Gloucester to Dungog

Monday 9th April 2012

There was a terrific storm during the previous evening, with torrential rain and spectacular lightning. How fortunate that it happened overnight, because by the morning everything had dried out and it was another fine day.

We managed to leave at 8.30 and continued south on the Bucketts Way along gently rolling countryside:

It was a fairly busy road, and not all of it had a shoulder, however the other vehicles gave us plenty of room as they passed.

At 42 km we stopped off for an icecream at Stroud Rd:

The route then turned off onto a minor and much quieter road, which had a steep long ascent with a good view from the top:



At 66kms we reached the final destination, Dungog:

We met with Harry's mum who had driven up from Sydney to collect him:

...and posed for a final photograph.

We weren't quite finished though, because our car was still in Gloucester so someone had to collect it! I volunteered, as it was such a nice day and riding conditions were excellent. The journey back was a lot quicker as it was mainly downhill with a tailwind. I made the 66kms back to Gloucester in just over 3 hours. Another hour to drive back to Dungog, and collect the others, and we were on our way back to Sydney, about another 2hrs 30mins.

My total distance covered over the 4 days was 412kms.

It was a very good trip, we saw some beautiful countryside, enjoyed some great food, the accommodation was good, everyone rode well and safely, apart from my spoke breakages there were no problems with the bikes, and most important of all, the weather could not have been better.

We all had a great time and are already looking forward to doing more cycle touring together soon!