Lobethal Lunch

nev

Super Térrarist
One of the older FarRiders, in his early 80s, announced his retirement from riding, so a FarRide was organised as a bit of a send off for him. Destination was Saturday Lunch at the Lobethal BierHaus (where else? it has food, beer, and a chef who rides a Super Tenere).

I threw the swag on the bike and after dinner on Friday evening I geared up and headed off. It was a beautiful clear night with a full moon, and I rolled along the Western Hwy to my first fuel stop in Horsham. Next town along the Hwy 8 is Pimpinio and when I got there, I headed for the local footy club, and set up camp under the commentators box

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It was 11:30pm when I rolled out the swag and I slept on and off for the best part of 5.5 hours. The alarm was set for 5:30am but I woke up and crawled out of the swag at 5:15. packing up and gearing up was an easy affair because I'd only taken my helmet and gloves off and just slept in my jacket pants and boots for warmth.

Tonight was a total lunar eclipse and the period of totallity commenced a few minutes after I woke up. In stark contrast to when I had arrived, it was now pitch black with no moonlight at all. For the next hour and a bit I continued along the Western Hwy always with the eclipsed moon and a very bright Mars in the western sky leading the way. A few minutes before the sun began again to shine on the moon, I noticed another bright light in the sky. It puzzled me for a few moments, then I observed it's trajectory and realised it was the International Space Station, rolling across the sky during the eclipse. I had to stop.

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Once the sun came up the day began to warm up. My thermals were doing a good job and I was very comfortable.

I'm not sure how many of the passing vehicles on the Duke Hwy heeded this sign.

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I stopped for a breaky wrap and fuel in Tintinara SA, and then turned off the highway at Murray Bridge, and headed north, through farmland and rolled along some dirt roads for 25km or so,

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...into Gumeracha, then down the North East Road, past chain of ponds, into suburban Adelaide for fuel, then back out along Gorge Rd and into Lobethal for the meetup.

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The brewery had organised a private dining area for us out the back among the mechanisms of the brewhouse.
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I sampled one of their beers and then bought a 4 pack to take home. I rolled the stubbies in a towel, then rolled that into the centre of the swag, hoping that this would create sufficient shock absorbance for the 750km trip home.

I decided not to stay for lunch, and at about midday Melbourne time I geared up and rolled off. The weather now was very warm, high teens and I had to trade my winter gloves for the set of summer gloves I had optimistically packed in the tankbag.
The country all the way from Melbourne to Adelaide is fertile and green.

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No stops other than fuel in Keith Horsham and Warrenheip and a bite to eat at Horsham on the return trip, and a bit before 9pm I was home. A light shower in the dark near Beaufort and 100km or so of wet roads from there to Rockbank, but otherwise a fine day for riding. It was the first big excursion for my new HJC helmet which performed at least as well as the Nolans I have been using for the past 12 years.


oh yeah, and most importantly, the beers made it home intact :)

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