Annie Calling

 

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been on the Gentle Annie ride and the long weekend was the perfect opportunity to enjoy an all day trip away.

There were 12 of us leaving from Memorial Park and all bar one on modern machinery. A brace of Suzuki, a trio of Hondas, a pair of Triumphs, a quartet of BMW, and a solo Moto Guzzi made up the roll-call. The sole vintage bike being John’s ‘74 BMW 600 boxer. A testament to this bike is its ability to ride all day with more modern bikes without complaint or issue.

Travelling up through Rangiwahia and Mangaweka we made our way to Taihape and a stop at the BP for a coffee and petrol. It was here we caught up with Bruce S on his Ducati 848, and said goodbye to Phil (CB1000R) as he had a large nail in his rear tyre. Good to hear he made it home safely.

As always it’s a wonderful ride over the Taihape-Napier road and the weather was perfect. The climb out of Taihape offers everything from tight and twisty to open sweepers. The scenery is grand in scale with long views and passes through a number of well-known sheep stations. There’s a stop at the top for a breather before starting the main decent. The ‘Gentle Annie’ part of the downhill is steep and twisty and then the road starts to unwind becoming fast and open on the way down to Omahu (Fernhill).

As we headed towards Hawke’s Bay the air temperature rose noticeably. The opportunity to remove winter liners from jackets was taken at a petrol stop on the outskirts of Hastings. From there it was back out to SH50 at Roy’s Hill and on through Maraekakaho to Tikokino and the Sawyers Arms for a late lunch sitting out under the trees.

After a decent break we mounted up and plotted a course for Dannevirke. From Dannevirke we followed the road less travelled (Topgrass Road) back to Woodville and either over the Saddle or over the Track and home. Excellent day on the bike!

Great to have a longer ride occasionally and this is one we should do at least once every year. 

Sir Al