Long Ride - Day 20 - Cann River to Sale

To say we were glad to be away from Cooma would be an understatement.  Not that the town is one that you wouldn't want to stay in, it's just that since we left the temperature has continually been below zero at night (-8 last night) and not much higher during the day.  It would've been a nightmare to have ridden in, and anyone who says it's not that bad is a liar.

Cann River hotel, a beautiful old building.

 

We left Cann River after the temperature had risen a little, while waiting for it to do so, I went and got a coffee and fruit salad from the café across the road from the motel.  While ordering it the owner of the café asked me if I would sell my jacket, I was wearing the one I had won at the auction at Atherton, the Ace Café - London one that had cost me $210.  As much as I would've said yes for the right price the guy understood when I told him how I had obtained it.  Obviously he also understood the significance of the Ace Café.

 

While talking to him about the Long Ride he showed me his BSA that sat right in the middle of his café.  He uses this old bike to deliver the lunch to the local school each day.  He was extremely interested in what we told him about the Long Ride, where we had been and where we were going.  He was keen to point out that this area was a big bike area, we'd sort of gathered that.

 

We took off towards Orbost in warm sunshine, although in the shade it was still quite cold.  The ride of about 78 kilometres was through thick bushland and featured some great corners. With it still being a little cold in places we stopped and enjoyed a hot soup, then set of again. 

Just having a bit of fun.

  

I couldn't resist and had to have a bit of a squirt.  Despite the weight of the XV1600 (350kg, plus around 150kg or rider and gear) it handles really well and was actually quite a bit of fun.  Certainly not a rocket ship through the twisties but still fun.

Once reaching Orbost I waited for the others and then we headed through the town, I'd never been here before so wanted to have a look.  It was anything special so we took off for Lakes Entrance.

 

About 60 kilometres further down the road Lakes Entrance is essentially a tourist town with a background in fishing.  With a safe harbour from Bass Strait it's a great place to see commercial fishing vessels as well as privately owned cruisers however, it is becoming quite commercial and it is started to show.

 

We stopped here for a bite top eat at a place that was essentially an antique shop that had a café.  The potato and leak soup was sensational and really hit the spot.  We also visited the pub to place a bet on a 'sure thing', it ran fourth and probably wasn't the smartest run by the jockey.  Oh well.

 

There's some beautiful old buildings is Sale.  Worth a look.

We'd spent the best part of a few hours at Lakes Entrance and by now it was starting to get a little late in the day.  The sun was coming down and now shining straight into our faces as we headed for Bairnsdale, the last of any interesting roads.  We essentially passed through and headed for Sale, the last stop of the Long Ride.  It certainly felt like it was coming to an end.

 

Once in Sale we settled on the Hacienda Motel, the same place some of us stayed during the last Long Ride.  It's a strange place and looks a lot like a cheap version of the place in Melrose Place, with a pool in the middle and the rooms around the outside.  The rooms themselves are very reminiscent of something from the 1970's.  At least it was a comfortable bed.

 

A final rest!

Once unpacked we headed for The Star Hotel for dinner.  The place looks fancy, and was certainly packed, but it you are after a decent feed, forget it.  I had penne carbonara and while it tasted pretty good, the sauce was so runny that it had drained completely to the bottom, even some packaged pastas were better than this.  Other meals looked good but again weren't.  It seemed the place wasn't so good at cooking chicken as all versions of it were overcooked.  It was a pity because the place really did look the goods.

 

Sale is a funny place, as it doesn't really seem like the place that you would stay for a night or longer however, it has some amazing looking pubs and bars.  The town has tried to retain its original charm with modern style bars and restaurants.  It really does work.

 

After a night of celebrating the ride we headed back to the hotel and prepared for the last day of the Long Ride.

 

In all we had travelled around 250 kilometres, only a short day but it had taken the total completed up to 7, 418 kilometres.