Riday

[Williamson]

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, with a twist .......

Friday is now a ride day, yesterday I went for a little tootle up hill and down dale, found a few twisties too. Around 280km, something like this.



Athough never more than approx. 80km from home, I found some new roads and scenery, and some old buildings.

At Broadford, an 1877 library with some later additions.


At Darrweit Guim, church from 1871.






A very strong Scottish presence in the adjacent cemetery, so I suppose this is of the Church of Scotland variety.

At Woodend, a Catholic Church.


The Catholics had, have more money.

More to come .......

 

[Williamson]

At Woodend, there is also a newer (well less old) Catholic Church.



And a Mechanics Institute with another Free Library.


And lunch, a meat pie and a cappuccino, before heading to Trentham East, and the Pig & Whistle Hotel.



At Trentham, the old National Bank is now a cafe.



At Ballan, they have put a glass extension on the front of the Catholic Church. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!! What were they thinking? Spoils the front of the 150 year old Church, I give the glass and concrete 20 years.



The Uniting Church has been spared the vandalism.



It seem like every town has a Mechanics Institute. I suppose you had the equilalent in the UK, USA & CA, and other countries.



More to come ..........

 

[Upt' North]

Williamson, I like the idea of Riday.
Where've you been recently, missed your ride write ups. Nice pics.
This is a pic of our/Wooler mechanics institute, as far as I can find out it is where old geezers went for a chin wag without the ladies, no bad thing. It's now something else for kids. Blummin kids.
Upt'North.

 

[Morguns1cam]

Beautiful ride! I hope to get down there one day! Everyday should be Riday!
Let’s Rde,

 

[Williamson]

...... where old geezers went for a chin wag without the ladies, no bad thing.....

These days it’s called motorcycling.

 

[ToddC]

Micheal...seems like a lot of your stops are food related.... And you are not 500#. How do you do it....share your skinny secret.....
ToddC
Nice pics dude!!

 

[Al st1100]

Pig & Whistle Hotel. what an original name! Brings to mind visions of elegance.

 

[Williamson]

Still in Ballan, Dalys Tea Rooms from 1857.





Tea must have been a very important pastime in the 1850's to justify a building of this status.

On to Fiskville, not much here, just an old CFA (Country Fire Authority) training centre. I think the Roman numerals mean that this was built in 1921. This facility has now been abandonded, clouded in a scandal due to the use of carcinogenic fire retardent chemicals used for training fire fighters.



A little further, out of the corner of my eye, I spy a sign "Steep Incline Ahead Road Not Suitable for Trucks and Caravans", this can usually be interesting.

Sure enough, the road dropped from 420m to 260m over 1.1km and through a series of curves and switchback. The view was striking, but hard to catch in a pic, mainly due to finding a safe spot to park the Mighty ST1300, but .....





A stop at Bacchus Marsh, and another old building, this one from 1859, still in its original use and very busy on this Friday, let's just say it's a place where some people go when they get caught.





Bacchus Marsh to home,I've ridden these roads many a time, so just a quick sprint home, no more pics.

 

[Upt' North]

Pig & Whistle Hotel. what an original name! Brings to mind visions of elegance.

Al, the Pig and Whistle is not an uncommon pub name in England, there are several thoughts on its origin but one thought is it means, going to rack and ruin. But a pig can also refer to a drinking vessel and Whistle could be a corruption of wassail.
Some other good names...
The Dog and Doublet
Old Swan
White Hart
Hope and Anchor
Labour in Vain
Nobody Inn, etc.
And they wonder why the pubs are empty these days.
Upt'North.

 

[Williamson]

We have the Rose, Shamrock & Thistle in Preston, a nearby suburb to where we live St Helena. Isuppose it's testament to the Enhlish, Irish and Scottish hertiage on which much of Greater Melbourne was founded in the 1800's.

Many pubs through Australia have closed, it's symptomatic of our very rigid drink driving rules. Zero BAC for beginners and professional drivers (whilst driving professionally), 0.05 for others. Penalties are also very high - 6 months loss of licence plus one month for every 0.01 over your limit for 1st offence, and then double for your second and subsequent offences.

Many other pubs seem to survive, even thrive. Most country pubs and licensed clubs a courtesy bus service, they'll pick you up / drop you off at you accomodation. An entrepreneur will think of any angle to get an advantage.

 

[Al st1100]

Al, the Pig and Whistle is not an uncommon pub name in England, there are several thoughts on its origin but one thought is it means, going to rack and ruin. But a pig can also refer to a drinking vessel and Whistle could be a corruption of wassail.
Some other good names...
The Dog and Doublet
Old Swan
White Hart
Hope and Anchor
Labour in Vain
Nobody Inn, etc.
And they wonder why the pubs are empty these days.
Upt'North.

it's funny how thing are perceived differently in other countries. As I looked in to this more it seems that
I need to look around more. To me it seemed funny but I' m sure they are allgreat places.View attachment 244023



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[Williamson]

Today is Thursday, tomorrow Riday. Meeting a coupla mates on a Suzie and a Harely at Diamond Creek, riding via Noojee and Briagolong to Dargo, meeting another bunch for a few beers, some more beers, dinner and then even more beers, might be a fun night.

Route to and from is someting like this: https://goo.gl/maps/K1pL1N4B8i9E625p6

Weather forecast is for clear and sunny, slight chance of rain, but low temps - a low of 0C, better go a put the heated vest on charge.

Stand by (for a day or two) and I hope to post some pics with words to match.

In the meantime, here's a coupla pics for your edification, and to whet the appetite.




Just as classy as the Fort Spokane Store & Restaurant?

 

[Upt' North]

Today is Thursday, tomorrow Riday. Meeting a coupla mates on a Suzie and a Harely at Diamond Creek, riding via Noojee and Briagolong to Dargo, meeting another bunch for a few beers, some more beers, dinner and then even more beers, might be a fun night.

Route to and from is someting like this: https://goo.gl/maps/K1pL1N4B8i9E625p6

Weather forecast is for clear and sunny, slight chance of rain, but low temps - a low of 0C, better go a put the heated vest on charge.

Stand by (for a day or two) and I hope to post some pics with words to match.

In the meantime, here's a coupla pics for your edification, and to whet the appetite.




Just as classy as the Fort Spokane Store & Restaurant?

Williamson, if you're still awake down under me o'd cobba.
Were there youfs still in them T Shirts when they pinned them up.
Enjoy your Riday, remember your wooly pants, 0 degrees, brrrrrrrrrr.
Upt'North.

 

[Williamson]

Met as planned at Diamond Creek Caltex, fuelled-up, checked tyre pressure, ready to ride. Phil on the Suzie GSX1400 and Pete on his Harley Fatboy.


A quick sprint across Melbourne outskirts with a mix of 60 & 80km/h speed zones, and finally some 100km/h zones. Approx. 100km later we found ourselves at Noojee, and a coffee at the Little Red Duck.



On the road again, time to get Phil and Pete rounding a curve.



A stop for lunch, a meat pie, at Heyfield.



About 90 minutes later, Dargo with the motorbikes parked safely for the night.





And we had the better cabin.



But we settled in for the evening, albeit a bit quiet to start with.



But some gnarly adventurers arrived one-by-one, two-by-two, some on some rather odd outfits.







The Dargo Hotel has been an inconic destintion for traveller for my years.



After a few beers or twenty, I went back to the cabin, crawled under the doona and was pushing out some zzzzz's by around 9:30pm.

Others sillier, but tougher than me kept going to the wee hours.



But suffered for their foolishness the next day.

The next day, Lind Avenue (the main street) was quiet early.







Breakfast and another photo opportunity were available at the General Store.





More to come .........

 

[Upt' North]

Upside Down Michael,
Nice piccies Cobber, I know I'm biased but the ST looks much nicer in every photo. This surprised me a little though because your buddies bikes appeal to me too.
Keep em coming our resident Croc Wrangler.
Upt'North.

 

[Upt' North]

I thought you were all rufty tufty bikers and uties until I saw the Drambuie on the shelf or is that for the Sheila's?
Upt'North.

 

[Williamson]

Having some problems viewing some of the pics, anyone else having problems?

 

[Williamson]

Got ahead of myself with a couple of the above pics.

Saturday morning start was delayed due to cool weather.



So out of bed, turn on cabin heating, back in bed and pulled the doona up under the chin for a while.

But after a suitable time and temperature in was time to hit the road, and a milestone pic.


I wanted to get 50,000km, but the road was steep and narrow, not really suitable for stopping for frivalous pics. This is at an iconic intersection, McMillan Road on the way to old gold minimng towns of Grant and Talbotville.

Grant Historic Site

During the 1860’s gold rush, the former township of Grant had a population in the thousands Today Grant is a great place to fossick for gold, off road driving or just taking in the beautiful scenery and fresh mountain air and visualise the past. Location: Accessed from Dargo, via Stratford &...

www.centralgippsland.com.au

https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/11000/download-report/

It was lonely waiting for the Suzuki and Harely to catch-up.


But they slowly caught-up, and passed.





Just a lazy 750km for the weekend.

 

[Upt' North]

UDM,
Yes I was having same issue but it now seems OK.
Summer's coming you lucky spud.
Upt'North.

 

[Williamson]

6.1L/100km - nice. I get 35.7 mp/g which is 7.9 l/100km. Don't know why.
Nice trip!

Some of the OzSTOC members are reporting 5.0 l/100km, not sure what speeds they ride at, and how much throttle twisting is involved, but probably not enough for my liking.