Two Dams Ride 1st Aug 2024

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The ride today was to be led by John Randall to Tallowa Dam, well that wasn't going to happen. Tallowa Dam Road, Kangaroo Valley remains closed so John put together another ride closer to home but instead of one dam there were two, however John was notified of his hand surgery which coincided with the ride he had spent considerable time putting together. Filling in for John I was quietly confident about this ride being a good one and if it goes well it could make a good annual ride for the Ride Calendar. Looking up as I left home there was a lot of doom and gloom in the sky on this cold winter morning with low lying dark clouds above. Rod messaged me to say it was raining on the coast but he was heading off to meet up at Heathcote Maccas regardless in the knowledge that there probably won't be many on the ride today.  Evidently the rain was more out to sea but straddling the Eastern Suburbs and north to Palm Beach but for me leaving from the Hills area it was a dry run to Heathcote. 

 

By 9.45am we had five riders ready for another midweek adventure ride. Small group, no need for Corner Markers. Peter volunteered to be TEC as he wanted to take it easy while running in new tyres on the Harley. The briefing explained how we exit by the same way we came into Maccas carpark to use the U Turn bay over the railway line then head back through Engadine to turn right towards the Audley Weir and ride through the Royal National Park to Bald Hill for our first stop. Off to a bad start in my haste after giving instructions on how to exit the Maccas carpark I realised I was going the wrong way and had to do a U turn in the carpark, fortunately no one followed. 

 

It was a good ride through the Royal National Park, no rain and a dry road. Not many sightseers at Bald Hill probably because of the cold blistering winds. It pays to have a beanie in the top box. To get warm we left to head west to Cataract Dam for smoko. It was much more pleasant and no annoying wind but we had a Myna bird that was a real pest that was persistent in taking our food. It was then onto Cordeaux Dam for lunch via Broughtons Pass Weir. We didn't get to have a sit down lunch probably because we had not long had smoko but more so because we were distracted by the interest in the nearby Memorial plaque depicting the Ulysses founding member, OL No.1 Steven Dearnley. This location is well known to Sydney Ulyssians because of the Annual Memorial Ride in September hosted by the local Macarthur Ulysses Branch. Before leaving we took a short ride down to the dam wall where we could marvel at the construction of the wall opened in 1926 and took 8 years to build. Let's do more dam rides. Apparently there are 16 dams in the Sydney water catchment some of which are reservoirs.

 

The ride home was interesting.  Steve made his own way home and the other three were happy to trust me to take them on some roads that they may not have been on before through Douglas Park Weir on the Nepean River. My intention was to go through to Camden onto Narellan Road however as we continued along Menangle Road it dawned on me it may be more interesting to stay on Menangle Road. Soon after making that decision we came upon a flash for cash car and I had no idea what the speed limit was. My guess was 80 but it could be 50 so I slowed everyone down to 50 to be on the safe side but afterwards I could see it was in fact an 80 area. We continued on through to Menangle Park and Macarthur Square to Narellan Road which was all good until I missed the turn to take us past Macarthur Square which meant we had to go around the block. Sorry for the afterthought fellers but I think it was interesting to see all the development that has gone crazy down that way. We can go through Camden some other time. If you're like me and you haven't been anywhere near Macarthur Square in recent times, put a destination into your satnav and don't rely on your own navigation skills, it can be a bit tricky.

 

I was hoping for a short ride today and it was. I arrived home at 2.55pm and covered 245 kms. GS is booked in for service Monday. Good bike, that. It turned out to be a good day for a ride after all, despite the early morning showers for the boys from the east coast. Thanks for your company guys. Steve 1250 RT, Elliott GS 1300, Peter Harley, Rod FJR1300.

 

Perhaps we could call this ride the 2 Dams and 3 Weirs Ride.

Damn good idea

Dave Sipple

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