Day 23 Bathurst to Gloucester

We started early today and headed into the Blue Mountains. We did not take the direct route to Lithgow but went about 20 km back the way we had come yesterday and took a road that eventually lead us past Lake Lyell into Lithgow. Some of the road surface was a bit ordinary but it was a very pleasant ride in the country. We pushed on toward Windsor, into the rugged landscape of the Blue Mountains along Bell's line of Road before stopping for breakfast at a great little family run eatery at Bilpin. After fuelling up we made our way onto the Putty Road. When we were last through here in the eighties this was one of the two must do Australian motorcycle roads (the other the Great Ocean Road). My memory of it was as a declining road in poor condition. I had the impression that the powers of that time saw that it had served its purpose and with the development of the coast road its use would fall to just local traffic. So I was delighted to find a great wide and well maintained road that was really good fun. Although the fun police had been out trying the slow the rabbits with 80 and 60 km/h speed signs. I guess they don't know rabbits can't read. The other significant improvement is a great cafe at the halfway point. It was clear how popular this road is with motorcyclists. It was Wednesday and the front of the cafe were 20 bikes. There was plenty of opportunity to talk bikes. We enjoyed a great morning tea. They even provided a squirty bottle and towels to clean helmet visors. By the time I made Singleton my back tyre was shot. Singleton Motorcycles provided a great service and by the time everyone had had lunch I had a new tyre. From here to Gloucester was a matter of programming the GPS and seeing where it lead. The roads we covered were just patches on patches and for the most part required the up most of care. Other than a bloke with a trailer ruining most of the ranges in this section because he would not pull over and the fire services vehicles rushing around the address a small grass fire that had broken out it was uneventful. Eventually we turned north on to Bucket' s way and followed it into Gloucester. We were all a little tried after so many rides. Chinese for tea and then bed. Another satisfying day.