Riding the Lions Road

[Cormanus]

The Lions Road—Part 2

I’d only been to Kyogle once before, and that was on the way home from [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3324]riding with the Pterodactyl. On that occasion, I’d never heard of the Lions Road and I’d elected to turn right and head for Murwillumbah. On the way there, I’d seen the turn off to a town called Nimbin which, out of curiosity, I’d always wanted to visit. Nimbin achieved a certain notoriety in the early 1970s as the home of drug taking hippies and it’s said that, even today, if you alight your vehicle, the first thing you’ll be offered is some form of illicit drugs. Indeed it’s probably where [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2275&pid=29991#pid29991]The Spaceman’s stash ended up.

Anyway, there I was in Kyogle. On my own. It was a beautiful afternoon. It had warmed up enough for me to wear light-weight gloves and take some photos. A quick review of Google Maps told me I had enough petrol to do a circuit from Kyogle to Nimbin and return. The map of the ride is [url=https://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?msid=201247423130042081552.0004fda4245b457650b56&msa=0&ll=-28.682456,153.205376&spn=0.266256,0.528374]here.

The trip to Nimbin was lovely. A good twisty road with some rough patches that wound up through the hills. There were lovely views of the countryside and some of the border range mountains in the background.







Finally I came to Nimbin and the sign reminded me that it all started with the 1973 Aquarius Festival.



It was a pretty town and there was lots happening on a Sunday afternoon.





But I decided to keep going.





Very typical Australian pastoral scenery. I don’t know, but it seems to me very likely there has been wholesale clearing of forest.





I reached Kyogle again in time to refuel, check in to the Commercial Hotel, walk down the street and buy some thin cotton gloves to wear under my heaviest pair to try to increase the warmth, have a rest and read the forum before heading downstairs to the bar for a beer or two. I met up with a couple of other riders who had done the same thing as me (including the bloke who owned a lovely CB1300 I’ve included a photo of earlier) and we enjoyed a Chinese meal together.

I was saved from excess by the fact that it was a quiet Sunday night and the bar had closed before I got back there.