Gravelly loop to the Bremer Valley and back



Fixed the idle on the DRZ, needed to pull the carby out to do so. Throttle shaft floats a little and the cable reel didn't contact the idle screw. I've worked out how to get the carb outof the bike out easily enough (firm grip, foot against frame and yank) but getting it back was a pain in the arse today.

Went for a solid ride with Jimmy on Sunday, cracking clear and sunny day. I had planned to try this ride that I plotted a couple of weeks ago, but it was a little more freeform

Google maps is a pain with limited route mods so I had to split the route.

Section 1  - https://goo.gl/maps/XFdkGEBJaZQ2



Started at Aldgate about 1pm. Jimmy took a few little back roads he knew and we ended up at the top of Mt Barker. Cut around to the Back Callington road and scooted up to the Kanmantoo copper mine. Really nice thick loose gravel on the roads, good slippery fun.


Stopped for a moment at the top of Mt Barker after coming down a couple of firetracks from Paechtown.
 
 


Back Callington road at the Hillgrove mine. Good little blast on the gravel get here. Cut down along the mine haul road back to the Old Princes Highway. Followed that back towards Kanmantoo and diverted north on some dirt, until we hit the Bremer Valley road and followed the bitumen until we saw some more dirt.

Followed Ridge Road for a while, but the appeal of a "Road Closed" sign on Steep Hill road was too much so we took a left back down the hill, stopping to grab a pic. That view is looking across the Bremer valley to the south.  Took a right onto The Glen road and headed into Harrogate.

 Stopped to visit Jimmy's bro at his property in Harrogate. Awesome spot.


 View north from the house they're building.


Section 2 - Section 2 - https://goo.gl/maps/bgApxy5PDQP2



Headed home with a few cool detours , via a road reserve which the road had never been built, called Appleton Road. Was probably my highlight, it was just fun blasting through the grass, plenty of logs and rocks to dodge. Had a cool creek crossing as well. Only a couple of kms but fun. The map link shows a little spur and a U-turn, but the road reserve connects Appleton to School Bus Rd.

Another of Tom's hot tips, Sandy Waterhole road. Note 'summer track only' sign.  Made the
mistake of turning up Dunn road and across to Charleston, I think it might have been worthwhile continuing along Sandy Waterhole toward Woodside.

Hit the bitumen and headed back to Aldgate for a beer.

Good ride, about 130kms in total. Keen to get out to this way again.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Exploring in the Bremer Valley

Image
Charlie's purchase of a WR250R prompted a couple discussions about a weekend rides. With nary more than a meeting time and a barely amenable weather forecast, we hit a variation of this ride . Essentially, we left my place and followed what is my go-to route to Mt Barker to meet Dean. From Mt Barker, along Back Callington rd, past the mine and then out to the NE toward Mannum. This time we crossed the Bremer Valley road and kept heading NE. Link for route: https://goo.gl/maps/AFn7nX9MrXA2 Preammina Rd/Panican Hill road were narrow and reasonably kept dirt, nicely windy but still quick. Good visibility. I could see we were approaching the edge of the river flats and the Bitumen of Reedy Creek Road and turned back to the NW, along Talbot road, until we hit Black Heath Road. Black Heath road was dirt, but a much wider and much more well groomed road, albeit some spectacular views. It's hilly country, with a lot of rocky outcrops. Winter rains have filled the creeks an
Read more

ROMCWO - Inaugural Event - Halls Gap to Portland - 12-14 April 2019

Image
Left Adelaide midday friday  in the ute headed for Plantation camp ground. Plan was to head to camp Friday night, scoot to Portland for the night, back to Plantation and home Sunday. The crew. Here's the route link that I took, there and back again. https://goo.gl/maps/pGrXCCrGsrT2 Hit a few ales with the team at a top little campsite. Early start, unloaded the DRZ from the ute and took it for a punt up a 4WD track to a local vantage point. View towards SE Something to climb up. Alwasys need to climb up things.  Rhetro enjoying the view South to Dunkeld and then through Penshurst to Portland. Were planning on hitting a volcano for a looksee about Macarthur but the rain came through so we all rugged up and hammered to Portland. Random couple of blokes rolling old bangers through Dunkeld Had a few ales at Richo's house. Had a few more after that at his local. Had some nightcaps at Richo's house. Richo's cottage ambience Portland
Read more

Dirty birds

Image
https://goo.gl/maps/qTYjTcQFcJ72 Went for a blast with Jimmy on his WR450. Interesting to compare how much smaller and lighter the WR is to next to DRZ. Aluminum frame makes a big difference I suppose. JH had a couple of sneaky dirt tracks to muck around on, covered similar ground to the previous ride. Boots full of water on a creek crossing on Gross Road, that was fun. Some firetrack access only with washouts on Crossing Road up the back of Bradbury as well.  Lots of roos though, and a Deer popped up out of nowhere on Crossing/Lamont road. Took a quick stop at Lamont/Mt Bold road. that's the reservoir reserve boundary track.... so appealing.....  Reliving my youthful misadventures on Formby road. Went separate ways from top of Oakridge road.
Read more