Rathmines Ride 24th Sept 2026

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start of the day looked a bit dodgy with heavy cloud cover but luckily no rain.

 

Eighteen riders assembled at Berowra 7-eleven. 

There were no virgins as I guess they were absent due to their “endangered species” classification!!!

 

We headed off to Jerry’s for morning tea. The previous day there were a lot of highway patrol officers on the M1 (I counted twelve on bikes and in cars) when I rode from Port Macquarie to Sydney so I thought they’ve done their dash and we can push the pace along a bit, which we did.

At Jerry’s we were joined by another rider who had had battery problems so we were now nineteen.

After being told I shouldn’t have regrouped at Calga as we were corner marking religiously by some smart-arsed GS rider we headed off down Bumble Hill and along the Yarramalong Valley, again at a brisk pace. We turned left at Hue Hue road and then left again at Dicksons Road following it all the way to Mandalong road where we turned right and negotiated the “Gravel” road which is not a gravel road and on through Morrisett to Rathmines on the shores of Lake Macquarie. After devouring our lunches one of the more intelligent members of our group asked was there a mine nearby, hence the name Rathmines. I was determined to investigate the origins of the name and found this in Wikipedia:

 

Rathmines (/ˈræθˌmaɪnz/; Irish: Ráth Maonais, meaning 'ringfort of Maonas') is an inner suburb[1] on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to the south, Ranelagh to the east, and Harold's Cross to the west.

 

Rathmines is arguably best known historically for a bloody battle that took place there in 1649, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, leading to the death of perhaps up to 5,000 people. The Battle of Rathmines took place on 2 August 1649 and led to the routing of Royalist forces in Ireland shortly after this time. Some have compared the Battle of Rathmines – or sometimes Baggotrath – as equal in political importance to England's Battle of Naseby. The battle brought a swift end to the ongoing Royalist Siege of Dublin.

 

After lunch with the weather improving all the time most of us hightailed it back to the Pie for more bulldust.

 

A very enjoyable ride in pleasant company. Thanks to Mark doing the TEC duties admirably and not losing anyone. 

 

Cheers

 

Alan

 

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