Mid-week Run to Gunning

15 August 2022 / Words and pictures by Rod Nicholas

You would think, as the Run Leader and the Chapter’s Runs Coordinator, that I would remember when the run was on. In my mind, I had it fixed that mid-week runs were on Wednesday – good old ‘Hump Day’ – so you may imagine my surprise when a peek into my diary revealed only an appointment with the dentist on Wednesday. ‘Well, that explains why registrations were referring to Tuesday’s run’ I thought, and I confirmed the same when I checked what I’d put up on the website.

But registrations were good, so all looked ok. Until the rain. The relentless bucketing our region received a few days before the planned run. A downpour that saw more than 100 ml in a few hours cut roads around the region, closed low level crossings, and saturated the road shoulders. The run looked in doubt, but I kept an open mind and checked local government websites frequently for road closures. ‘Roads may be closed in poor weather’ one local site unhelpfully advised.

One leg of the proposed run had to be abandoned when the rains undermined a culvert beneath the road. No great problem, I thought, so I advised all registered that the run was on and supplied the route details. ‘Hey Rod’ one member said in a quick email, ‘did you know the pub bistro will be closed on Tuesday’. Hmph! A pub lunch run without a pub, that’s a first. No great problem though, I thought, we’ve got a few feeding choices, and we’ll make a decision on the day.

Run day was sunny but cold. I headed out to be early for the start. My chosen route, to get to get the Cotter Reserve where we were leaving from, was closed due to the rain (that unhelpful website proved to be just that). When I finally got to the start, still early, most of the participants were there waiting.

 

They were all waiting for the run leader to show

A short while later, photos taken and dam wall viewed, we were all assembled for starter’s instructions.

There was plenty of water spilling over the wall

We have done this route before, but it's heaps of fun so our little convoy of nine cars (10 members) headed out towards Uriarra and onwards to Mountain Creek Road, Wee Jasper Road and the edges of Yass. I had intended to then head to Murrumbateman, on to the Murrumbateman Road and Gundaroo before finishing at Gunning, but the rain last week had put an end to that. With Murrumbateman Road closed we made our way out of Yass, down the Yass Valley Way to the Hume Highway and then to Gunning.

We tried for a photo shoot before lunch, gathering in Barbour Park that sits beside Meadow Creek in the middle of the town. The park was pretty full already – caravans and campervans and a very expensive looking fifth-wheeler, but our little cars, almost but not quite exclusively NDs, were quite the stars.

We almost outnumbered the camper vans, caravans and fifth-wheelers at the park

A while later we took lunch at the Merino Café, a worthy substitute for the pub.

Once we’d talked ourselves out, we headed home - most of us through to Gundaroo and Mulligans Flat Road to the outskirts of Gungahlin, rather than driving to Sutton and home via the highway. This last bit was pretty good, until we hit the roadworks less than a kilometre before we entered the suburbs. There we waited for almost ten minutes, giving plenty of time to review the run.

The roads were in surprisingly good condition; Mountain Creek and Wee Jasper Roads especially were in very good nick notwithstanding the rain. Burrinjuck Dam was chockers, and the waters were spilling out to outer reaches that haven’t seen that sort of moisture for years. We encountered one small hiccup at the lower end of Mountain Creek Road where local farmers were clearing debris and mud from the road as we passed - our cars must have presented an interesting diversion from their mud-caked work. Towards Yass the bitumen has started to peel off in a few places, although mostly along the centre line of the road and easily avoided. Elsewhere it was fine.

All up, another enjoyable short run that left us smiling (until we saw how grubby our cars were).

Thanks to all who came along. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.