The Cormanus Chronicles

[Cormanus]

Days 18 – 22: 29 October – 2 November 2016
A day’s sailing, being entertained lots and some bad weather kept us off the bike, although I went for a quick trip to the city, where I saw this pretty Suzuki GR650. I used to have crash bars like that on my CB175.


Somewhere in here I took a deep breath and changed the K&N oil filter so I would not be tormented by a leak in the middle of nowhere on the way home.

Day 23: 3 November 2016
Rosny to Mount Wellington (56 kms)


[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yARCzWwBJ2S7TSd3lNoqLA6cXpw&usp=sharing]Day 23: Link to Map

Mr Cormanus and I went to Salamanca Place to do some chores. I was also to have lunch with an old colleague.

Afterwards we decided that, even thought it was blowing a gale, we should do something. The rain looked like holding off and we decide to ride to the top of Mt Wellington which provides a 1,271 metre backdrop to the city of Hobart. The road to the summit was built during the great depression and is narrow and winding. The surface is not wonderful.

Mount Wellington from the Derwent River

However, when we got there, the gales of previous days and the cold made the views truly spectacular. My mother used to tell me that, on a good day, one could see Ben Lomond—a mountain at the other end of the island. I had never seen it, but we did this day. We could see clearly across to the east coast where we had ridden on our way down.

A great diversion, but not without a minor calamity.

In order to take a photograph, I put my helmet on top of a guide post. Or at least I thought I did. I was obviously not careful enough as a gust of wind blew it off and smashed the vent mechanism on top. That was the final straw for that helmet which had taken more than one smack in its life—due to rider neglect rather than falling off, I should add. It once rolled all the way to the bottom of a gully when I left it sitting on the seat of the CB to help a bloke on a Ducati whose rear brake kept locking. Help, of course, is too strong a word in my case. Providing moral support is a more appropriate statement.



Views from Mt Wellington
Day 24: 4 November 2016
Rosny to Dover (145 kms)


[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BCbVUBTDtNu52C7N9uejrVLE0aY&usp=sharing]Day 24: Link to Map

First item on the agenda: buy a new helmet and leave the old broken one in the shop.

It was a lovely day and we set off for a leisurely ride. First stop was at the house of the friends with whom we had had dinner the previous evening. They’ve just bought a new house and it was in the throes of being renovated.

From there it was to Kettering where my parents are buried. It was warm in the sun and, after the dinner the previous night, we were weary and grabbed a rest.


Then it was on to Pepperberries Garden Café—discovered with the help of Google—where we stopped for a light lunch. The highlight for me was watching the chef wander out into the garden to pick fresh leaves for our salad. It was a beautiful setting with a view north-east up the D’Entrecasteaux Channel to Mount Wellington and the Derwent River.



Pepperberries Café

We met this chap during a gentle stroll in the garden after lunch.


Proceeding south, we followed the Channel and then turned north west to run alongside the Huon River. I’ve sailed a lot in these waters but seldom driven, and I’ve never ridden a motorbike along this road. It was really pleasant and would make an excellent morning or afternoon run for a Hobart-based biker.



The D’Entrecasteaux Chanel at the mouth of the Huon River. The tallest peak in the distance in the centre of the picture was to have a good smattering of snow the following morning

At Huonville we turned south and made our way along the western bank of the river for the pretty ride to Dover where we were to stay with our friends Jeremy and Penny. They took us across the road to the local yacht club for Friday drinks. We were made very welcome and introduced to some locally-brewed hooch, some of which was very good and put us in the mood for pizza. We had two; one was good (and I forget now what I was) and the second—a scallop pizza—was truly excellent. Washed down with some red wine, it led to some exuberant debate before we all retired.

Day 25: 5 November 2016
Dover to Rosny (85 kms)


[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1I-x6kFE60UMwYKdv5h8GLlb6qgQ&usp=sharing]Day 25: Link to Map

Saturday dawned cold and blustery with yet another front blowing in from the west. There were showers and, when the cloud cleared, we could see snow on the mountains. In no hurry, we walked along the beach in our waterproofs and enjoyed the view of Port Esperance and its islands.

Jeremy and Penny have sailed their yacht around the world, and Jeremy is a keen student of the weather. He has an expensive weather gadget which, combined with data easily available on the Internet and years of local knowledge, makes him something of a local guru. He kept an eagle eye on developments and suddenly told us that, when the next squall passed, we’d have a half-hour window to get out without getting too wet. We packed, put on our wets and, when the rain cleared headed for home.

Dover sits in a slightly different weather zone so there was a reasonable possibility that the chance of rain would lessen as we made our way north. As it turned out, Jeremy was right and other than a brief sprinkle, we weren’t troubled by rain.

We stopped in Huonville for petrol and took a photo (I apologise for the quality) of the Sleeping Beauty, a mountain in the Wellington Range. It holds a special place in Mrs Cormanus’ heart as she lived in its shadow for some years and her children were born there. As you can see, the morning had delivered a smattering of snow.


The weather meant we took the most direct route from Huonville. I’d have preferred to ride around the old road along the flank of Mount Wellington.

Day 26: 6 November 2016

We’d undertaken to cook dinner for our hosts who had also been away for the weekend, so we spent the day at home, shopping, resting and preparing food.

Day 26: 7 November 2016
Rosny to Carlton and return via Brighton (169 kms)

[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=19qmUvTeKFfk6n-uzKll0XA50O6o&usp=sharing]Day 27: Link to Map

Mrs Cormanus was to catch a plane the following day and I was to start my return journey. She was keen to spend her final evening with her oldest friend (my mate Graham’s wife), so we packed her gear and rode to Carlton. Our friends would take Mrs Cormanus to the airport.

The normal route would take us across the causeways at Midway Point, but the endless winds that had plagued us during this visit persisted and we took a slightly longer and probably more attractive route through Richmond.

After lunch I was heading back to stay in the town and have a final dinner with my youngest son. Graham announced he needed another ride and suggested he take me on a circuit he likes.

Hence the squiggles on the day’s map.

I said farewell to Mrs Cormanus, who I wouldn’t see for another week or so, and off we went.

Starting off the same way we had ridden to Port Arthur the previous week, because we could and because it’s a nice bit of road, we retraced my steps to Penna before heading further along the east coast road and turning towards Campania, Tea Tree and Brighton. It was a pretty country road with little to no traffic.

From Brighton we headed back past the Baskerville race track to Old Beach. Sadly the gates of the racecourse were closed and firmly locked against CB wannabes. At Old Beach, the rusting hulks of three ships lie on the shore. One of them was the last ship commanded by the Polish-English author Joseph Conrad.

A brief ride from Old Beach put us on the Grasstree Hill road which is heavily speed limited but an excellent ride. Indeed, it was so good that, when I said good bye to Graham near Richmond, I turned around and rode it again.

For some reason I forgot my camera, so there are no photos.