Day 2: Casino to Tamworth
21 June 2022
Master Map
Although cold, it was a lovely morning. After filling up with petrol, I set out for Grafton, 100 kilometres or so to the south. From there I would turn west and ride along the Gwydir Highway, up the side of the Great Dividing Range, through the Gibraltar Range National Park, and across the plateau to Glen Innes where I would turn south to Tamworth.
There are better motorcycle roads than the Gwydir Highway, but it remains one of my favourites. Aside from the ancient forest on the range and some lovely corners on the steep ascent, the road across the plain leading to its foot is lovely as well as winding enough to be interesting.
I took one picture as lanyard cam is tricky to operate with heavy gloves on and impossible without the additional lug on the on-off switch which fell off somewhere around Casino. It’s a view of the CB1100 with the lower hills of the Great Dividing Range in view.
By the time I got to the top of the range, the cloud patches were increasing. I was glad to reach The Coffee Incident in Glen Innes, where I had a cup of tea and lunch.
Relying on NoRoomToMove’s First Law of Motion and Fuel Consumption, I bravely pushed on to Guyra where I refilled the tank for the final 150 kms to Tamworth. I was greeted by Pterodactyl with a bottle of beer — a gift from the management of the motel — and soon joined NoRoomtoMove and Jalalski for a drink and catch up.
Some time later I made it to the shower where I realised that I’d got colder than I thought on the way.
