A warm morning with the possibility of showers later greeted 8 riders for the start in Lilydale. Jack, Sam, Colin, Cevat, Gary, Jeff, Steve and myself. It was great and very needed to have Steve there on the Gold Wing otherwise we could have been mistaken for a BMW Club outing. Neerim Sth was our morning tea stop, getting there via Coldstream, Woori Yallock, onto Lousatia Rd, into the back of Yarra Junction, Powelltown and through the Noogee State Forest. From the strong winds on Saturday night there was bound to be lots of leaf and branch litter on the roads and so it proved. From the start we were aware of this and rode accordingly. Lots to look out for, some to dodge and some large pieces taking out half the road.

Neerim Sth was departed in the direction of The Old Sale Rd. This is a bitumen farm access road, narrow, twisty, overhanging trees and so lots of fallen litter. It keeps you concentrating. Leaving that we come back onto the excellent surface of the Nilma, Warrugal road. Crossing the Freeway in the Korrumburra direction, we continue on that until we turn left at Seaview for entry onto the Grand Ridge Rd. Once again we were back into a narrow, twisty road with overhanging trees and lots of litter down. The up side is, it's a fun road to ride, you mind stays on the job and there was almost no oncoming traffic. Mirboo Nth reached, we all agreed that the Grand Ridge Brewery was the place for lunch. The menu and prices were good, servings were large ( Jeff found the Senior size was plenty). The food was well presented and tasted fine. We should do it more often. The waitress intimated the they may not be there much longer. Business must be slow.

Lunch over it was onto thoughts of the weather and showers on the way home. It seemed we couldn't avoid them.

We took the road to Trafalgar to emerge onto the Freeway. At Yarragon a couple of us stopped to add waterproof gear or seal up our Summer jackets as the showers were heavy and also there were some very visible lightening strikes. The showers eased near Druin with an easy run back into Melbourne.

An enjoyable safe day on some challenging roads. Thanks to Sam for being Rear Rider.