Our
trip this year was preceded with a week of
very rough weather alerts so it was with trepidation we were all
watching the forecast for Saturday 23rd May. Fortunately the weather on
waking was not exactly perfect but certainly
respectable enough to go ahead with our ride. 7 keen riders assembled:
Tammie, Lidia, Jo, Meagan, Julie, Jeanette,
Chris and I. Unfortunately Chris wasn’t able to do the trip with us but
was able to join us as far as Gilbert’s for coffee. Everyone had on
their T shirts that Jo had been busy designing and
getting printed in time for this ride. We had discussed this at length
on last year’s ride, so it was great to have them. The logo on the back
being “Heels on Wheels”. They look fantastic. Big
thanks to Jo for doing this.
It was drizzling as we reached Gilbert’s
and on leaving an hour later
the rain got heavier for about 15 minutes then cleared and that was all
the rain we had for the day. We had a lovely ride to Boyup Brook. A few
bikes fuelled up here then
it was off again, missed the short cut to Balingup, so arrived in
Bridgetown, turned right at the centre of town and enjoyed the lovely
ride to Balingup for lunch.
We had planned to lunch at the tavern which looked very inviting but
were 10 minutes too late for the kitchen so went to the “Taste”
café in the main street, where the owner thought it was quite a
novelty to have a group of female riders in for lunch. The food
was excellent.
We had a wander through the shops in the main
street, all relieved that
we didn’t have any spare luggage space as there were some tempting
pieces in the alpaca & antique shop. Then it was time to enjoy that
nice windy road back to Bridgetown and
find Nelsons motel where we staying the night. Tammie found an alcove
at the end of the motel units where we backed
our bikes in, out of harm's way. Probably an interesting exercise if
anyone had been watching us!
A brisk walk down the street to find a bottle
shop and back for a quick
drink and debrief of the days ride, then shower and dress for dinner,
Lidia & Meagan were in keeping with our logo and had their “heels”
on. We headed off to the revamped Bridgetown Hotel for dinner. A couple
of
girls had worn their H.O.W. T-shirts which created some interest
and one group of blokes dining were heard to comment to Tammie that he
thought the logo should be “Angels on Wheels”, very kind of him but not
sure how he had come to that conclusion.
Meanwhile Lidia was giving Jo a
makeover with her “bright red”
lipstick, kept in her purse, for emergencies.
Everyone agreed, Jo looked very bright and sparkly with lollipop red
lippy! We had a lovely meal, service was excellent and then a challenge
was on
for a game of pool between Jo/Lidia and Meagan/Julie.
There was a lot of coaching going on and explanation of the rules and then a group of very young-looking local lads walked in, one of them addressed Lidia by placing $2 on the table and said he wanted to challenge, to which Lidia replied “We can’t play you, you're only 4ft 2", brave words coming from someone barely 5ft 2. He was very short though.
Game finished, with the winners being the Hog
Girls, it was back to the motel for another debrief and laughs. A few
more wines, black russians for Meagan and Baileys for Jo then off to
bed for hopefully a good nights sleep. Not so for Jeanette as Meagan
was keen to watch a few late night movies.
In the morning, we returned to the hotel for a
big brekky before
fuelling up and heading to Manjimup, then on to Walpole. We regrouped
at Middleton Rd and as we were leaving Julie, who was on Dean’s bike
noticed her chain was loose. Fortunately there was a ute & caravan
stopped there, so Meagan tapped on his window, informed him of the
dilemma and he was only too happy to be able to oblige with the
“appropriate” tools and tighten the chain on Julie’s bike.
I think there was going to be a “discussion” in
their house Sunday
night re bike maintenance. When we got to Walpole it was great to
see quite few partners and club
members waiting for us. They had all enjoyed a ride and stop for coffee
at Bow Bridge on the way.
More photos were taken of us “with shirts” and then everyone headed in their own direction. The ride back to Albany was brilliant, no wind, roads quiet and a perfect end to yet another fun weekend away.