3rd Linger & Die three day ride - Fri 5 to Sun 7 Dec '03 

Our inaugural Linger and Die ride attracted 8.  Last Nov our 2nd attracted 10 cyclists.  To date, the following 16 have signed-on for #3, although Peter 'n Ang, and Gene aka Koala Bear, may be joining us for Sat/Sun by driving to Wollombi:

     ToothFairy, Pacific Pete, Dieter and Helga aka Blonde Bombshell, Widget, Whippet, Publican, Kitchen Sink, Barry Dalsto aka Bazza, Kaza, Tornado, Bank Teller, Samurai, Rummager, Greenie, Heineken, Matt Malone

• Friday        Berowra to Wollombi                                            101km

• Saturday   Wollombi via Morpeth to Paterson                      94km

• Sunday      Paterson to Morrisett then train to Hornsby     68km

• TOTAL                                                                                         263km

[On Sunday, trains depart Morriset at 12:17pm, 2:17pm and 4:17pm, passing thru Wyong 20 min later, and arrive Hornsby 1:19 min after Morrisett.  No trackwork scheduled.]

Due to mid-week traffic on the Old Pacific H'way, we commence from Berowra [park in off-road car park at Berowra station].

We rollout from 7:30am (after train from Hornsby pulls-in at 7:27am)] to load our small o'night bag into Pete Tyson's car or Publican's Ute - both have cycle racks.  Below are a few train times:

Depart 6:17am [or 6:38am] from Rhodes, from Epping 6:28am [or 6:49am] arrive Hornsby 6:43am [or 7.04am]. 
Depart Hornsby 7.03am [or 7.16am] arrive Berowra at 7.16am [or 7.27am].

Pete and Publican are providing the support cars,  We kick-in $8 each to make-up $50 per car to cover gas and wear 'n tear.  Cyclists will again share the driving with each crew driving up to 25 clicks.  At least one support car needs to be behind the last cyclist throughout the three days, so we do, in fact, have a Sag Wagon.

Pete has prepared road maps for the only confusing section from Maitland to Morpeth, where Simmo got lost on our inaugural L&D.

Accommodation options are below the rap-up of last Sunday's ride:

Scribe's rap-up of last Sunday's St Ives, Church Point, Wakehurst Parkway ride - 76km

About 22 pulled in at Church Point on an idyllic late Spring morn' where all the below pics were snapped. 

BELOW three shots were taken within a few secs. 
Bazza left of screen.  Samurai talking into the ubiquitous piece of plastic.
Ang (far right) with 'butt' to camera:

BELOW: Don't know where Bazza went. 
Tornade is occupied.  Samurai is hanging-up his talking wire. 
Rummager  looken' cool. 
Ang  is 'side-on'.  Gobbler, far right, with back to camera:

BELOW:  Bazza is back.  Tornado is smiling nicely.  Publican still has his back to camera.  Samurai's plastic talk box  is dispatched. 
Ang is 'front-on' with a Buckie Beaver smile. 
Unlike the rest, the blue bike stood still for all three pics.

The following crew are camping -
*    Wollombi (adjacent to seats 'n toilets - 150m West of pub twds Broke Rd); and
*    Paterson (200m from pub in the park).
Don't lay your tent 'til dusk as these are not designated camp grounds:

Samurai, Greenie, Kaza, Rummager, Kitchen Sink, Tornado, Heineken, Matt,

Friday night at Wollombi:

Wollombi Tavern

4998.3261  No accommodation, but "the watering hole" to drink with the locals on Friday night, and useful info on below lodgings

Mulla Villa Guesthouse   BOOKINGS ALREADY MADE FOR THIS DEC
Old Northern Road, Wollombi  4998.3254ph  4998.3286fax
B&B $110 per head.  1.2km before Wollombi (Host: Caroline)
Pacific Pete, ToothFairy and Bazza have already booked.
E-mail: khahn@ozemail.com.au

Avoca House   BOOKINGS ALREADY MADE FOR THIS DEC
Johnston has booked  all 3 rooms accommodate up to 7 crew with  Russell Davies   4998.3233ph    4998.3319fax
on Wollombi Road - 1.5km on the Cessnock side of Wollombi
B&B $80 pp / night:
*    1 room - with 1 double bed and 1 single bed (Dieter/Helga)
*    1 room - with double bed (Gracinda 'n Colin) Johnston
*    1 room - with 2 twin beds (Brenda, other single bed available)
 

Cody's Cottage
Jean 4998.3256 - $100 per double room with b'fast
 

Capers Cottage - dearish
4998.3211   www.capers.com.au

Undercliff Winery - dearish
Settler's Cottage B & B - 2km west of Wollombi
4998.3322

Saturday night at Paterson:

“Old Punt House”BOOKINGS ALREADY MADE FOR THIS DEC
9 Martins Creek Rd, Patterson - 2km out-of-town
4938.5885  $110 p/double with breakfast
Pacific Pete 'n ToothFairy have booked.

“CBC Bank”  BOOKINGS ALREADY MADE FOR THIS DEC
4938.5767  19 King St   2421
Phil has booked 1 double room @ $105 full b'fast with Moira
for Dieter / Helga.

Courthouse Hotel  BOOKINGS ALREADY MADE FOR THIS DEC
4938.5122   Cheryl  - near railway line, lower tariffs, but train noise:

• "Pub Double rooms provide a Queen and Single bed -  $70 for 2 people (Gracinda 'n Colin)

• 2 @ Double Bunk Rooms  -  $55 per room - $27.50 per person
  (Phil + spare single bed)
  (Brenda ' spare single bed)

• 1 @ Deluxe room with Queen Bed -  $120

• 4 @ Train Carriages with Double Bed and futon/sofa - $80 for 2 people, and $11 for a 3^rd person - These 4 are unbooked
  

Paterson Tavern
4938.5196   No rooms, but good brews.

Below is a hypertext to the NSW Govt's Tourist Bureau's page on Paterson, which wets your appetite for soaken' up the ambience of a lazy, peaceful Upper Hunter town reputedly named after a poet.

http://walkabout.com.au/locations/NSWPaterson.shtml

The below blurb describes our inaugural "longer route" Linger 'n Die which took us further north to Dungog, after commencing from Hornsby.

This year we are again cutting 15km of the Friday by commencing from Berowra, as the traffic mid-week up to where the Old Pacific H'way forks left [past Mt Ku'ring'gai] can be busy.  And we cycle only to Patterson on Saturday, albeit via delightful Morpeth.  Hence, Day 2 of 74km is appreciably shorter.

Below is the Ride Spec for the inaugural 3 day Linger & Die ride in March 2001.  It provides useful info if you are interested in this year's L&D:

Ride spec for inaugural "L & D" 3 day ride to Upper Hunter - Friday, 16 to Sunday 18 March, for Muggs pilgrimage to Upper Hunter to conquer Linger & Die Hill

Whippet, ToothFairy, Scribe, Simmo, Vicki, Anja and Pacific on sunny Dungog station at start of 3rd Day

Prologue to Muggs ride to Linger and Die

Muggaccinos 1^st Commandment is "Hills are your friends".  Muggs have climbed reputedly the toughest hill in NSW, namely Jambaroo Pass (sea level on south coast to the Robertson summit).  It is a ball terror!  Each Oz long w'end, Muggs' caravan heads to Bright Vic.  At the foothills of the Vic. Alps to climb the sheer 12kms precipice to Tawonga Gap (with the nasty Mt Beauty section), 28kms to Falls Creek and 27kms to Mt Buffalo in the 200kms Audax Alpine Classic.

In late Oct the convoy cruises to Canberra to scale frightening Fitz's Hill whilst ridding the 150kms Fitz's Challenge where the scenery past Mt. Tennant along the Carroral Valley to the formidable, precipitous Fitz’s Hill is breathtaking.  The awesome 2½ kms Fitz’s Hill - a category 1 climb, is the toughest ascent, although the final stretch to the turn-around also evidences cyclists hanging on in their lowest cog.  Bastardly Bumble Hill which prominently featured in each year's Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic, is occasionally climbed on the Sunday "Yarramalong Manor - Iron Horse” ride.

In 2000, Simmo, aka The Enforcer, with "No hill is to high" and "no mountain too mean" firmly inculcated in his noggin, noticed a new conquest from Column 8 in the SMH – extracted below where a local, Peter Olsen, describes Linger And Die Hill, between Dungog and Gloucester in the Upper Hunter Valley, as “so sheer that if bullock wagons stopped [back in the olden days] during the climb, they couldn't get under way again”.  Simmo ‘phoned up Peter Olsen to suss out the Hill, whereupon he spoke to Ms. Peta Olsen who described it as “a tough mile and a half”:

(29/06/00) Column 8 in the SMH

"ON Monkerai Road, the old coaching way between Dungog and Gloucester, is the wonderfully named Linger And Die Hill, a name also often attached to a nearby three-span timber bridge over the Karuah River. An NRMA plaque proclaims the bridge, built in 1877, to be the oldest truss bridge in NSW. On Tuesday night one of the spans broke, having faithfully supported traffic from horse-drawn coaches to big trucks for 123 years. It's a bit of history that may now be lost. Linger And Die Hill? Peter Olsen, whose family has been in the district since 1827, says it was so steep that if bullock wagons stopped during the climb, they couldn't get under way again."

Linger and Die details

Friday, 16 March
Muggs' pilgrimage to conquer "Linger & Die Hill" commences with a 114kms ride from Hornsby, via Mt White and Peats Ridge, to the delightful Wollombi in the State Forest where we B & B - see choice of digs below.

Saturday, 17 March
We ride a further 101kms to the Upper Hunter thru Cessnock, Maitland, Patterson to Dungog arriving at 2pm to scale the Linger & Die abyss and also ride over the afore-mentioned oldest truss bridge in NSW which crosses the Karuah River - before any more spans break.  Simmo has coerced Nicky to drive the “support vehicle” carrying riders Sunday Best Clobber so, after scrubbing, we can rage with the local folk in Dungog, the birthplace of legendary Doug Walters.

Sunday 18 March
After boarding the Choo Choo at Dungog at 7:50am, we disembark 8 stops and 46km later at Maitland at 8:36am. and cycle through one horse towns like Heddon Greta, Pelaw Main, Brunkerville, Freeman's Waterhole, Cooranbong, Mandalong, Dooralong and Jiliby on a rural 67km meander to Wyong, arriving at 11:20am, where we board a familiar Iron Horse to Hornsby - ETR 1:06pm.  Fingers crossed, other towns along the route such as Kurri Kurri and West Wallsend will have a café.

How to join the convoy

Up to a dozen Sunday pedalers have expressed an interest in the L & D 282km long w'end with 12 hrs pedal time over 3 days @ around 24km km p/h.  Below are details of B & Bs etc which Simmo has obtained for o’nite in Wollombi and Dungog.

If you are >50% chance of joining the ride to Linger ‘n Die to pay Homage to a Hill, e-mail The Scribe johnstph@cba.com.au pronto noting which digs you favour for each night.  [If you want to camp, you can put your tent in your o’night bag (for transport by support vehicle).]  Next week’s Bullsheet will provide an update of e-mail responses, following which we will have to book, ‘cause it is only 4 weeks off.

Vigilant lookout

Due to a recent influx of some strong hill climbers, and with more crew fitting lower/smother clusters (and triples) “further lowering the hurdle bar”, it is incumbent upon every Mugg to keep a vigilant look out for more tougher climbs!  We must be ever alert for sheerer, steeper slopes!  Otherwise, complacency could undermine the Muggs!

Further details will be e-mailed to the above 8 journey (wo)men, after we touch base with Simmo.

We didn’t even try to make a dent on Linger (a dirt trail about 10km N/W of Stroud) after a mini-mutiny at Kurri Kurri, which evidenced Simmo, Pete and Ann, intent upon lengthening the planned 101km Wollombi/Dungog leg -

Our 3 day 278km ride was characterised by delightful weather, a congenial crew, excellent/cheap digs, friendly watering holes, neighbourly hospitality, resolute cycling, wonderful/glorious country (especially after entering the Hamilton Valley [approx 30 km before Wollombi right thru to Dungog]).

Alas, Widget was an 11^th hour wdl after she "came a cropper" pinching a nerve in the lumbar section of her spine whilst playing (at) tennis with Elfi. Consequently, seven of us gathered at 8am last Friday [opposite the Railway Hotel Hornsby] on a promising Friday morn - ToothFairy, Fraulein Anja, Miss Vicki, Pacific Pete, Simmo, Whippet and Dirty Cheat.

Fraulein Anja, who had found PJ’s ‘phone number in Push On mag, and was desperate for a bike journey, was an unknown quantity, especially after evidencing her circa 70s $150 Graycross with Harley Davidson handle bars. As we learnt by end of Day 1, Anja preferred a more leisurely pace, taking time [sometimes lots of time] to smell the flowers and read the local signs ["Proteas 3 for $2", "puppies cheap to good homes"], but she pedaled on until PJ hailed a lift about 18km from Wollombi which evidenced ‘em hanging on for dear life on the back of a pick-up to Laguna, knocking 10 lumpy kms off their ride - a godsend, ‘cause there was naught left in Anja’s petite tank.

As mentioned above, the terrain past Mangrove Mountain [approx 30kms] thru to Wollombi is cycling paradise, with lush meadows which lead into pristine Laguna Valley in the Yengo National Park. Most of us had booked into Cody’s Cottage 4998.3256 [about 500m south of the Wollombi Tavern] where hostess Jean made us welcome upon our arrival approaching four bells.

After a dip in the Cottage Cement Pond, a few skeweys at The Tavern [only watering hole in Wollombi] and with the sun not far off setting on a gorgeous Autumn evening, we adjourned to Alice’s BYO Restaurant with 3 bots of plonk, incl 2 from local Undercliff Winery, which hit the spot and assured us of a sound night’s kip.

That night the War Office convened a clandestine meeting to determine what to do about Fraulein Anja's military medium cycling pace – a continuation threatening open mutiny as we’d likely not get to Dungog ‘til midnight. Delightful young lass she might be, but her idea of cycling wasn’t in Muggs Manuscript. Two choices emerged:

• Plan "A" - a covert operation that Dirty Cheat favoured "Hit her over the head with her ship’s anchor bike and throw ‘em both in the bushes."
• Plan "B" - "Prevail upon a church in Cessnock [Sat’s Morning Tea Nosh Stop] to look after Anja’s bike so she could stay with the convoy as Driver Support" – meaning natter on to Vicki, and collect her treadley, as she was returning to Cessnock in a few days.

The wusses prevailed and Plan "B" was supported.

Sat morn from Wollombi

We learnt over breakfast that Anja favoured the latter option, but she wasn’t told about PJ's Plan "A".

Sat morn was a tad o’cast with Dirty Cheat volunteering the 27km driving shift to Cessnock - intent upon searching out a church. Upon his arrival at familiar Cessnock, the Seventh Day Adventists were conducting a service. He noticed two young chaps walking past the church. They were wearing white short-sleeved shirts ‘n tie, with those familiar rectangular badges pinned on ‘em. PJ, twigging that they were on a Mission from God, enquired, "What time does the Pastor finish his service?" To which one with a yank accent retorted, "We’re the opposition. We’re Mormons."

As it happened, PJ soon struck up a friendship with Sam, assistant pool attendant at Cessnock Swimming Pool, as Sam was training for the Forster IronMan, and PJ "chewed the fat" about him doing it back in ’89 when there were only 600 starters. Ipso facto, Anja was able to jettison her Graycross, to the delight of us all.

An hour behind schedule, and with slightly threatening skies, we high-tailed it to Kurri Kurri, where Pete, Anne and Simmo opted for the circuitous route via Morpeth. Which they latter assured us was well worth the extra 30km and the drenching when the skies opened when Whippet and Dirty Cheat were into their second round of middies.

Whippet and Scribe had stuck to the scheduled route thru Maitland, delightful Patterson and onto Dungog, but not before scaling Wallarobba, that surely ranks alongside Bumble Hill as a killer climb.

After the rain shower, the sunset thru the gums on the mountains to the N/E of Dungog provided a striking silhouette on another charming dusk. Anja, who had spent the arvo squawking to Miss Vicki, did the market intelligence stuff by sussing out all Dungog's potential eating spots - which didn't take long. One of the locals told us that the Royal Hotel, where most of us were staying @ $22 p/h, incl breakfast, was where the action was going to be, ‘cause "they’ve got a band playing for St. Patrick’s Day." Notwithstanding the exaggerated expectation of "action", Dungog was a far cry from the throng due to an infestation of 1,200 cyclists when the Big Ride had stayed there barely 11 months earlier.

After discounting the restaurant at Tall Timbers Motel, where Simmo was booked, ‘cause it was too sterile and hardly a place to let your hair down, we settled on din dins at the restaurant at The Royal, ‘cause mkt intelligence provided "its better than the Bistro, although you’ll pay more". Could hardly call it a restaurant, however, the tucker filled a hole and the wine bill didn’t break the wallet. From memory we stopped at four bots of plonk, with Whippet, Anja and Vicki burning the midnight oil.

Sunday morn from Dungog
Thanks to the train driver of our diesel to Maitland for taking Happy Snaps of us just prior to rollout at 7:50am – a train we daren’t miss, ‘cause the next wasn’t ‘til 3:46pm.

Smack on 8:45am under a stark blue sky we disembarked at Maitland en route to Wyong - intent upon catching a 2nd train back to Hornsby. Notwithstanding an Autumn nip in the air and a slight head-wind, we made good time to Kurri Kurri where we soaked up the morn sun over coffee ‘n cakes at another agreeable country style café.

Somehow after missing Brunkerville, by heading for West Wallsend, we were on a familiar south road further east twds Lake Macq. where PJ found himself repeating the initial leg of Loop the Lake down to Morisset which he’d ridden only 7 days earlier, although Loop the Lake had seemed an eternity ago.

About 12:50pm with 70km on the dial and our journey completed we rolled into Nibbles Café just nth of Morisset train station.

Muggs hadn’t conquered Linger, but surely cycled some of the prettiest country side available in close reach of Sydney.  Linger ‘n Die will be an annual March fixture on Muggs' calendar, even if we never make it out twds Stroud to challenge that precipitous grade which as folklore has it, brought bullock trains unstuck last century.