I've been hanging out for a break in the weather so I could get the Harley Davidson out of the dark and clock up some k's. With fine-ish weather being forecast for the long weekend a mate of mine (Kel Bear) suggested that we try for today. I washed and polished my Road King yesterday so it was sure to get wet at some stage during the ride but there was no way I was staying home.
Just for a quick insult when I slipped down to the local service station to fuel up pre ride at 7.30am a light mist fell and the perfect shine was spoilt before I'd travelled 850m. Frickin Murphy! Anyhow, Heffy turned up shortly thereafter and along with my ever present pillion, Zanderhar, we headed to Bear's to see who else was coming.
Bear was out the front with his Suzuki C50 with another Harley parked nearby. A few more bikes arrived shortly thereafter including a Virago 250 Cruiser and after some quick introductions we were on our way just after 9am with Bear out front. The first cafe stop for the day, Perenti at Gloucester, a personal favouritewhen heading up that way. Double demerits, not the Virago, saw us adopt a conservative pace which seemed to smooth out the usually rough ride up the Bucketts Way. There was a decent chill in the air and while we rode on plenty of freshly rain dampened road we managed to arrive for coffee and snacks nice and dry.
We took our time at the stop, our next destination was Nichole's Art Gallery and Cafe in Tea Gardens via Krambach and Nabiac, only 120k's or so away. A couple of the group needed fuel before leaving Gloucester and once that was taken care of our ride up the Bucketts Way continued. This time I was in the lead, it's only the second time I've been on that road, fortunately I managed to stay on track (with some help from the GPS which has gone strangely silent recently).
Krambach was busy and when turning right to head towards Nabiac I decided to pull over and wait for the tail enders to catch up a little. Surprisingly the Virago was only moments behind, the female rider commenting later on having to back off a litte to reduce the smell of oil coming from pushing the bike past its comfort zone.
Soon enough we were on the Pacific Hwy heading south towards Tea Gardens quite happy that some of the new dual lane carriageway had been opened between Buledelah and the Tea Gardens turnoff. It'll be a great day when it's all open. While riding south right in front of us was very obviously raining but fortunately we turned left into Tea Gardens before we hit it, but it had obviously been there.
My wife and the girls drove up to meet us for a cloudy, cold and breezy long lunch at Nicole's with some "Yuppy Burgers" sans pommes frittes, pizzas named after cartoon characters and cheesy fusilli, warm coffee and good conversation. A bit after 3pm it was time to make tracks and head home. A few specs of rain delivered us back out to the Highway, promising more but fortunately holding off during the uneventful trip back home.
Good roads, good food, good coffee and good company. The perfect Sunday Cafe Run. Sadly, although it didn't rain properly the whole trip, the mist and damp roads we saw were enough to necessitate another wash for the Road King, but not today.
