travellingbennetts

The return to normality can be tough. Post Tour Sorrow Disorder, more commonly known by its PTSD acronym, becomes a risk particularly when a friend’s first question is where the next big trip will be? The C2C is over, and completing the laundry has become a highlight of the week although the presence of a riding shirt creates despair and melancholy; I remember wearing this when a) I ignored a tout at the pyramids, b) I got scared by a lion, and c) I ate so much lunch from the Compass support vehicle that it stretched and never recovered. The lack of focus on a future activity, so long a benefit of the planning and execution of an 80-plus day expedition, means searching around to re-discover the simple joys of the pre-C2C routine.

The solution? Recognising and remembering that all riding is fun. It doesn’t have to involve smashing through the wilds of Ethiopia, even riding to work or a short trip to have coffee with friends at the monthly BMWMCQ event requires putting on the riding jacket and getting out onto the roads, only now it is on my faithful waiting-patiently-at-home BMW R850R (“The Beast”).

With that philosophy in mind, we decided that our Labour Day long weekend in Melbourne to see daughter Kate would be incomplete without some motored riding. After a Saturday distraction from our PTSD at the hilarious The Book Of Mormon musical – created by the same blokes who do South Park so you know it will be naughty – we headed out to Grant Evan’s Off Track Motorcycle Rental in Tullamarine on the Sunday afternoon to collect the bikes. Cindy had taken the “no guts, no glory” approach to one-legged motorcycle renting and had selected a 2017 1200GS, while selecting a new 800GSA for me and pillion Kate.

After trying several seat height and suspension setting combinations on the 1200GS, Cindy decided that not being able to touch the ground was likely to damage the bike, person, and reputation trifecta, so chose a new 700GS with a low seat and the new electronics package instead. This left us in a very awkward situation. Who on earth was now going to ride the brand new 1200GS, with its power and speed, comprehensive electronics package including cruise control and a wide range of rider mode settings, quick shift assist, and comfort for both rider and pillion?

Taking on board Martin Luther King Jnr’s sentiment that there can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love, I decided that I didn’t deeply love the 800GSA enough to not make the switch to the 1200GS. Besides, the new 800GS and GSA electronics package is pretty much the same as the 1200GS so I was basically testing it anyway.

So we mounted up, and headed west toward Ballarat through the thick Sunday traffic, with Kate head-butting from behind to let me know whenever I’d done a sloppy gear change. The busy highway provided minimal opportunity to re-familiarise myself with the 1200GS features, until we reached the Trentham turn-off and swung north, at which time finding the hand warmers button became essential. A stop was required in Greendale to suit up some more, with the temperature gauge valiantly trying to stay in the teens but being relentlessly forced back.

As we hadn’t left Off Track until nearly 4pm, it became obvious that the planned overnight in Maldon was several towns too far, particularly with wombat warning signs becoming part of the highway furniture as we cruised through the dimming Lederderg forests. Relying ever more on the steadiness of the 1200GS on the increasingly winding roads, we decided that as we had never been to Maldon, we couldn’t possibly deeply love it, but we could all definitely and deeply love Daylesford.

On dusk we rolled through town, doing the usual intercom chatter about whether this motel on the left or that boutique B&B on the right would be best, because it is closer to town/boutique brewery/restaurant strip/tattoo parlour. Deciding against needing a celebratory “Daylesford is Bloody Cold” tattoo, we selected the Central Springs Inn which had the appearance of an inn but the functionality of a motel, and stood around in the cooling office until the checking in formalities were completed and we were off to the rooms. A trip down to the up-market Daylesford Hotel for a very acceptable dinner, with IPA on tap and a full wine list, and then we were back to the inn and in bed with the air conditioner set at 26°C to simulate a Brisbane summer.

Up bright and early to give ourselves the most possible time on the road, we then remembered that Kate wasn’t getting up bright and early even if the inn was burning down, so loitered about until 9am. We’d seen a sign coming into Daylesford the previous evening to a Lost Children’s Memorial, so decided this should be the first stop. The story turned out to be a tragic one, on a Sunday in June 1867 three young boys aged 7, 5 and 4 wandered on an adventure around Daylesford. On numerous occasions in the afternoon they were seen and stopped by people who either told them the way to go home, or tried to assist them by getting them transport, however the eldest always insisted they were alright and they headed further into the bush. The weather turned very cold and nasty that night, and from the next morning the whole community was out fruitlessly searching. Three months later, a farmer’s dog brought home a leg bone with a small boot attached, and the boy’s bodies were found in a hollow tree near the memorial, about 3km from where they had last been seen alive.

With Cindy giving the new 700GS a test run on the gravel when turning around at the memorial, but not bothering to engage Enduro mode, we headed north via Hepburn Springs, Newstead, and Maldon, and arrived in Bendigo in late morning for a fortifying caffeine and some site-seeing about the historic town. By now, the quick shift assist on the 1200GS had become part of the normal operating repertoire, resulting in a significant decrease in pillion back-of-head-butting incidents. Lunch was a pie in the picturesque town of Castlemaine, before a meander back to Off Track via Kyneton, Woodend, and Lancefield where the roads could provide some cornering challenges for the GSs’es. The final run down to Tullamarine on the fast roads after Romsey also highlighted a great feature of the 1200GS – the windscreen actually works, and no earplugs are required.

A great day in some nice countryside within an easy ride of Melbourne, and the PTSD was pushed back just a little. Can see the attraction of a 1200GS for the next grand world tour though.