Page 7 - NLH Newsletter October 2022

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7 September 2022* Destination: East Gresford

There were 12 people who left Hexham on the ride to East Gresford today. 2 were on trikes and the rest were
on bikes.

We headed off into Woodberry after the ride briefing, only to find that the road was still blocked. I had been
warned about this a week or so ago, but the road block is still there and I was surprised by that. Note to self -
don’t believe government websites.
Anyway, the road blocks forced us to divert through Thornton and Morpeth, but otherwise things were still on
track. We eventually found our way to Clarence Town and then through Booral and finally to Stroud which was
our morning tea stop. There were some very rough patches of road on Buckets Way and at one point we were
all dodging a group of ducks trying to cross the road.

Stroud was busy. There were other groups on bikes competing for parking space, so we had to find space
where ever we could. In the end we managed to find a park and some seats for coffee and cake.

Cookie made his own way home after morning tea and the rest of us headed west along Buckets Way and then
turned off toward Dungog. Again, some sections of road were very rough, but we managed to get into Dungog
and then turn off to East Gresford. On Bingleburra Road, we came across a road repair machine I have only
seen before in the Bylong Valley. The truck has a pipe which extends over the cab and deposits a mix of gravel
and bitumen onto the road in front of the truck. It is meant to fill potholes. It does this without compacting the
material put on the road and leaves a large amount of sticky gravel “overspray” around the area repaired. The
result is not motorcycle friendly so be very careful if you see one of these things on the road.

The Café at East Gresford set us up outside and we enjoyed a good lunch and the usual banter. The weather
had been kind on the day and we had enjoyed good riding conditions. After lunch we all went our own way
home.

Thanks to all who attended and to Rob and Cookie who were our twin Tail End Charlies on their Trikes.

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