Phil's Cheese n Horses Run

25 August 2015 / Story : Rachel Crawford Pictures: Josh Fitzgerald

What a difference a day makes, with the Hunter temperatures reaching a very warm 28+ degrees on Saturday we knew that it could not last and Sunday dawned to a rain system that stretched the length and breadth of the region.

As a dedicated group of members assembled at BP Beresfield, the conversation focused on the BOM radar and if there was any hope of some lids off driving during the day. Mark Gray's inspirational comment was "there's not much rain - you'll be fine", as he headed off home to look after the sick Lynda.

With 10 members, 2 prospective members (Steve and Trish who deserve special mention for making the effort on such an inclement day) and a visitor, we headed off up the Hunter Express way to Lovedale and on to the scenic hunter roads around the wineries. One up side of the rain was the Pokolbin traffic was much lighter than normal and the group was easily able to stay together as we made our way to our first stop at Broke.

With "Standing water on left edge of road" claiming the prize as the most repeated phrase over the radio for the day. It was decided at Broke that it was not worth the risk of potentially closed causeway and the route from Jerries Plans via Bureen to Denman was dropped for the, less interesting but guaranteed open Golden Highway to Denman for morning tea.

More viewing of the BOM radar was had, with the 128km loop looking promising and the ability to walk back to our cars without a umbrella, there was some hope of the roofs coming down. The dark clouds over the Barrington Tops, put an end to that thought and we took off towards our lunch stop at Gundy.

We turned off the Golden Highway on to Mangoola Rd and did the railway line zig zag. With great views across the middle of the Hunter and definitely a road less travelled, it was a pity that the wipers were running almost all of the time. The stretch along Kayuga Road, producing great water displays as the MX-5s crossed the multiple causeways along this road.

We crossed over the New England Highway and on to Segenhoe Road. The lovely cherry blossom trees that line this road, made it feel that spring might possible be in the air, it was just a shame that the continued rain made them hard to appreciate. Traversing the many water logged spots and some pretty poor road surface, we finally made it to the Linga Longa Inn at Gundy for a hearty pub lunch.

The weather having make the trip out significantly longer than normal and lunch concluding at about 2:45pm, the group decided that making your own way home via the highway was the best way forward. Saying goodbye to hopefully two new members we all made our own way back home. I'm hoping to be able to do this run again in the future, but on a much sunnier day.

Click here to see lots more of Josh's photos.