Macquarie Towns Classic Motorcycle Rally

At the Historic Car Club meeting a few weeks ago a couple of the fellows requested permission to take their bikes to the Macquarie Towns Classic Motorcycle Rally at Windsor.  Mick and I looked at each other and decided on the spot that we would go too and take “Olga” the old girl.  We had talked about it earlier in the year and then promptly forgot all about it.

We had heard it was a good rally and we had never really travelled the back roads around the Hawkesbury, so this was a good opportunity. 

We both finished work early on Friday and left home just as it was starting to spit rain.  Fortunately, the further east we travelled the clearer the weather was, although there was still a nip in the air as we rode across the blue mountains.  Yes, we had decided to ride too and from the rally as well.

To our delight, Saturday dawned the most glorious clear blue day.  Much better than the bleak, cold drizzle the others left in Bathurst that morning on their way down.  There were four bikes from our club, and three of us were attending for the first time.

We strolled up through the mall in Windsor, past the old water wheel to find breakfast.

Another attraction of attending a different rally is to see the different array of bikes.  This rally had an incredible number of bikes from the 70s.  Traditionally, the 1950s has been the largest class, but that seems to be changing.

Here I am, ready to head off.

We have no idea where we were on the ride, but were amazed that so close to Sydney they could find quiet, windy, rural roads.  We were delighted when we had to cross the Sackville Ferry, although there were so many of us we had to wait for the ferry to go back and forward a few times before we were all able to cross.

 

We ended up at Castlereagh for lunch and the voting for the bikes.  The decisions were rather difficult.

Of course, red bikes are always popular as they go faster.

We were fortunate to take out the award for best sidecar, although there was a rather tasty early model Harley sidecar that unfortunately ended up on the trailer with a flat tyre, so missed out on the voting.

It wasn’t all about bikes though.

This morning, after a rather decadent breakfast, us girls sent the boys off on the rally by themselves while we went up the street.  I think someone had been playing with the water wheel last night…… or maybe they were just cleaning it…….

We had a nice stroll looking at the local markets, although we were strong and bought very little.

We were delighted with this little shop.  Some rather tasty vintage items and some extremely creative recycling going on.  I especially liked the lampshades made from old tea towels and men’s ties.

We left Windsor at lunch time and had another nice trip across the mountains to return home.  We travelled just on 500kms for the weekend and Olga went nicely, other than a couple of little misses, but you expect that with an old bike.  We’ll certainly keep the rally in mind to attend again.  It was great fun.