The Big Loop - Mt Mee, Woodford, Kilcoy, Somerset Dam, Mt Glorious

[pete]

I don't think we've had an Aussie version of a destination in here yet (unless I missed it), so best I put one in

Anyway, John, Val, and I did this loop today and it's definitely a favourite for me given there's some nice twisty bits, some nice open sweepers, and a few good spots to pull over and have a yarn with some fellow bikers. There are a few boring bits where the road's a bit too straight, but that just gets you to the next twisty bit

Sorry to say that I didn't exactly overload on photos today as I didn't take the man bag now I have my tool tray sorted, so just a few dodgy ones on the phone.

Also, the weather was very iffy today, sunny one minute, pouring the next.

The route goes like this from where we live (Arana Hills/Keperra area):

Bunya Rd to Eatons Crossing Rd then out to Dayboro. (I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo today but there was about 300mm's of fast flowing water across the Bunya Rd weir, so we had to back track and go through Samford.)

Dayboro to Mt Mee, and there's a nice lookout to pull into after Mt Mee village which is usually well populated with bikes, but today we were the only ones and we were getting rather wet! Val sensibly stayed in the chair to minimise the damp.



The scenery from there is usually great, but very difficult to see much at all today:









From there, keep going into Woodford, and once again a great place to pull over for a coffee or other beverage and ogle the bikes. We got invited to join the 59 Clulb while we were there, and they go riding every second weekend apparently. http://www.the59club.org.au/

Might check them out... they seemed to be a bunch of fellas just out for a good ride... everything from a new Triumph Thunderbird to an old KZ650 in attendance.

There must be something about me and Woodford with photos as once again (like the GSR run) I didn't take any...

Anyway, from Woodford it's on to Kilcoy, then down to my favourite bit which is the road down beside Somerset dam. There's just a really nice set of bends there which are moderately tight and flow together really well. I'm probably not the quickest through there but it's just a great little stretch of road I find really rewarding as long as you don't get stuck behind a cage.

Then you cross over to the other side of the dam and up the back of Mt Glorious. Had to pull over for a pit stop today:



And this is the sort of weather we headed into up the mountain:



Mt Glorious tends to get quite tight, and if there's any rain then there's crap all over the road, and today was no different and it was really foggy up the top as well. Had the rear take a little slide to the right in one spot but other than that I just crawled around it as best I could, wet weather bends are *not* my specialty.

We pulled into the cafe up the top and lo and behold we bump into the couple on the Triumph Tiger that joined up with us on the GSR run! Friends of Downsy and Cilla I believe, except I never got their name...

Anyway, from there it was straight home for me today, but it's a fun run of about 200km's.

Oh, and yes that's my rain suit strapped to the rear seat... except by the time we got to the lookout where I could've put it on I was already saturated... I dried out in the sunny bits then got saturated again... rinse, repeat...

[cowboyup3371]

Sounds like fun Pete and even in the rain and overcast conditions it still looks very nice out there. Looking forward to more pictures.

[pete]

Cheers Scott, and yeah it's nice and green out there with all the rain at the moment, gets a bit brown when it stops though.

As for more pictures, just realised I have these from back in December just after Christmas which was the first decent run on the 450.

This is a detour I took on the way over Mt Mee:









And this is where I pulled over just after that series of curves I like so much beside Somerset dam:











My wife calls this country "cows and fences"... pretty accurate really but I still like it... haha

[Steve]

"Dodgy" phone pics are better than NO pics.

Thanks for sharing.

.

[pete]

"Dodgy" phone pics are better than NO pics.

Thanks for sharing.

.

Very true Steve! And you're very welcome

It's nice to be able to get out and have something to share too

[john82q]

There are a few boring bits where the road's a bit too straight,

no, no, Pete, The one of most memorable bits was cresting a rise on one of those straights and cranking the throttle wide open, in 3rd .

I overtook you, some random ute/truck thing, 8000rpm, the speed limit, and Vals sense of self preservation.


Good to see that road to Somerset had some attention in recent years, with widing the shoulders and the worst of the bumps ironed out.

John

[7981GS]

Good to see that you guys had a great time.
Thanks for sharing the pic's.

Daniel

[Charlie G]

Thanks for taking the time to show us your countryside.

Charlie G

[spyug]

Impressive land you have there and not at all what I thought of Aus.. I always think it is a land of sand and dust. I didn't realize it looks so lush.......and you have cows too I thought all you buggers had was dingo, rabbits and roos along with a few million sheep. You learn something everyday.

Looks like a nice place for a scoot. Thanks for sharing and next time take proper pics would ya (that includes all the bikes you see along the way, specially all those Kats you buggers are rounding up down there).

Good stuff and thanks for thinking of us.

Spyug

[pete]

no, no, Pete, The one of most memorable bits was cresting a rise on one of those straights and cranking the throttle wide open, in 3rd .

I overtook you, some random ute/truck thing, 8000rpm, the speed limit, and Vals sense of self preservation.


Good to see that road to Somerset had some attention in recent years, with widing the shoulders and the worst of the bumps ironed out.

John

Aaaah how could I forget that pass! Stuck behind the Landcruiser not sure if I should go or not... and you made up my mind for me

That 1100 sure gets up and walks when you let her go Took me a km or two to get close again! Hahaha...

And that stretch of road out there is now very nice indeed, I vaguely remember riding through it back in 98 or 99 and it wasn't anything like that.

Good to see that you guys had a great time.
Thanks for sharing the pic's.

Daniel

Great time indeed Daniel, rain and all... just loving being back on the bike now!

Thanks for taking the time to show us your countryside.

Charlie G

No probs Charlie, I've seen heaps from you guys over yonder so I figure it's only fair we should do the same

Impressive land you have there and not at all what I thought of Aus.. I always think it is a land of sand and dust. I didn't realize it looks so lush.......and you have cows too I thought all you buggers had was dingo, rabbits and roos along with a few million sheep. You learn something everyday.

Looks like a nice place for a scoot. Thanks for sharing and next time take proper pics would ya (that includes all the bikes you see along the way, specially all those Kats you buggers are rounding up down there).

Good stuff and thanks for thinking of us.

Spyug

Yeah it surprises a lot of folk from what I can tell Spyug, everyone seems to expect desert and bush with kangaroos hopping up to our front doors... there's lots of dairy farms out that way and Mt Glorious has a lot of rain forest as well.

I'll definitely try to take better pic's next time and I might even get some at Woodford where all the bikes congregate.

Interestingly enough I didn't spot a single Katana this time around... maybe they don't play in the rain?

Actually, here's some from a quick jaunt John, his son, and I took a little while ago over Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious when it wasn't raining. This if from a lookout on Mt Glorious, and again phone pic's I'm sorry:

[spyug]

Well someday, when my ship comes in, I'll need to get down there and scope that out for myself. I've alway had a hankering to see the Anzac homelands.

When I was a kid growing up in south Wales, one of my favourite TV shows was the Flying Doctor and I just thought that was the neatest thing, that the land was so big you needed to have the doc fly in to see you. As I remember there was a lot of sand, roos and dingos in that one too.

Towards the end of my highschool year a buddy and I were actually looking in to coming down to drive the cross country big rig "trains" Oddly, they were recruiting for drivers over here at that time. My mum nixed that for me..........way too far away.

I guess we get a lot of our info about you from TV and movies so we see things like Mad Max and Crocodile Dundee and figure that's how it is down there. I suppose its the same for you. You likely think we live in a snow zone, in igloos, hunt seals and run away from polar bears on our skis or mushing our dog teams. Some do, but where Gatekeeper, I and a few of the others live we are on the same latitude as Italy and while we have 5 to 6 months of white hell (but oddly not this year) the other parts of the year, especially summer, can be hot and muggy. We actually live in the 'fruit belt" of whats known as the "Golden Horseshoe. Not a bad place by and large.

Well maybe someday I'll turn up on your doorstep.

Cheers mate,
Spyug

[pete]

Well it's definitely a good place to live for me, so I reckon it's probably worth a visit

Don't worry, if you head out west of here it gets plenty open and bushy then sandy... and there's a great big rock in the middle as well.

For me Canada's just cold and snowy, so it's interesting to hear you get warm and muggy there... funny how things just aren't as advertised isn't it?