Crickets are chirping, the days now have a chilly edge to them and leaves are turning colour - Autumn is in the air. A perfect time to visit Melbourne's renown Dandenong Ranges. Yes, always there on the Eastern horizon reliably providing us with television pictures since 1956 and much loved by Melbournites. We've had a few rides to the Dandys this year. We think we know them well, but there are always new delights to discover and besides, how pleasant to be reacquainted with an old friend.
This ride was held at the same time last year to celebrate the growing number of classic Vespas that have joined the club. The Autumn colours were stunning. So, classic owners, de-coke your cylinder, adjust the tension of your cables, tighten your wheel rim nuts, practise your gear changes, put a new candle in your headlight and prepare your favourite aromatic two-stroke fuel mix. This will be a leisurely ride for one and all undertaken in short stages.
The ride starts with a grand parade of gleaming Vespas along the majestic tree-lined Mont Albert Road. Our route through the Hills looks like a drunken pretzel as we criss-cross the slopes of Mount Dandenong going as far South East as Emerald. But all this meandering will take us along some of the most beautiful roads in the Ranges past villages nestled in the hills with quaint names such as Sassafras, Olinda, Kalorama, Monbulk, Kalista and Sherbrooke. We'll delve off the main tourist roads whenever possible and ride through forests of towering Mountain Ash and Stringybark, buzz past 1920s guest houses and gracious homes with European gardens and plunge into verdant fern gullies all the while breathing in the fresh eucalypt-scented mountain air exquisitely blended with a cheeky twist of two-stroke oil. Hairpin bends, steep hills and thrilling descents will make us feel alive and invigorated.
After some scenic delights, a Devonshire Tea (well what other kind of refreshment would you have in the Dandys?) will fill up our tummies. A few minutes later, a stroll through the beautiful gardens of Burnham Beeches will help us digest the scones and cream. It's three-storey mansion is an Art Deco masterpiece designed in the 1930s for Alfred Nicholas the inventor of Asprin. We can discuss how the Streamlined Moderne style of that era influenced the lines of our Vespas as we admire the colours of the deciduous trees plantings. We'll have a late picnic lunch at Emerald Lake.
The round trip is about 154 kms. You should do that distance comfortably on a tank with perhaps a switch to reserve on the way home. However, please arrive at the Abbotsford Convent with a full tank of fuel. Finding a petrol station in the hills is not an easy matter. If just one scooter needs fuel, it will mean a detour for us all and that will effect the flow of the ride. Petrol is available towards the end of the ride at Emerald. Here is a link to the planned route on Motowhere and remember to pack that picnic lunch:
Comments
Dear David....reading these great comments makes me only feel more sad about having to miss the day. If you're going to go on another trek to make sure the Dandenongs are still there ahead of next year's run, please let me know as I'd love to join you! Cheers. Dom
ahhhh... - Greg
Thank you Julie, Trevor, Phil, John and Clare for your kind comments on the ride and thanks to one and all for making it such a smooth and enjoyable experience. It was a complex route with lots of turns and the corner markers did an excellent job of keeping us right on schedule throughout the day. Congratulations to our first time riders. Hope you will come back for more adventures with the club. Particular thanks to Julie who set a new high standard with her home baked double-choc cookies and to tail man Greg who, dressed in his Floro vest, must have looked like an orange autumn leaf fluttering through the forest. Lastly, thanks to the Danenong Ranges for blessing us with such beauty. How lucky we Melbournites are.
Thank you David for organising a lovely relaxing ride in the Dandenong's and providing a lovely billy tea for lunch. A beautiful autumn day was put on! Great day!
Great people thank you all.
Thanks to David for all the work you put in to the ride well done fantastic effort loved it.....
Wonderful ride today, thank you David you mesmerised so many to join in and your call on the gods for divine weather was heard.... we had some new people join us today and I think they have returned home safely saying wow...... wonderful ride, great corner marking by all, relaxed atmosphere and I think new friendships made. Also a big thank you to Peter at Alley Cat for putting on a little spread for us at the end of our ride in Mailing Road, Canterbury...
Another wonderful VCoM ride.
Hi David and Co. I've just had something come up tonight with my parents which is likely to mean I can't join your from the start of the ride. I will seek to join you around the middle of the day and perhaps at Emerald Lake. Bummed by this but my folks need me. I'll do my best to meet up with you all.
Cheers
Dom
We have a few newbies joining us for this ride tomorrow, so please make them welcome.
The weather is looking good David but everyone rug up as it will be colder up in the mountain area and also pack wet weather gear just in case.
This ride will also be at a safe relaxed pace so enjoy and I will see you all in the morning...
Will bring the billy and some real milk for the fake coffee. Hey, the weather tomorrow for the first half of the day looks great.
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