Sydney Journey Pt3 - Canberra to Home

Day Eight (Jan 9) - To Home

When I was planning the trip, I wasn't sure what I would do with today, so I hadn't booked anywhere to stay. I thought I might see how I was travelling and just travel to wherever I could. But there's no place like home. Today was a varied day with great riding and tedious riding, with great weather and with poor weather, and with what was, in hindsight, a poor decision.

I left Canberra and greatly enjoyed the ride to Cooma. Again, it isn't a difficult ride, but well worth doing. I wondered about filling up here, but the day was young and I had enough fuel and didn't need to stop, so decided I would keep going to Adaminaby. It was good to stop in this little town and enjoy a pie before filling up. There are some beautiful church buildings in this town too. 

Riding the Snowy Mountains Highway was amazing. I felt so free with magnificent bends and curves and to be out of the trees. No doubt it gets cold at other times of the year, but in January, it is magnificent. It was cool and it was beautiful. I was almost feeling sad  when I turned off, but I knew what was ahead of me and I was excited about that.

The ride from Adaminaby to Corryong was pretty much everything I hoped it would be. Tight corners, great views, and a few places worth stopping for a photo. This stretch of road is what I had been looking forward to, and it was great. It wasn't a wide road so I knew I needed to be wary in places in case something was coming the other way. I am very pleased that I checked this road with the members of Netrider and was confident that the road was worth travelling.

Signs like this bring a smile to a biker's face

I arrived in Corryong in time for a late lunch, which I don't think I really needed, but it was good to get off the bike and have a stretch while trying to find somewhere to buy a sandwich. (Why was it so hard to find somewhere to buy a sandwich?) I knew the weather was going to turn bad at some point, and looking at the clouds, I knew it wasn't far away. This meant putting the wet weather gear on again and preparing for a tedious ride. Annoyingly, a cattle truck drove past as I was preparing to leave which meant I caught up to it just as the rain started and the road narrowed. Getting caught in road spray is bad enough, but when you're behind a cattle truck, you never know what you're being sprayed with. I was very happy to finally reach a place where I could over take.

The clouds are building up over Corryong

It was on this part of the journey that, in hindsight, I made a bad choice. I had decided that I would once again use the GPS and just aim for home. I chose the option that would take me through Beechworth to the Hume Freeway and because I was in rain, I was ok with that. Coming to Wangaratta I needed to get some petrol, and I just needed to stop because I was tired and wet, so I rode into town hoping to find a petrol station that might also have a cafe attached to it. I didn't find one, which might reveal just how tired I was, but I did get petrol, and even that stop was good.

Back on to the freeway and even though it was raining and I wasn't enjoying the ride, I felt much safer on the freeway. With double lanes it meant I could pass anyone and anyone could pass me without risk. And it was hosing down so I might as well be here where the road is straight. I just felt safer.

I stopped in at Seymour at the golden arches, and it has never tasted so good. One reason I stopped here is because there were outdoor tables and I was dripping wet. It had stopped raining by the time I was here, but I was still wet and didn't want to be dripping all over the floor of another place. It felt so good to eat something warm, and to stand up for an hour. Let's face it, by the time I got to Seymour my rear end was starting to feel really sore, even with the Airhawk on my seat.

With the weather now clear, it was good to get off the freeway and head to Yea, Yarra Glen and home again. All up, I was on the road today for well over 12 hours. This is the longest one day ride I have ever done. And while I was sore when I got home, I loved it.

What was my poor choice? I knew that from where I was I needed to travel west and south to get home. I chose to travel west to Wangaratta and south from there. In hindsight, I should have travelled from Corryong down to Omeo and Bairnsdale then back along the Princes Highway. It would have been drier.

Oh well.

Conclusion

All up I rode over 2400 kilometres, with a huge chunk of them done in the final day. My bike, the trusty Honda NC700SA was amazing. It never skipped a beat and I was very happy to keep on it. My new jacket (Rjays Sprint) was good in hot weather and I greatly enjoyed the vents this jacket has, even though it wasn't as hot as I thought the trip would be. My new helmet (Arai Vector2) also showed itself to be brilliant, particularly in the rain.

I have learned there are many more roads to ride and much more of this country to see. Now I think I can.