Barossa Run, Sunday 20th April 2008
If you were unfortunate to miss this one you missed one of the best. The weather was ideal for riding, the sun shone all day and we all had the best time in the world.
The Ramble officially started from Lyndoch Institute (although some thought Tanunda) but this will be explained later. I decided that because I had to ride to Lyndoch I invited anyone who felt so inclined to ride with me from Pelican Plaza, leaving at 8:30am. I expected about ten machines. By 8:15 I counted twenty and another five or six came in after that. I mentioned to one of the riders “hope there is not this many waiting for us at Lyndoch”. How wrong I was!
We ambled through the hills to Chain of Ponds where Bob and Anna Hill joined us and on through Kersbrook to Williamstown and then Lyndoch. There I found not ten or twenty but around twenty-five more Machines and hoards of people. We had plenty of time, so a few who had not completed Rally Entry Forms did this, whilst some fiddled with motorcycles and others started conversations which were continued throughout the day. I gave my usual speech about the day’s Ramble, which was interrupted by a phone call from a visitor who had just got his Indian going only to have it break down in the morning. However he had repaired it and was hoping to join us at Nuriootpa. Paul called the roll and away we went.
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Heading towards Tanunda. Before Tanunda we turned off through Bethany (doesn’t the 50km/h speed limit on this road annoy you?). We turned off on Siegersdorf Rd and followed Long Gully Rd to Hurns Rd (a lovely piece of road) until we teed into Angaston / Mt.Pleasant Rd then on to Eden Valley where we had a comfort stop at the Football Oval/ Caravan Park. It was during the last part of this leg of the run I noted, going in the opposite direction, an Indian Motorcycle ridden by a person closely resembling our own Peter Yates. Peter explained that he waited at the Tanunda Institute and as no one turned up for the ride he decided to go his own way. We all got to have a look at this beautifully restored machine which is a credit to him.
I decided to do a count and tallied forty-seven motorcycles. I know we were joined by at least two after this so I believe we may have reached fifty for the day. It was soon time to get going on the next part of our journey to Nuriootpa for lunch. We rode back through Eden Valley, turned right towards Keyneton then left (along that annoying piece of road) to Angaston and arrived at the Community Park in Nuriootpa for lunch around midday. Our visitor turned up on his Indian with his son on another modern machine and rode with us for the rest of the day.
We left Nuriootpa around 1:15pm, headed for the Sturt Hwy followed it for a couple of hundred yards then off on the left to Belvedere Rd towards our next stop at Kapunda. I noted the Ice Cream shop got a bit of a nudge by many Members during this break. We were soon on our way again towards Greenock, Seppeltsfield, past the Mausoleum to tee into the main Barossa Highway for the trip back to Lyndoch. Except Peter Yates who went to Tanunda as his transport was there. The last Machines rolled into Lyndoch at around 3pm. We all had a bit of a talk some loaded bikes on trailers & we slowly dispersed after a great day.
My thanks and yours go to Organisers Philip Holmes & Trevor Diener, back-up trailer Denis Saunders and all those who volunteered to marshal for the day.
On a personal note: It is great to have so many people volunteer to do these jobs as it makes the day run so smoothly.
Malcolm Gray
Those attending:
David Radloff – 1909 Triumph
Bob Gill – 1913 Veteran BSA
Leon Mitchell – 1914 Veteran Rudge
Peter Yates – 1924 Indian – First Time Out
Bob Hill 1927 – Harley Davidson
Arnold De Groot – 1930 Norton
Natalie Halstead – 1936 BSA
Colin Pauley – 1942 Harley Davidson
David Ey – 1942 Indian – First Time Out
Philip Holmes – 1946 Triumph
Bob Kretschmer – 1946 BSA
Kevin Mead – 1948 Velocette
Gary Jolly -1948 Ariel
Bruce Lehmann 1948 Ariel
Mal Mackay – 1948 BSA
David Cant -1947 Indian
Ken Ollson – 1949 Matchless – First Time Out
John Mills – 1949 Norton
John Deacon – 1949 Norton
Robert Shirley 1950 Matchless
Ian Baldock – 1950 Ariel
Ed Sanders – 1951 Cammy Norton
Paul Knapp – 1951 AJS
Graeme Bartlett – 1952 Norton
Dean Govan – 1954 BSA
John Byles – 1954 Ariel
Peter Arriola – 1954 AJS
Bill Blake – 1955 AJS
Brian Kuerschner – 1955 Compy AJS
Russell Sadoroshney – 1957 Triumph
Daryl Rosser – 1963 BSA Goldie
Denis Saunders Back up trailer
John Booker – 1966 Triumph
Malcolm Gray – 1971 BMW
Greg Warner – 1974 Kawasaki
Don Cellier – 1974 BMW
Geoff Thompson – 1975 CZ
Ron Roy – 1975 Honda
Chris Warner – 1976 Kawasaki
Ian Carllson – 1976 Kawasaki
Brenton Halstead – 1979 Honda
Roger O’Loughlin – 1976 Honda
Bob Frankham – 1994 Yamaha
Trevor Diener – 2004 Suzuki
Peter Langdon – 2006 Suzuki
