Coffs Harbour to Newcastle via Armidale, Uralla, Gloucester
Today was a day for covering a fair amount of ground. I wanted to do the Coffs to Armidale road and Thunderbolts Way, and didn't really want to stop half way along. I figure the coast should stay warmer overnight.
All of the roads were pretty good today, with plenty of nice scenery, many twists and turns, almost no traffic and only a few roadworks sites. Perfect for riding. I left camp by around 8:30 to allow plenty of time to get through to Newcastle.
As I got on the road to Armidale, the temperature dropped quite a lot, so I transferred to full winter gear at around 9:15am. This consisted of all liners back in my jacket, the waterproof over trousers, and the winter gloves. And liberal application of heated grips.
I stopped in Armidale for fuel and then at the Goldfish Bowl for morning tea. Tim was probably 45 minutes behind me and to hit Newcastle in light I wouldn't have time to wait. He wasn't going to travel as far as Newcastle otherwise I would have waited.
I continued on from Armidale along Thunderbolts Way, only stopping twice along the way. The first was at a scenic lookout:
The second place I stopped was in Gloucester for fuel and a late lunch. Around 50km out of Gloucester the temperature suddenly skyrocketed to 24 degrees and didn't drop below around 20 until late in the afternoon. Needless to say some of the winter gear was removed on Gloucester.
I stopped in Stockton around 5:15 to set up camp. It has been quite a long day, and I'm out of camp food, so it's pub fare for tea and probably some shopping for more supplies tomorrow.
Before I sign off for the day, a couple of photos from Stockton.
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