Gosford to Canberra
“The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist." -- Erwin Schrodinger
You can ride from Gosford to Canberra rain hail or shine in one day no worries if you ride through the Sydney suburbs then take motorways and highways through to Canberra, but it’s crowded and boring.
Much more fun to ride over the Blue Mountains and the Great Dividing Range then drop down into Canberra through the countryside over a couple of days. It’s a genuine manifestation of “getting there is half the fun”.
I’ve done the pretty ride to Wiseman’s Ferry a number of times and that first leg pays you with a beautiful place to get a rewarding coffee, sitting at the outside table and chairs of the café there watching the ferry travel back and forth with fresh loads of cars, occasional boats passing by, all in front of a richly beautiful long cliff-face – which, no matter how many times I try, it’s impossible to take a true photo of with every photo coming out looking plain. It’s true that a photo is always vastly less than being there, but this is so much more of that than most. It makes it a real personal spot because you can’t come close to seeing it without actually being there.
Topped up the petrol and rode up the start of Bells Line of Road where a police van working its way up the centre of the road was turning everyone back. So I doubled-back and took a detour of a few dozen kilometres to get around whatever the problem was – which I later learned was a tree that had fallen onto the road.
As I rode the road into the Blue Mountains, the wind was strong and extremely chilly so I pulled into a café before heading further in. With the weather being so damn cold, I was dismayed to find the café did not even have their heater on. I worked on defrosting my fingers with the heat from a single tealight candle they were burning on a shelf while I waited for my coffee. Absolutely brutal.
Then I took on the cold weather and rode on through the beautiful apple-shop filled road followed by 50 kilometers of fast curves with tremendous views of the mountains to the left and right. With it being so cold, I didn’t stop but instead ran straight through to Blackheath where I parked the bike, had a simple pub meal and bedded down for the night.
Next morning I was chatting with one of the early-morning workers at the pub who told me the cold conditions would be terrible and I should turn back. I usually just head towards wherever I’m going and figure it’s all going to be fine but having ridden through this area last year in the tremendous cold passing ‘snow on road’ signs, I knew this area had the potential to be problematic – snow or ice on the road for a bike is bad news.
So I fired up the weather app and sure enough, severe weather warnings for the area I was riding into – 80kph winds with gusts up to 120kph, far too capable of blowing you into the opposite lane. He was right, I shouldn’t go forward – much as I don’t like turning back.
Almost on cue with having accepted that decision, it started snowing. I love seeing that, haven’t seen it since I was in Washington DC, so I stood and enjoyed that for a couple of minutes then mounted the bike and headed back over Bells Line of Road, and the charming ride along the Wiseman’s Ferry road and I parked the bike ready to do it again.
A couple weeks later and time to go again. Ride to Wiseman’s Ferry, coffee at the café, rode a slightly different way using a second ferry to cross another river. The ride was smooth and flowing and I was blissfully in tune just that perfect flow of moment that kept me feeling no divisions between myself and my surroundings.
There are some days when sheer beauty generously flows all around you and these two days of riding were full of exactly that. The weather was mildly cold while being beautifully sunny – my favourite weather. As I rode through the fast Bells Line of Roads I was touched by how gorgeous everything was. Stopped off at a new café to try their apple pie and was rewarded with a beautiful spot and a pretty good apple pie.
Rode on and spotted a tiny unposted dirt road and I decided to explore it.
Well worth it, I went for a short walk and found some beautiful views.
There’s some real rewards down these dirt paths and while I’m not really an “adventure bike” sort of guy, there’s definitely some great views and places to be found down gravel and dirt paths. Adventure biking seems amazing but I don’t think it’s my thing.
Rode on to Blackheath where I bought some wedges and a beer and sat on the balcony of the pub watching the sun set and the town closing down for the evening.
The next day I drifted down southwards on the fast long curves over the Great Dividing Range. My bike with it’s old-style carbie can get a bit breathless in the slightly thinner air at these higher elevations, but she was running an absolute treat feeling as perfectly in sync as I was – a brilliant gorgeous spirited ride, exactly what every rider is looking for when riding country.
After travelling over the Great Dividing Range which is always fairly chilly, the café at Taralga is a welcome sight to relax and soak up the environment before the next run.
Rode the next 100 kays into the tiny town of Tarago, parked my bike and checked into the local pub. I had chatted with a local in Blackheath about the town placements along my route, he pointed out that towns tended to be positioned the distance from each other that a horse would reasonably travel in a day which explains some of the town locations like this one out of Canberra.
There’s a window in the passageway above this old pub which looks out to the hill nearby, it always looks to me like a vivid painting up on the wall.
The next few days I spent working at the pub building the new T7 Training website (www.T7Training.com.au).
It’s a great place to work away from distractions – apart from the occasional motorcycle capturing my attention riding past down all the great roads there – but a warm fire and a slow beer is a great reward at the end of the day for getting the work done.
Next morning, took the train from Tarago to Sydney ready for the next run of work.
Thanks for reading!