Maranup Ford Ride 5,6,7 March

[bmwlefty]

Is anyone organising a departure from Catalanos on the Saturday morning for a ride down to Maranup Ford for the long weekend?

[goodguy]

A good call there Lefty, last year proved to be a great little event, with a few of us attending, your guitar & vocals being most appreciated. I would arrive back home Mon, then the following Fri I will be heading off with the Albany cvmc for three weeks upon their Sth Aust/Melbourne ride, so might?... have to give that a miss. Those within the club looking for a great couple of motorcycle day's at a top location with good people, do get along there. Maranup Ford is a tucked away within the bush caravan park, a short ride from the sleepy town of Greenbushes surrounded by great motorcycling on/off road country, the Nannup music festival down the road is also happening that weekend.

[Richard Hughes]

Hope to see a few old faces for this one, not too far from home so Me and Ev will be taking the old bikes on Sunday night.

[bwanainoz]

FYI: If you intend camping at Maranup Ford Caravan park, they do not have card facilities and accept cash only. Also no café/shop so bring in supplies as required.

[bmwlefty]

So, four of us left my place at 11:oo am Saturday
Jodee, Noel, Eddie, and me.
We had a pleasant, uneventful ride down via Forrest Highway, a quick stop for Noel to get some fuel, then Hynes Rd, Dardanup, Donnybrook and on to Balingup for a snack,
before a slightly scenic tour of Greenbushes, and on to Maranup Ford Caravan Park.
Apparently Jodee was very pleased with her new 700 twin.

A few of the Albany Vintage Club were there, with most of their Members opting to stay home this weekend,
to get ready for their trip through South Australia, starting next weekend.

I entertained the crowd with a few songs, before Ron from Albany escorted me over to the Caravan crowd, where 3 other guitarists were playing.
I joined in for a while, and then went off to bed

About mid-morning we headed off to Nannup, and soon caught up to some of the Albany crew who were sitting on a nice safe pace (speed limit, some of you may have heard of it )
We sat behind them, around the beautiful curves and hills, enjoying the ride until some F***wit in a Four Wheel Drive on our left, decided to let 3 bikes past, but pulled out on the fourth and fifth one, followed by the sidecar, and the four of us.
There was enough room for his vehicle, but the 25 - 30 ft Caravan he was towing made for some quick braking.
Lucky we were sitting on the limit, with good spacing, or the tragic weekend road toll could have been a bit higher !

After wandering around Nannup for a while,met Goldie and Dave McClelland, Richard and Evelyn Hughes, we regrouped (Eddie, Jodee, and me) and headed into Balingup for Lunch
We were grateful for Dave's warning about roadworks on the Nannup-Balingup Raod. Pea gravel and Blue metal on the corners was a bit slippery at some points.

After Lunch we rode back through Greenbushes, and out to the Caravan Park, where we met 6 cows, just before the bridge, 4 were in the ditch, was on the edge of the road, and one right in the middle!
I slowed right down, and luckily they moved off to the ditch, and all was well.
They were rounded up and put away soon after.
A few other members turned up during the day, some stayed, some just for a visit.

Sunday night, a few went into Greenbushes for tea, while Eddie and I stayed behind to cook what we had taken with us.
On the way back, Jodee had to kick a Kangaroo out of the way, as she did not like it bounding along beside her !

I got out the guitar again, and played a few requests, and some other songs I had not played for a while.
I must be getting old, as I think I was in bed before Midnight.
Monday morning saw us all packing up and heading home,

Big Thanks to everyone who came down, and made it a great weekend away.

[bwanainoz]

Great weekend thanks Lefty.