Padpal Ride 14th Nov 2024

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 As I travelled towards Berowra on a wet and drizzly morning I thought I wouldn’t be surprised to see no-one there. Then the phone rang and it was Paul, already at Berowra, saying there was no-one there and where the hell was I? It’s nice being right occasionally 😜

Anyway, 5 mins later there were two riders at Berowra with no expectations of any more arriving when, to our astonishment, two more riders arrived so now there were 4👍🏻

As it was fast approaching 10am we consulted the Oracle aka BOM Radar and decided inland was the best direction so we agreed to head for Ebenezer Church for morning tea and to reassess there for the next leg. I was all set to lead when Paul bent the ear of the other Andrew who then courageously roared out in front so good on him.

The trip down to the ferry was cautious given the wet roads and a sudden burst of oncoming traffic flagged the ferry’s recent arrival on our side. As we turned the last bend we saw the barrier coming down but a couple of beeps of our horns changed that so we all drove straight on to the ferry, good on the Berowra Waters Ferry Master👍🏻

Over the other side it was clear the roads were immediately drier so the pace increased and apart from a few roadworks with random traffic controllers letting us progress only to meet oncoming traffic 🫢 (you had ONE JOB) we made good time through to the Sackville Ferry road. Again as we approached the ferry we had another burst of oncoming traffic, another closing barrier, more beeping and another smooth straight onto the ferry experience. Andrew’s timing was impeccable 🥳

After much banter and 3 lots of Devonshire tucker we bade farewell to the church ladies. We had planned on Spencer or even Mangrove Mts for lunch but, with me taking a turn out front, we only made it as far as Wisemans Ferry Park before it was lunch time.

More problems were solved, more tales told and way too much political commentary was delivered over lunch before we prepared to continue the Spencer loop sans Paul who decided to head for home at that point. 

 

With the sun now out all remaining wet weather gear was stowed away and the remaining 3 joined the queue for the Ferry and waited….. and waited …. and waited.

 

Finally we went up to the barrier to find out what the delay was and found the spare ferry being dragged around and around in the middle of the river by a tug boat whilst wildly gesticulating men with hooks on poles tried to grab the cables crossing the river. Whilst this was going on the operational ferry was trapped on the other river bank. After watching the tomfoolery for a while it became clear we were not going to get across any time soon so we turned around and headed for the Pie via Galston Gorge.

 

At Hornsby we lost Jim who headed home so only two made it to the Pie and with no sign of the returning Snowy riders after a coffee we also sodded off home.

 

Great day out despite the damp start and a great lead from Andrew and TEC duties from Jim. Thanks for the company,

 

until the next time 😁

 

Andy

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