The Not Mt Panorama Ride 26th March 2026

The weather forecast for today was, in a word, lousy. But as the leader there is no choice but to turn up and see what happens.

The original plan was to head off down the Bells Line of Road towards Lithgow and Bathurst for a special run around Mt Panorama but unfortunately a few cracks in a convict bridge would thwart our good intentions.

An alternate plan was required, one that would not put us in danger negotiating the Scenic Hill into Lithgow with the complete west bound convoy of large and larger trucks to fill the Western Plains with their daily supplies.

As we hadn’t been to Mangrove Mountain Dam Rec area for some time while it was closed for renovations, I thought that this would be a suitable destination for the days ride. Now how to approach this from the ride start point of Maccas Windsor?

There are a few roads in the area that, to my knowledge, we hadn’t done before or hadn’t used for some time.

So, following the briefing we set off at the modified start time of 10:00. Corner marking would be necessary for the first part of the trip to Morning Tea at Wisemans Ferry Park. I decided that a run down the River Road, which is a challenging but scenic ride along the river’s eastern bank. But we first had to get there.

First the Grass Farms then cut across to the Putty Rd following the road almost to the Colo River then heading down to the western side of the Hawkesbury and along to the ferry crossing at Lower Portland. 

9 of the 11 riders arrived at the park, had we lost the remaining 2? No they did turn up a short time later having been held up by a cement mixer laying concrete on a very narrow section of the track. 

The world’s problems were all solved much in the way that Trump had done, but without the necessary agreement from both parties. Then we headed off to our lunch destination at the Dam, albeit without 2 who were convinced that we would get a bucketing. 

We were surprised by the amount of work that had been done to freshen up the area and already it appeared to be a popular place to hang out. More discussions before heading off in our different directions.

A big Thank You to Steve for keeping everybody together as our trusty TEC.

Thanks for the company and a great alternate ride.

Jim C.