The Cormanus Chronicles — 2025 January

[Cormanus]

14 January 2025

Day 6: Walwa to Bright


Link to outbound map

Pterodactyl, Noroomtomove and I first rode with AussieFlyer in 2018. The trip was cut short for some reason I can no longer call to mind. But we rode the Omeo Highway in Victoria — once ridden not forgotten. It was time to ride it again. The bonus this morning was the warm-up ride: 60 kilometres alongside the Murray River and the Hume Weir followed by the Granya Gap, a pretty, 17-kilometre, curvaceous stretch of road between Granya and Bullio. Well worth the price of admission.


Then we were into the Omeo Valley and the pretty ride to Mitta Mitta where we enjoyed coffee and a break at the General Store. It's been done up since I was last there, but still boasts some of the most expensive fuel in Australia. I used not to want to ask why it's so expensive because I didn't want them to stop selling it, but there's a 24-hour automated service station at Eskdale just a few kilometres to the north where fuel is a reasonable price. So maybe I will ask next time. I hope the answer is that they're forced by the fuel companies to pay a higher price.

From Mitta to Mitta to Omeo is 105 kilometres or thereabouts. On most well-made Australian roads that's slightly less than an hour's travel time. Ask a GPS app and you'll be told this will take you around an hour and three quarters. Even though the surface is sometimes covered with leaf litter and bits of eucalyptus tree blown off in storms, for my money it's the best ride in Australia. I had a happy time throwing the bike from side to side as we wove our way to Anglers Rest where we stopped for a break before the final haul to Omeo. I'm pretty sure AussieFlyer did too.





On the Omeo Valley Highway. It's not only pretty; it's a great ride too.


A thistle at Angler's Rest

After not very long we set off again and a few kilometres later emerged from a steep river valley into more open country. The road became more open and better finished and so, with a logic I'm still trying to understand, the speed limit was reduced.

There's not much more to report. After a break and a cup of tea in Omeo, we rode the final leg over Mount Hotham and down the wonderful road on the western side. It was very hot when we arrived at the Alpine Hotel and a cool libation or two were very welcome.


This is somewhere just to the west of the summit of Mt Hotham. The consequences of straying on to the other side of the poles would be severe.




End of the day at Bright

15 January 2025

Day 7: Bright to Boorowa


Link to homeward map

That was it, really. AussieFlyer had to head home; any plans I may have had to extend my trip were cast aside by a minor family matter which made home the place to be, so, with dubious weather ahead for the pair of us, we went our separate ways.

My route took me out of Bright in glorious sunlight …


… into a wonderful warm-up ride over the Tawonga Gap and then up to Falls Creek — another ski resort — and over the Rock Valley Dam and on to the Bogong High Plains Road which descends to the Omeo Valley Highway (again) just north of Anglers Rest.


Rock Valley Dam


More Omeo Valley

AussieFlyer and I had blown all the leaf litter onto the other side of the road as we rode south the day before, so I had to contend with the same crap again as I rode north.

I took what feels like an obligatory stop in Mitta Mitta for coffee, followed by a quick ride to Eskdale (where the petrol is many cents a litre cheaper), and thence back to Walwa — this time via the Guys Forest Road which, while not quite as much fun as the Granya Gap, is nonetheless scenic and a fun ride. As I steamed down the straight that leads into Walwa, I startled a couple of birds to my right and an eagle to my left and they all took off. In a last-minute manoeuvre, the eagle swung sharply toward me. I ducked and felt a wing brush against my helmet. Quite close enough, thanks. At the speed I was travelling a more direct hit to the Shark Head gear could have been very ugly indeed for both parties.

It was stinking hot by this time and I stopped at the Jingelic General Store for a cold drink. I got a message from AussieFlyer saying he'd just arrived home having got a bit wet and windblown.

My next stop was Tumut where it was still very hot. But the storm clouds were gathering and, after refuelling, rehydrating and consulting the weather radar, I formed the mistaken view that I would completely skirt the edge of the storm and took off.

Storm clouds to my left leaving Tumut. The poplars bent well over towards me as I passed.

Not long after taking that photo, with the wind rising and the sky darkening further, I stopped to pull on the dreadful waterproof onesie. A ute stopped with a sign on the back window that said "Jesus loves you. Everyone else thinks you're a prick." The driver, though, turned out to be a kind woman who not only helped me with the onesie but told me the reports of the storm were bad. She said (although I've not been able to verify it since) that a container had blown off a train at Wagga Wagga 70 kms or so to the west of me.

I pressed on, getting blown about a bit and occasionally rained on which was welcome as it significantly lowered the temperature inside my riding gear. To the east I could see dark columns of storm activity.

The Boorowa Hotel — even without power — was a welcome site and I'd not long parked the bike under the awning when the edge of the storm hit there.

The heat and storm were both very hard work and I slept very well indeed.