As I am turning 60 in December this year, it was suggested by my son, Jeff and his wife, Yas, that Jeff and I should do a mini bike tour- what a great idea. It transpired that the most mutually convenient time for both of us was in late October, so a definite date was set, I drove down to Sydney and we were all ready to start the ride on Saturday October 27th.
Day 1 Windsor to Wisemans Ferry-52km
As it was a short day, we visited a farmers market in an Inner West Sydney suburb to have a coffee and the market's famous Egg and Bacon roll prior to setting off. On return it was time to saddle up for the ride to Redfern Station for the transport leg to Windsor by train, good timing meant we only had a 10 wait for the train. After a relaxing trip we arrived in Windsor about 12.30pm.
We started straight away and found the first few km quite heavy with traffic and noticeably warmer than we had been anticipating. Enroute to the Sackville ferry crossing, a decent headwind had sprung up. After riding for about 20min we came across the Tractor 828 cafe, so it seemed a good time to stop for lunch and rehydrate!
Continuing on it was only a short distance to the Sackville ferry, again there was quite a bit of traffic, however we realised that once across the river and letting the cars off our ferry go, we had about 15 minutes of car free riding, before the next wave of cars from the next ferry trip passed. This worked out well as by now it was very hot, so the pattern became ride for 15 min, stop for a drink and let the cars pass, ride for 15 min and so on. After a quite steep climb out of Sackville we turned onto River Road, from here we hardly saw a car until reaching Wisemans Ferry.
The first part of the River Rd was a fantastic white knuckled descent to the banks of the Hawkesbury River, lots of recent rain in the area meant the paddocks were very green and lush with fat happy cattle. River Rd was a series of flat riverside riding and short sharp climbs and descents as the road followed the river for the next 30km or so. Wonderful vistas of the river and the sandstone cliffs were only offset by the noisy speedboats and jetskis, however they were fairly isolated and we enjoyed the shady portions of the road with the background calls of numerous bellbirds.
In the parts that were not in shade, it was quite torrid in the heat, which was upwards of 30C and we consumed litres of water. Fortuitously a small shop appeared and we bought some Gatorade and had a long rest in the shade on some soft green grass.
The road continued with the river on one side and the sandstone cliffs, sometimes overhanging on our right. By the time we had reached Wisemans Ferry, we were done in and very happy to call it a day at our prebooked accomodation at the hotel.
After settling in, we went for a pre dinner walk down to the river and the ferry site. The area has quite an interesting history, on the other side of the river is the Dharug National Park, including the navigable Old Great North Road, which was built by convicts in leg irons. More details here https; www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/walking-tracks/old-great-north-road-world-heritage-walk
Returning to the pub for dinner, we dined, had a few beers, watched the live band (who were quite good), observed the 60 or more hotted up cars parading at speed down the main street. The owners seemed to mostly P platers ( no judgement!), some came to the pub for a meal, others just socialised in a paddock down near the river, then they all took off again heading for home I presume.
Day 2 Wisemans Ferry to The Entrance 92km
We awoke of Sunday to light drizzle and wet roads, so we elected to retire to the local cafe to have a Tobys Estate coffee to start the day. By the time we had finished, the rain had stopped and fortunately we didn't see any more for the rest of the day. It remained overcast and in the high teens in temps, which was a blessing as today included the 10km climb of Mangrove mountain.
We went down to the ferry to cross the Hawkesbury River, this ferry and the one at Sackville are funded by the state government and operate 24 hours a day.The Sackville ferry has a few hours off on Wednesdays for maintenance, but the Wiseman ferry is continuous as there is a spare ferry when maintenance is required, it is a great service. We had a snack at the National Park gate (see above photo) then headed off for Spencer, where there is a great cafe where we would have brunch.
This area is very popular with motor cyclists and we would have had at least 60 or 70 pass us in large groups as we cycled towards Spencer. Once again, it was quite undulating but the hills were not as bad as those on day 1, the cooler weather made all the difference for riding comfort. it was a very picturesque run to Spencer.
On arrival, there were many motorcyclists partaking of coffee and food. The owner told us that its the motorbikes and riders that keep his business viable. We lounged around with an iced coffee and a serve of scones, jam and cream trying to carbo load as the start of the climb was only a few km up the road. The shop owner took photos of all the bikes, including ours and regaled us with stories about how 'exclusive' Spencer was before it's charms became known to the wider world.
And so to the climb of Mangrove Mountain. I had been dreading this as it looks quite difficult on the elevation profile and I am no climber! It is over 10km long and has variable gradients, mostly 4-7% and occasional steep pitches of up to 12%. The initial couple of km is quite steep, then it is a bit easier for the last half. I found the secret was not to look at my speed and just concentrate on getting into a rhythm in an appropriate gear. I tend to be fixated on my speed when climbing, resulting in me blowing up, but this strategy of spinning a low gear worked and we only had 2 short breaks on the way to the top.
Reaching the top, there is a general store- some salty hot chips and a coke were consumed to fuel us for the remaining ride to the The Entrance on the coast. We had assumed it was all down hill from her, but we were wrong. There was another 14km of undulating roads (read- lots of uphill) before the really steep downhill of Dog Trap Rd, we both reached over 60 kph down this part of the ride before levelling out into suburbia and flat roads of Ourimbah and Fountaindale on the Central Coast. The last 8km or so was on the bike track on the shores of Lake Macquarie and was a stress free arrival to The Entrance.
The Entrance, that weekend, was hosting Chromefest, another car/ hot rod/ petrol head celebration! While the previous nights car activities were with the P platers, today's was the gray haired set! But there were some great restorations of old Holdens, Yank Tanks and custom Hot Rods to be seen. We rode to a viewing area overlooking the surf and ocean, took photos and felt that it was almost the equivalent of dipping our tyres into the sea to signify the epicness of our day!
A false start with accomodation had us tentatively booked into a hotel in the city centre, but with nowhere to safely store the bikes and only having shared bathroom facilities, we decided to splurge on a motel room a bit further out of town. After resting, showering and lots of horizontal time, we went to a well reviewed Indian restaurant for dinner.....was good!
Day 3 The Entrance to Gosford, train to Sydney
And so the last day, the Central Coast is suburban and built up and heavily trafficked, but we hoped our route would keep us out of the busier areas until reaching Gosford.
We set off from the motel back into the city centre for breakfast and coffee at a quiet little cafe. We then headed to the coast and headed towards Gosford, trying stay as close to the water as possible. It was very pleasant riding to Shelley Beach, then a killer but rewarding climb to the lookout at Crackneck.
From here it became a highway run into Gosford. There was a good shoulder most of the way and it was mostly flattish until about 8km out of Gosford.
Two things I have learnt about Gosford;
1. Gosford drivers are generally crappy,
2. Gosford is incredibly hilly!
We did survive however, the last few km were as expected, an endurance test- fast cars, thin or no shoulder but did include one incredible downhill! We arrived at the station to find maybe my forebears had been there before.
Fortuitously, again, we had arrived at the station with 20 min to spare, before catching an express train back to Sydney. Within 1.5 hours of leaving Gosford, 3 hours after marvelling at the views from Crackneck- we were back at Central Station, Sydney.
We had made it- 177km, one big climb, wonderful scenery, wonderful company and what a great way to celebrate a 60th Birthday!
