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The old bike week this year meandered around the south-west and
wheatbelt for eight days. All up nearly 20 bikes came and went
on the 1800km trip. Ronnie’s parents, who were on holidays from
Friesland, joined us for the trip, enjoying the comfort of the
back-up vehicles courtesy of Garry Taylor and Warwick Jones.
Starting off in Albany first stop was Mt
Barker where we met Philip who rode down from Kojonup on his
650cc BSA. We continued on through Rocky Gully, Frankland and
Tone River to Boyup Brook for our first overnight stop.
Not long after we arrived Kylie appeared on
the white BMW from Perth, no Bruce though, who had a bit (lot)
of bad luck riding his Norton - see story in box.
Ronnie took Kylie’s bike for a ride and noticed the steering
head bearings were a bit loose, so together with Garry Taylor’s
tool kit managed to adjust them so it once again handled like it
should.
We brought out our chairs, beers and nibbles. Kim brought out
what was the biggest camp chair we’ve had on one of these rides
- it was more like a lounge chair, we had great fun with that,
maybe we were a bit envious.
We thought we would support the Boyup Brook Country Club with
our patronage that night as we had heard they were in a bit of
financial trouble and could do with all the help they could get.
We had a nice meal, but it was a bit pricey - as was the beer,
don’t think we’d rush back.
Next day we headed to Quindanning where Wes
Thomas caught up with us on his Ducati - the pub is looking
great and we had lunch in the gardens.
Dwellingup is always a good place to camp and we got a good
welcome from the managers there. While we were putting up the
tents Huw turned up on his BMW, then Andrew on his and later
Bruce appeared on his Triumph I think, although it was hidden
away and a bit hard to see.
We had an enjoyable session of drinks and
nibbles before it was time to eat. Some stayed at the camp and
cooked and others went to the pub for a meal. The idea of the
ride was to stay off the main road and we did this successfully
throughout the week.
Next day we headed to Boddington, where we
stopped for a break before riding through Pingelly, York and
finally Toodyay. We had a great ride, the roads were brilliant,
but after perfect weather for a couple of days the temperature
had now risen and it was certainly warm enough.
We’d stayed at Toodyay before and its a
great camp spot in amongst the trees, the ground’s sandy, but at
least its clean white sand, there are cabins as well for the
non-campers. We had three nights there and cooked BBQ’s each
night. Kim was appointed ‘Religious Adviser’ and was in charge
of the weather - work that one out, actually he didn’t do a bad
job, so he might be stuck with that title.
John Sinclair came out for the night on his
1930 Grindlay 1100cc V-twin, great-looking bike that went as
well as it looked.
Next day a small group went for a ride
following Huw through the hills east of Perth, unfortunately Huw
had a problem with his white 60’s BMW, but managed to swap it
with another of the same vintage, but black - hoping no-one
would notice the colour change ha ha - he had no hope.
Next day we all went for a ride to New Norcia stopping for a
coffee there, we returned to Bindoon for lunch. Garry Blake lost
a rocker cover nut and his Ariel spewed oil all over his jeans.
Daniel generously rode into Perth to Vintage and Modern and
picked another one up for him - good on you Daniel.
That night we were treated to a spectacular
thunderstorm and lightning display, made all the more dramatic
if you were in a tent. We then headed to Corrigin (the long way)
via Goomalling, Wyalkatchem and Cunderdin, a most enjoyable
ride, although it was still pretty warm.
It was time for another BBQ, this
time with us crammed on a deck in the park, the barbie wasn’t
working as well as the others we had used, but it did the job.
We decided on a change of plan the next day and headed for Kulin
and the ‘Tin Horse Highway’ before Dumbleyung and Woodanilling.
Ronnie’s parents hadn’t been there before so it was a bit of a
treat for them to see the famous road, and a good place for
photo opportunities. On the way to Woodanilling we came across a
bit of drizzle, nothing much, and it had stopped by the time we
got to the camp-site.
Very friendly people there - nearly as friendly as the mozzies
which were a huge problem, must have been the recent rains.
After ‘Happy Hour’ we moved to the pub where we had an excellent
meal in the renovated building.
Next morning was time for the run home. It was a great week, we
rode nearly 1800km without any bike permanently on the trailer.
A big thank-you to Garry
Taylor and Warwick Jones for towing the trailers, without them
the week would have been impossible especially when you look at
all the gear they carry including fridges and eskys and, of
course, Kim’s chair.