Snowy Ride - Part 1

Back in September we were invited on a weekend's ride to the Snowy Mountains on the second weekend in January.  It is an annual ride that a group from Oberon go on.  It sounded like fun.

There were 10 bikes and 19 people that went along.  We didn't think we would know anyone other than the couple that invited us, but it turned out that we knew a few.

We aren't used to riding in big groups, and knew that the sidecar would be too slow to keep up, so Sophia the Moto Guzzi had her longest trip in fourteen years.  She went really well.

This was my view for the weekend.

We travelled down through Cowra, Young, Gundagai for lunch, Tumut and finally Adaminaby, where we were based for the weekend.

We stopped at one lookout and you can see how vast and steep the mountains are.  OK, they are probably still technically only hills.

The weather was really hot for riding, so another stop was had in the shade at Yarrongabilly.  It can get a tad chilly here, so every second year this is the venue for the Alpine Rally for motorcycles.  Mick camped here in winter once as a young buck and when they left the tyres on their vehicle had frozen.

I didn't have the camera out on the bike on the Saturday, but as we doubled over some of the road on Sunday, this is what we road past.

Kiandra was an old gold mining settlement in the 1800s.

It must have been a cold, godforsaken place in winter time for the miners.  There isn't much left to show now.  It would be interesting to have a wander around one day when we have more time.

The bikes enjoyed a bit of twisty stuff as we climbed further.  Notice the yellow lines on the road and the high guide posts.  We were now above the snow line.  Fortunately, that meant the air temperature dropped a little.

We started to travel through areas that had previously had a bush fire go through.  The trees don't come back  like the gums around our area.  They were rather lovely, looking silver against the sky.

We went passed a couple of old mountain huts maintained by the National Parks.

There were very few houses along this part, but I liked this old group of buildings.

Finally, we arrived at our destination, Adaminaby, the home of the big trout.

Our home away from home for the next couple of nights.  Time to enjoy a cool drink and delicious fresh trout for dinner.

The next morning we got up nice and early to have a look around the town.  Adaminiby is only a new town, being relocated from its old site in 1956, when the river was flooded to create Lake Eucumbene for the Snowy Hydro Scheme.

The beautiful church was dismantled and rebuilt, stone by stone at its new location.

Most buildings were relocated on the back of trucks - 100 houses were moved.  The bank looked rather impressive on its travels.

Here it is now, nicely settled, with established trees.

There is a lovely view looking along those shady trees to the church.

Adaminaby is rather a sleepy place at this time of year, but I think it comes alive during the ski season.

Next I will share our ride through the high country.