Beresfield to Huntlee Tavern

10 February 2024 / story by John Purcell, Photos by Rob Wilkinson

Tuesday:

            Bloody hell another 40 plus degree day, the paddock is dust and it’s another day to keep the poor old dog in the air conditioning. Hope tomorrow isn’t the same or the run to Dungog will be a scorcher.

Wednesday:

            What a change from 40+ to 16 degrees and rain, bring on the rain, who cares if we need to do our run with the roofs up, at least it will be comfortable. We met at Hungry Jacks at the end of the M1, Beresfield, with  14 members and Nick’s father who is visiting from England standing under the awning for the pre-run meeting while the rain mists down, no one is complaining.

            Leaving Beresfield in 9 cars the convoy first proceeded towards Raymond Terrace before doing a U-turn through the tight country roads zig-zagging their way back towards Morpeth. Crossing the Hunter River the group passed through Seaham and Clarence Town for morning tea at Dungog but not before Nick was on the radio to say his ND’s low tyre pressure indicator had just come on. A quick stop for a tyre check and reset then back on the road to Jubilee Park where the rain stayed away while we all enjoyed a chat and a nice warm cuppa.

            With morning tea over it’s mount up and head out towards Bingleburra road, taking the potholes aside it’s an interesting little windy road that heads up along a ridge line (normally with nice views for the passengers) before descending down again through a few tight sections to arrive at East Gresford. This section made more interesting as the rain was on again and road conditions were hard to see especially when we drove into the low cloud. “Where’d the car in front go?”.  At this point in time two of the convoy thought to brave the misting rain opting to lower their roofs with comment on how much better it was not to have the roofs up, at least until the rain decided to come done more earnestly.

At Bolwarra the convoy cranked a sharp right turn onto Maitland Vale Road to continue following the Hunter River to our destination at Huntley. The Tavern is only a few years old, very spacious with very helpful staff so a long lunch prevailed.

Many thanks to both Glenn & Denise for organising both the run and lunch.