Armidale to Walcha

Good Friday, 6th April 2012

Starting another trip! This is another route from the Lonely Planet Cycling Australia guide, a 4 day trip through the high country of New South Wales, from Armidale down to Dungog. I brought my bike from Adelaide to Sydney by plane and met up with my very good friends Carole and Rob McLean and their son William, we loaded the bikes on the back of their car and drove up to Armidale yesterday, a trip of about 6 hours.

Staying at the comfortable Cedar Lodge Motel, and enjoying an excellent Thai meal for dinner last night, we were up early and on the road by 8am:


We had a quick look around Armidale town centre and admired a number of nice heritage buildings:



...before hitting the New England highway southbound towards Uralla. The road wasn't too busy and had a decent shoulder most of the way. The weather was perfect, warm and bright.

At 22km we reached Uralla, a very pretty little town, where we met up with Harry, William's friend, who is joining us on the trip having driven up this morning from Sydney with his father (setting off at 4am):

Leaving Uralla we stopped at this monument to Thunderbolt, a famous local bushranger:

The route continued along a gently undulating road until we reached today's destination, Walcha, shortly after midday, having covered 68kms.

Approach into Walcha:

After lunch Rob and Carole went off shopping, William and Harry settled down in the motel room to watch football, and I, needing a bit more exercise, took a ride out to the Oxley Rivers National Park, to see the spectacular Apsley falls and gorge:





Besides the falls, the side trip afforded some beautiful scenic views:


Coming back into Walcha:Arriving back at the Walcha Motel around 5pm we went for a drink and a game of pool in the New England Hotel, followed by pizza at the only cafe open on Good Friday in this small town.

Then back to the motel for card games and a well-earned early night's sleep.

Total distance cycled today 108kms.