WEDNESDAYS RIDE 7-12-2011 Mangrove Creek Dam, NSW, Australia

[BMBEN]

Wednesday 7th Dec 2011

Mangrove Creek Dam

Here it was; summertime and I was pulling on the thermal underwear that I’d packed away at the beginning of spring. Bloody ridiculous! Following this I smeared on some sunscreen and packed the wet-weather gear into the saddlebags. I was truly a man for all seasons! Because of the forecast showers I didn’t really expect a great turnout but by 9.00am we had eleven riders present. This seems to have become the regular attendance number although some of the faces are always different. Unfortunately Noel wasn’t here so we all stood around trying to think of where to ride to. Then Les (who was present even though there were clouds in the sky) came up with the destination of Mangrove Creek Dam. Everybody was happy with this idea and I found myself nominated as ROAD CAPTAIN. Whatever happened to my vote in this democratic organisation?

Anyway I decided we would use Mitchells Pass as it had been re-opened recently so off we set. I decided to ignore the new speed limit of 40kmh and soon we were at Emu Plains, then to Penrith where we took Castlereagh Road and then Cranebrook Road. We followed this out past the prisons complex to The Northern Road and then into Windsor. After re-grouping at McGraths Hill, we took the Wisemans Ferry Road to The Old Northern Road and down the twisty hill into Wisemans Ferry where we stopped at the picnic area for morning tea. So far, still overcast but no rain.

While slurping my coffee, I took the opportunity to admire Peter S's new bike. He had ridden his Harley Fat Boy to Frasers the previous day for a new tyre and came back with a brand new Fat Boy. Very nice. Rod, Ross and John Mac had to leave us at this point due to other commitments, so this brought our number down to eight.

Packing up our gear after smoko we embarked on the ferry. From there we wound our way along by the river and through Spencer. I have mentioned before about the number of creek crossings on this road; many of them named after meal times, e.g. Dinner Creek, Mid-morning Snack Creek etc. This time I noticed one of them was signposted as “No Name Creek”. Strange, I had always thought it wasn’t called anything. From here we climbed the road up to Mangrove Mountain before turning onto Bloodtree Road (I think) which took us to Kulnura. From here it was a fairly short run to Mangrove Creek Dam where we pulled into the picnic area for lunch. There had been a few tiny sprinkles of rain but not enough to make us even damp.

While masticating on our peanut butter sandwiches (yes, I was not alone), we started to sort out the world’s problems again, but then decided that we had done enough and that it was time the world leaders should do their share. We weren’t being paid enough.

Despite all the recent rain, the water level in the dam didn’t look any higher than last time we’d been here. I’m told that the dam will never fill as it was built in the wrong place. Don’t know if it’s true.

Well pleasant as it was, we knew we couldn’t sit around all day so we saddled up and rode out. We had a brief stop at Kulnura for those of us who wanted to refuel; i.e. the Harley riders, then it was back through Mangrove Mountain and Spencer to Wisemans Ferry where we stopped once again for afternoon tea.

After the obligatory round of hand-shaking and vows of eternal brotherhood we proceeded to make our separate ways home. We mountain men skirted around Windsor, making our way across to Richmond and on to the Hawkesbury Road where we had a pit stop at the lookout at Hawkesbury Heights. From here, across to Springwood and finally home to Blaxland at about 5.30pm. A total of 310km for once again a great ride with great company.

Peter M