CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 484 km round trip from Westmead - roughly 9 h 32 in the saddle. It goes by way of Australian Convict Sites, Greater Blue Mountains Area and back through Australian Convict Sites. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. Expect gradients and long views.
Few buildings in Australia can claim to be as old as this one. Old Government House sits in Parramatta Park, on a rise above the Parramatta River, and was begun in 1799 under Governor Hunter. It is the oldest surviving public building in the country, a plain, graceful Georgian house where successive governors lived and worked, including Lachlan Macquarie, who added to the estate. It forms part of the UNESCO listing of Australian Convict Sites, which recognises how the penal colony shaped the nation.
Read the complete Old Government House and Domain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old Government House and Domain is where the day begins. Next is Australian Convict Sites.
North of Sydney, where the Hawkesbury River winds between sandstone cliffs and forested ridges, there is a road that convicts built by hand. The Old Great North Road, begun in the 1820s, was meant to link Sydney with the Hunter Valley, and it was cut and paved by gangs of prisoners working with picks, hammers and iron bars, often in chains. It runs for over two hundred kilometres, and several sections survive, with walls of fitted sandstone, culverts, drains and cuttings that still look neat after two centuries. Together with other sites it is part of the UNESCO-listed Australian Convict Sites, which record the transportation of about 160,000 men, women and children from Britain.
Read the complete Australian Convict Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Australian Convict Sites comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Greater Blue Mountains Area.
The Blue Mountains are named for a haze. On a warm day, fine droplets of oil released by the eucalyptus forest scatter the blue end of the light and the whole plateau seems to float in a pale mist. The Greater Blue Mountains Area covers about a million hectares of sandstone plateau, deep gorges and sheer cliffs, split into eight protected areas, and UNESCO lists it for the astonishing variety of eucalypts, more than a hundred species, which have adapted to every kind of soil and slope.
Read the complete Greater Blue Mountains Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 240 km into the recorded legs you reach Greater Blue Mountains Area. Next is back through Australian Convict Sites.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Australian Convict Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Australian Convict Sites, late in the day. Next is Old Government House and Domain.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Government House and Domain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Old Government House and Domain. That is the ride.
Old Government House and Domain → Australian Convict Sites is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Australian Convict Sites → Greater Blue Mountains Area is 180 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Greater Blue Mountains Area → back through Australian Convict Sites is 173 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Australian Convict Sites → Old Government House and Domain is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.