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Met up with Eagle at his nest and headed out around 4.00pm on the tar to Freemans waterhole then up Mount Faulk road into the Watagans out to Bucketty via the Letter A. From there turn off at the old convict trail and pulled in at the Mogo Camp Area.
Ready to go
There was a young couple there as well and as soon as we pulled up they made there way over, drawn in by the bikes as often happens. This was around 5.30pm and they were already well lubricated. The blokes name was Chris, apparently he used to race motocross but had a few too many offs and can’t ride anymore. He was “a yammy man at heart but loves the KTM” he kept going over my bike telling me what I could do to make it go better and asking all about it, (like I know anything about bikes), he must have asked me a dozen times what size motor it was. I can’t remember the girls name but she looked to be the sister of Sheldon from the big bang theory and the more she drank the more she sounded like him only louder,,,, much, much louder. Eventually though they toddled off to bed and we were able to enjoy some peace and quiet.
Camp Site
There was plenty of dust
The next morning we were up pretty early and on the road by 7.30, we headed for Wisemans nad pulled up just as the ferry was docking/ Eagle assures me he had planned it that way and I decided to give hime the benefit of the doubt :dry: . We fueld up bike and bodies then headed back across the river headed towards Colo where DJ would meet us for the next leg of the journey. Along the way on what I think was Wheelbarrow Ridge road we came across some one never realised dream home, which is for sale if anyone is interested.
Eventually we made our way to the meeting point and waited for Dj to arrive.
Random shots
I was heading for home fom this point so I punched into the 2 GPS’s I had with me where I wanted t go and they pointed me in 2 different directions. I picked the direction that matched where DJ and Eagle were going but after about 500 meters they were both telling me to turn around and so I left tyhe other 2 and headed for Colo Heights to take the Putty Road to Howes Valley, then through Yengo on Hpowes Valley Trail out to Laguna. I hadn’t ridden through Yengo for ages and had forgotten what a great ride it was. I was having a great time heading through and was about halfway through when I realised one of the panniers had come open. I pulled over and the locking mechanism was broken so I strapped it up and headed back to find my lost gear. 4km I came across one glove and a mini socket set, then another km futher on was my spare jacket, bumbag with all the tool, clothes bag, shoes and the other glove. I packed them all back into the pannier then adjusted my mirrors so I coulsd see the panniers and headed back out. It was just as much fun heading out the second time too, the only worries were that the panniers didn’t come open again and without knobby tyres the sandy section were, shall we say interesting with the front wheel just sort of ghosting back and forth through the sand.
By the time I got to Laguna I had decided that I didn’t want to risk further pannier damage and so headed on the black top for home.This was my first ral test of the Tenere and I must say I am nore than happy with the way it performed. On the tar or the dirt it felt stable and I was comfortable with the handling. I even felt omfortable on right hand corners which I was having so much troublle with on the gloucester ride on the DRZ. The engine could do with a freshen up, when the revs get abit low it really struggles to pick them up again, even on the tar where I should have changed down a gear for a corner or coming up a hill and there was a slight downhill it didn’t seem to have the touque to pick up again.The suspension is also a bit light, it handles great but I did manage to bottom it out a few times and there is even a new ding in the muffler where the break caliper hit it so I will have to get that fixed. The Pirelli Scorpion A/T tyres front and rear felt good on all surface encountered except for the sand and felt more planted than the new knobby I had on the DRZ on the Gloucester ride.
All in all I am very happy with the bike and I might even hang on to this one for a while.
Great read Jeffro , I rode that Yengo track with TB last year and really enjoyed it too
Glad you like the Tenere , theirs nearly enough on old bulls to do a Tenere old bull ride
Nick
Before I start my report,, you will note the presence of an awesome bike in most of my pics. I made sure it was in the shot for TB to admire it over & over again :laugh:
Well the adventure was off to a late start on friday arvo after work, but it wasn`t long before Jeffro & I were into the Watagans after grabbing some cool drinks for the night at Freemans servo.
Conditions were great on the watagan trails (except for some dust for Jeffro on the Old Ten) :whistle:
Soon after arriving at camp we were set up with a fire going early, although it was a warm night in the end with light showers from around 2am,,,
Jeffro already gave a good account of the pair we sort of shared the camp area with, all I will say is WTF ??? :S :dry: :huh: :laugh:
Sat morning saw cloudy skies & the threat of rain, so the jackets were whacked on and we headed south down Settlers Trail to Wisemans. Refuel at Wisey servo and grabbed some brekky at the café before crossing back over the river on the Webb Creek side and headed up Bicentenary Rd. From there we linked to Wheelbarrow Ridge and headed to Colo.
Saw the strange structure on the hill, presumed it was meant to be someones Dream Home that never saw completion,
Had to be careful where you walked :whistle:
Crossed the Colo on the wooden bridge that graces these pages often, there are some good views & interesting valleys in the area, no wonder it is so popular with bushwalkers and the like
Found the meet point TB had given me for wait for Dejay and it was a good little 20min break for us to have a drink, some snakes etc before we heard the roar of the DR coming from the causeways to our left.
Just after we headed off towarda Bilpin Jeffro split from the group to return home via the Putty, dso it was just me & the DR pilot to traverse Mount Irvine trail. What a ripper it is, I have seen so many pics on here of the trail and even with the bad weather closing in, it was a ripper. Wet, slippery rocky bits, some moderate ruts and sharp hairpins on the way down down down to the bridge
Then we climbed back out and the blacktop was wet, mossy, dark , foggy & slippery It was like late dusk rather than midday with Quails running over the road everywhere :laugh:
Then came the slab to TB`s for afternoon beverages and a rest, Dejay`s better half picked him up and he left the DR there for a maintenance day today,,,,
Paid Chris a random visit and waited for Salina to arive home to a home cooked Curry (prepared by TB) Great meal it was,,,,, really it was,,,
Apparently TB recommended I take some of these to use today after eating his Curry :dry: I didn`t need to use them today luckily :whistle: :laugh:
Thanx TB, then we settled in for some laughs watching the “Fastest Indian” followed by another movie Sal picked (I will let TB describe it it was funny though)
Off to bed around 11pm and a back up again around 6.30 to prep for the ride home solo.
Decided to slab it to Wisemans as the rain had fallen all night, from there I would decide which way to go depending on the conditions.
Ended up doing Settlers Trail again as it was moist but not raining
Couldn`t resist a stopover at Marks overhang to take a few pics :laugh:
While I was getting back on the kato here, I saw a dozen Hogs with Pillions pass heading south with a Maui Campervan in convoy, they were all from Vic I think :blink: Damn, the Hogs were travelling slow, thank god they were going the opposite way to me 😆
I started from TB`s with raincoat on, stopped near Pacific Park (South Maroota) to remove it , then put it back on again before the Watagans cause the rain hooked in again over the top. Then started to get cooked before I hit Freemans so it came off again !!!!
All up I covered around 630k I think and had an absolute ball. Pity the clouds covered most of the valley from Colo to Mt Irvine (SO I will just have to do it all again to see the sites properly & get more pics)
Thanx Jeffro for the first day & a half mate
Cheers to Dejay for riding all the way out to the Western side to show us around
Huge thanx to TB & Salina for the hospitality (yes, it was better than camping out in the wet & cold) :whistle:
Sorry you had to work Deano,,, Ya missed a cracker
but we will do it again :laugh: Found it Jeffro,,,
It`s called “STONEHENGE” :whistle: and is a 25 acre block for sale
see here if interestedDean0 wrote:Looks like a great weekend riding boy’s. I was thinking about you last night when the heavy rain set in and was hoping you weren’t out in it. :S :SSpewing I wasn’t able to get away. 3 days off and not one call in. At least i managed to get the Rally Raid tanks fitted to the 690 and it really looks the goods. You will be jealous Eags. :woohoo: :woohoo:
Good onya getting those tanks installed mate,,,,
Now I can check it all out closeup before I buyBugger that you ended up sitting home & no callouts :laugh:
Cheers
There is always a next ime Ace
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