Riding the Lions Road

[Cormanus]

The Lions Road—Part 3

It was a beautiful morning in Kyogle. But cold.



I hung around in bed where it was warm before searching for somewhere to have breakfast. The place up the street that had been recommended didn’t open until 0830 and I was too hungry to wait, so I went to another café and ate pretty ordinary fried eggs and good bacon while watching the locals wander around in fleeces and shorts. I was going back to the hotel to put on my thermal kit!

Usually I don’t like retracing my steps—some would say I prefer riding in circles. But because I’d been so lax on the way down, and in the interests of research for my forum colleagues, I thought I’d hang the camera around my neck and take the Lions Road home.

The map of the actual journey is [url=https://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?msid=201247423130042081552.0004fda4d0bedbe1a39a7&msa=0]here.

It was a beautiful day, but cold, and I had a fantastic ride.

Riding north to the start of the Lions Road


The turn off leading to the Lions Road—it starts some way in.



If you look carefully at this photo, you can just make out a Yamaha Star and its riders with whom I played tag up the road.






This was one of the better bridges. A number had bolts everywhere, some of which stuck up 4-5 inches.


The railway line that the road follows.


Not such a good road surface.







Frost still on the ground at 1000.


A view back down the valley from the scenic lookout. You can see bits of the spiral loop from here; in this photograph only a tiny bit appears in the lower right.


The Yamaha and its riders at the scenic lookout.






At the border looking back into NSW. You can see the ‘speed cameras’ allegedly there to monitor cattle.


Looking to Queensland.

The collection point that continues to help finance the road.


Just cause I like to look at it.


Crossing the border.


The more sparsely vegetated Queensland side of the road.


One of the hills that felt like a roller coaster travelling in the other direction.









You wouldn’t want to hit one of these. The properties are unfenced and they wander about the place.




That’s it for the Lions Road. For the Ferret, I’ve tossed in a couple of pictures of mountains I saw not too far over the border, but just before Boonah I stopped taking photos, partly because I wanted to get a move on, but also because I’ve ridden the roads before and posted about a number of them. A surprise, though, was a stretch of road running along beside Lake Somerset which I’ve ridden before but didn’t remember. After a great, reasonably flat and fast road to the west of Lake Wivenhoe, the road turns right and winds its way around the edge of Lake Somerset, climbing so that you get great views. I know I should have stopped to take photos, but I was in the groove following a BMW and I can always go back, can’t I?





Lake Moogerah near Boonah.