined it earlier.



The 1st few km towards Myponga is the wiindiest part of this B road and real fun without tintops getting in your way, unfortunately there were a few on that stretch.

15km later after riding past the other side of the reservoir we reach Myponga and the Smiling Samoyed Brewery where we stopped to wash down lunch. We had to make careful selections, most were well over 6%





Back on the bikkes and just past the outskirts of town we turned towards Mt Compass only a few hundred metres down the road from where we'd left Main South Rd earlier to head towards the dam wall.



The ride across towards Mt Compass was pretty uneventful, thankfully I was taking it easy as one of the local constabulary rounded a bend and passed us going the other way.

At Mt Compass it was time for David to refuel, then we headed for our final destination



The road out of Mt Compass doesn't disappoint either, just before Ashbourne we rode through a full canopy cover



.......and then onto Strathalbyn and the Victoria Hotel where Bryan, Kim, Graeme and Carol had already checked in.

A quick shower and some cooler clothes and we headed out to the footpath tables for a beer or 2 or 3 or 4 ...........

Graeme had a couple of mates join us from tea, I had a friend from the footy drop pasty for a couple of drinks, tea done, more drinks, pizzas about 11:30 from the bar and by midnight we were all tucked away in bed.

About 7:30 I woke and headed to the bakery a few doors down for coffe and bumped into madmax and Kim who were getting ready for a early start on what was to be a long hot ride to Warrnambool.



Before 8:30, Paul and I were packed and on the rad home, at Clarendon we stopped for a minute or 2 then Paul headed for the Southern Suburbs and I headed for home



By 9:30 I was home well before the heat set in and spent thew next couple of hours planning the next overnighter Paul, Graeme and myself are planning in April, a mid week trip to Peterborough to check out their local Motorcycle museum and Steamtown, the old ANR rail yards where the standard gauge met the broad gauge,


Everyone else that was there, please help fill in the gaps

cheers

Chook

Great report ,couldn't have put it better myself ...............the grandkids were pretty impressed with the bikes as well .

Dave and I emerged to our bikes at about the same time (9.45ish). 

He was about to head off back to town, before returning to Whyalla.

I had to add some air to my rear tyre, the boss and I had a bit of walk around Strath before we headed home.

I went home via Macclesfield, Echunga, Hahndorf, and Balhannah, before doing Greenhill road back to suburbia.

Guess I will need to visit GCs again for a new rear tyre, it doesn't like being over 20psi

glennmcc wrote:Dave and I emerged to our bikes at about the same time (9.45ish). 

He was about to head off back to town, before returning to Whyalla.

I had to add some air to my rear tyre, the boss and I had a bit of walk around Strath before we headed home.

I went home via Macclesfield, Echunga, Hahndorf, and Balhannah, before doing Greenhill road back to suburbia.

Guess I will need to visit GCs again for a new rear tyre, it doesn't like being over 20psi

A weekend away , AND a nice shiny new tyre ................spoiled rotten LOL

Lucky it was near enough due for replacement anyway, believe me,much worse on a tyre with 10k left on it