5 day tour of the Claire Valley

Day -3

As usual, I tend to leave the details until the last moment, so today I decided I'd better arrange the accommodating. Opened up the RACV accommodating guide and started at the top. As chance would have it the first call managed to find accommodation. When I queried the owner that "I thought you'd be busy?" he replied "It's not that busy this time of year!". This response didn't mean a lot until I arrived at Clare.

Day 1

The plan was to leave at 6:00, so when I woke up at 6:15 obviously the timetable would be delayed a little.

Had breakfast and dressed appropriately. The long range forecast didn't mention rain, so I hoped they were right. Decided against taking the leathers and instead wore long johns and jeans which kept me warm enough. I had the liner in the jacket as well as it wasn't all that warm.

Left at 7:15 and traveled through quite a lot of fog until Yarragon when the weather cleared up.

Stopped at the Shell Shop just before West Gate bridge for fuel and made sure I took the key, as I didn't want some young guy running off with my vehicle :) Up the Bolte Bridge, the Tullamarine Tollway (Freeway for us bikers) and off up the Calder Highway. Stopped at Charlton for fuel and a salad roll for lunch.

I obviously didn't get enough sleep last night as I started yawning and having a few micro-sleep episodes, so at Ouyen I stopped and had a Power Nap at the football ground. Good stuff this Power Nap behavior as I woke up refreshed and continued on my way. I still have reservations as to the safety aspects of napping in the open though.

As I rode into South Australia I was struck by the number of deaths that occur on corners. As I'm sure you all know, SA has a policy of marking vehicle death sites with black posts. The majority of these are at the beginnings of corners. Clearly a fatigue issue. For the first time I noticed that the black posts had decorative Christmas themes - so sad. I was amused by the public strategy of the SA Police Department: Now targeting speeding, drunk driving and fatigue. Do they have one up on Victoria and have a 'Fatigue Meter'?

Filled up with fuel at Renmark. Turned off just after Renmark and took the back way to Morgan. I had planned to travel through Eudunda but instead traveled through Burra. Just needed to travel an extra few hundred metres at Morgan, but I'd convinced myself that the Eudunda road came off the Burra road, not so!

Arrived at Clare a little after 8:00. Since I wasn't that meticulous in writing down where I was staying, I looked up the first item in the RACV accommodating guide. This was the Quality Resort Clare. As I introduced myself I was returned with a "Huh? No, we don't have you in our system." Oh oh, got it wrong again. I'd booked at the second entry, the Clare Central Motel. They checked for me and sure enough I was in the wrong place. They tried to win me over to them but they couldn't match the rates.

Rode to the Clare Central Motel and booked in. Part of the deal is a free continental breakfast which comprises two slices of white bread, Milk and Orange Juice. I asked if they had Vegemite and the owner responded "Oh sure!" and then proceeded to search for the prepackaged breakfast portions. After a very thorough search, he handed me three packets. Great!

Clare Central Motel had a restaurant, but, as this was the 'quiet time' time of year, the chef had been given a week off and the restaurant was now closed. Wonderful! I could smell the food being prepared at the Quality Resort, so off I go and have dinner there. Now the Quality Resort has so many stars in its rating that you just about to have sunglasses on to read how many they have. The restaurant seemed a little 'staff level challenged' as they didn't seem to have quite as many people as they needed to handle the number of people.

It's holiday time - to hell with the diet - lets enjoy. The soup of the day didn't turn me on, so I had garlic bread and fillet beef for dinner. Since I was riding, I needed to be responsible, so only one glass of wine with dinner.

Rode home and slept soundly.

Day 2

Up at 8:00 and had breakfast. The Vegemite had clearly seen better days and had the consistency of boot polish.

I decide to do a quick lap of the town to check out where and what facilities are available. Seems most places are shut until the 4th of January, great. The Wineries don't seem to be much better, seeming to open at 11:00 am if they are open at all.

You have to realise that there are wineries and there are wineries. Some are huge and some are tiny. Quite a few of the wineries have decided that they are 'weekend only' and only open say between Thursday and Sunday. This option doesn't help me, as I'll be gone by the weekend. The other factor is that instead of opening at say 8:00 or 9:00, 11:00 seems to be the go. The official Clare tourist information brochure needs to be interpreted with care.

Right around the corner from the motel is the Knappstien winery tasting facility. Great, it's shut. Walking around Clare I quickly come to the conclusion that nothing will be open until the 4th of January. Very, very quiet commercially.

Bought a salad roll and a bottle of apple juice and set out to find Brooks Lookout. Head North and follow the Blyth road and about 10 km out there's a sign pointing to the right for the lookout. The road is unsealed and meanders a far bit before arriving at the lookout car park. Walking though two pairs of two spring return gates you reach a picnic table with a roof. A little further on there is a bench seat with no cover. The view is fantastic. The only issue were the flies, they were everywhere, which made eating lunch a bit of a gymnastic exercise - munch, swat, swat, swat, etc.

What to do with the rest of the afternoon? Maybe a ride will fill in the time? Horrock's Pass is only 200 km away, let's go.

Extremely pleasant weather, not a cloud in the sky and cool breeze to boot. By the time I'd ridden through Horrock's Pass and stopped at the rest stop half way down the Port Augusta side, the wind had picked up to about 60 kph. There's a road that leaves the main road on the right and heads towards Port Augusta so I thought I'd investigate. Sure enough the road ends up at Stirling North, but, it would have to be the bumpiest sealed road I've ever traveled on. Together with the wind off the gulf and the single lane road, all I could manage was 90 kph.

Filled up at Port Augusta and rode back over Horrock's Pass. Just before Wilmington, there is a dirt road signposted "Lookout 7 km". Let's have a look. The road is unsealed and varies between dirt and stone and has a nasty knack of veering off to left or right at the top of a crest. I surprised a goanna at one creek and it quickly backtracked. Finally reaching the lookup was wonderful. The view across Spencer's Gulf and across Snake Gully was wonderful. Good enough for a picture. I take out the camera and press the power button only to be greeted with a feeble "Bleep!" "What?!!!" I try a few more times and only fail. Fine! Plan B. I reach into my backpack for the spare batteries and fit them confidant that I animate the camera. This time not even a "Bleep". The spare batteries are worse than the originals. Grrrrr! I really must get an adapter to enable me to reach the battery on the bike and recharge my batteries. Next time.

Instead of traveling home the same way I came, I traveled across to Orroro. Interesting how the ride into Orroro and Wilmington are similar. Both travel across a range of hills before reaching the town. I then head South and head for Clare.

This time I leave the bike at the Motel and walk to the Quality Resort for dinner, a distance of 1.5 km. This time I have the soup of the day, the fillet beef and a bottle of Kilikanoon Mort Block Riesling. I've never heard of this wine but gave it a go, and my what a fine wine.

Walked back to the Clare Central Motel and slept soundly.

Day 3

Up at 8:00 and rode to the Safeway store completely ignoring the one way loop in the car park much to the ire of a few vehicles. Bought a heavier bread, Vegemite as well as a bit of fruit. Back to the motel and had breakfast.

Today I decided that I'd try the Riesling Trail. The trail is the route traveled by the old railway and goes all the way to Auburn. The surface is crushed rock and services pedestrians and push bikes. I headed off for Sevenhill (after the seven hills of Rome) and kept a reasonable pace. The grades were easy as befits a railway line, but the trend was up, up and up, no downgrades at all. Sevenhill is about a 7 km walk. Knappstiens is still closed as is Leasingham Wines as is Kirihill Estates Salt n Vines. I guess this is the sightseeing part of the tour.

At the crossroad to Sevenhill I notice signs pointing to several wineries. The closest is St Aloysius, a mere 300 metres uphill and they are OPEN. The path in takes you through the 'Stations of the Cross' meandering past dams and over bridges eventually ending up at an imposing church. I had a quick look and it sure is one of those 'old feel' churches. A note attached to the door cautioned patrons to make sure the door was closed as if a bird should happen to get in they are very difficult to get out.

Walked across the lawns on the way to the tasting area and decided to take in the scenery, so I sat down at a table and started munching on some grapes. Soon after I was visited by a cat which seemed rather pleased so see me. I stroked its back which it seemed to enjoy but it drew the line when I went in the direction of its stomach and received a token nip. Fine, that's all the attention you get from me. As I'm eating the grapes, the cat clearly sees things I can't and starts leaping up tree trunks and across branches. As I resume my walk I cross paths with a man who lives there so I ask him about the cat. He informs me that the cats name is Frontignac. Strange name I say. He informs me that the the colour of Frontignac is the same as the colour of the cats fur, hence the name. Had a sample of the Riesling and moved on.

Walked to Sevenhill which is not a town but a locality centred on a pub on the main road. Kept walking to the next cross road and was faced with about ten winery signs with all but two pointing away from Clare. They were all 3 or so km further up, just a bit to far for the poor feet to carry me as I still had to get home, so I opted to head back towards Clare and drop in at Ingham's Skilly Vineyard. As I walk up to the property I'm cheerfully informed that they are closed.

Continued walking with the intended location of Neagle Rock Vineyards and restaurant which from the tour guide map looks to be on the same road I'm on. But no, artistic license, the restaurant is actually on the main road, so off I go and had a welcome refreshing salad sandwich for lunch, even though it was 2:30.

That's it for the visiting, all I wanted to do was get back to the Motel, so I take the main road back to Clare. Clearly the walking idea is not the way to visit the wineries. A push bike would be a better option, next time. It's all about compromise: tasting wines at each winery clearly puts my license at risk, but walking is just to slow although I can drink as much as I like. Perhaps the coach tour might be the way out of this dilemma?

Back at the Motel I checked the reading on the pedometer to find that I'd only walked 14,000 paces today. The machine clearly is not counting every pace I take as the walk today was in the order of 26,000 paces. I've retired it. My mother gave it to me when I went on the last Central Australian tour, so I thought this tour would be a perfect way to see how far I've walked. Pity some technology doesn't quite get it right.

Had dinner at the Chaff Mill restaurant located about two blocks from the motel. Soup of the day, garlic bread and more fillet beef for dinner.

Slept very soundly tonight.

Day 4

Up at 8:00 and had breakfast.

Rode down to Auburn and went to Taylors and Annie's Lane. The front of the Taylors building is very imposing, high and long, made of white brick with gothic arches regularly spaced across the front. I was a bit disappointed when I went into the tasting room as it was quite small. Annie's Lane had an older feel to it. They had two Rieslings to sample. I was familiar with one having found it on the wine list at Yulara I was told that this one is a blend of all the vines in the district, giving it a very smooth taste. The other Riesling was from their Annie Lane vineyard which is close to Sevenhill. This Riesling had much more character.

Rode out to Mintaro and had a look around.

Had a salad roll made up for me at the Bakers in Clare and had lunch at Brooks Lookout a most relaxing place. I thought I'd try the camera one more time and this learnt the art of taking photographs by using the timer. My first attempt was to try and just take a picture. Success. Next I set the camera on the picnic table and worked out the sequence to get the timer going. There were two options: 10 seconds and 2 seconds delay. I reasonably opted for the 10 second delay. Once the sequence is started, the camera gives off a beep every second and then for the last second, the camera beeps quicker until the picture is taken. My next attempt worked just fine except that I had the zoom level set too close - you could barely see me. Adjusted the zoom to be a bit closer and the picture below is the result. Keeping still for the required time without moving was a daunting task as the flies moved in as soon as I stopped waving my arms.

Rode out to where I'd seen the mass of signs pointing the wrong way yesterday. My what close bunch of wineries, you could easily walk amongst these as they are so close together, just far away from anywhere else. First I went to Stringy Brae Wineries, then Skillogalee Winery, Mitchell Winery and finally Penna Lane winery. Amazing the difference in taste between these wineries.

I was really looking forward to visiting Kilikanoon winery as I was going to purchase some wine to take home with me after tasting it at the Quality Resort. Kilikanoon is right next to Penna Lane, unfortunately they weren't open. What a shame. Where else can I get the wine. The pub at Sevenhill makes the claim to have all the best premium wines so I stopped in on the way back to Clare, and behold, there was the wine in the cooler. I bought two bottles.

Rode back to Clare and walked to the Quality Resort for dinner. I ordered soup of the day, garlic bread, fillet beef and a bottle of Kilikanoon wine. A few minutes later the waiter came back to inform me that they have run out of the Kilikanoon wine. "You're joking!" I exclaim. If I'd known that I'd have tried another restaurant. Oh well, I tried the Skillogalee.

Walked back and had another good sleep.

Day 5 - Clare to home.

Woke up at exactly 6:00 and set about packing up and having breakfast, leaving a little after 7:00.

Decided to take a different route home and traveled back through Adelaide. For the first time I managed to take the correct route through Adelaide and not have to back track like I used to. It easy once you know how.

Started getting tired around Bordertown but continued on to Nhill, where I stopped for lunch and got my 'second wind'. The shopkeepers were being kept amused by three or so police cars that had pulled up a car and were going through the contents piece by piece.

I still can't work out the logic that the authorities use to decide what the maximum speed of a road is to be. It just makes no sense to slow down to 100 kph once you hit the Victorian border and then have to wait until Ballarat before you can travel at 110 kph again. It sure makes for a longer trip. This route home is 100 or so kilometres shorter than traveling through Mildura but the travel time is about the same.

The only excitement occurred just before Ballarat when the traffic was caught up behind a large harvesting machine. The polite thing to do was to wait for your turn to pass the harvester. At the point where the car in front of me went to pass, I judged that there was enough clear highway in front of us to follow him as well. All went well until a Mercedes commercial van with its horn blaring flew past us. I guess he figured he could pass us all and we were in his way. And as is most always the case with someone passing you, the van turned off a few intersections later. Go figure?

Making great time until I approached the West Gate bridge and discovered that bridgeworks were in progress. From Williamstown road to the crest of the bridge was a snails pace, just not quite fast enough the idle in first gear, so I was constantly using the clutch, starting and stopping. Maybe those in power could restrict the lanes earlier to give motorists a chance to get into the lanes that are not blocked. Would that make traffic flow better?

Enjoyed my time away and will do things a little different next time I visit.

All up I traveled about 2,800 km.