Ulysses Memorial Day Ride - Sunday 10th September 2023

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RIDE REPORT – ULYSSES MEMORIAL RIDE TO NEPEAN DAM – 10/09/2023

Ride Leader : John Osborne

As most Ulysseans would be aware the second Sunday of September has been designated as Remembrance Day – an opportunity to remember those of our Club who have ‘ridden on’. This memorial meeting is usually held at Cordeaux Dam where there are some plaques explaining the Ulysses spirit and commemorating passed members. This year however the meeting had to be transferred to Nepean Dam because Cordeaux is closed temporarily.

Northern Beaches branch has been represented at the memorial for many years and this year was no exception. A small band (4 bikes and 2 cars) left the St Ives meeting place at 08:30 to head (toll free) to Nepean Dam via ring road 3, Hume Hwy to the meccano set, Henry Lawson Drive to Milperra, Liverpool, the Crossroads, Campbelltown, Appin, Broughton Pass Weir, Wilton, M31 to Avon Dam/Nepean Dam road arriving at 11:15 in time for the memorial ceremony. This route certainly allows the rider to appreciate how spread and sprawled out Sydney has become. The development in the south west corridor is astounding. Whole new towns and localities with farmland covered in houses. The big disappointment of the ride out of Nepean was that the Appin Bakery was closed so our coffee stop was not so bright. It seems it has closed Sundays for some time now – is that suggesting there are not enough travelers stopping to make Sunday worthwhile. And the astounding news was that MTC managed to go to the wrong dam and wondered where we were. That’s what happens when you set the GPS on the wrong co-ordinates.

I guess there were 100 Ulysseans gathered for the memorial ceremony conducted by Shaun ,,,,,,,,,, the Macarthur Branch President. After a minute’s silence for the ‘ridden on’ we retired to the BBQ for a sanger in a roll etc. provided by the good ladies of the Macarthur Branch. Our group then split with 2 bikes returning directly via the M31 motorway whilst Geoff W and I returned again by the toll-free route this time through Douglas Park where we again marveled at the freeway bridge structure which spans the gorge. It certainly is an eye opener when one is underneath the freeway.

PS. During the memorial service I was reminded that it was the third anniversary of the passing of our live long quartermaster, Henry O. Ride on, Henri!

JohnO

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