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The Putty Road runs North from Windsor 170km's
to Singleton. A whole day's ride can be made of this road by making a
return to Sydney via Wollombi and the Old Pacific Hwy. To quote from
Performance Streetbike #61 Jan 2000. "If there is one stretch of
road guaranteed to test your riding skills and bravery and the handling
of your motorcycle, then perhaps the Putty is the one."
Date:
.
Meeting place: Macquarie
Park(image) on the northern bank of the Hawkesbury River at Winsor.
About the road:
The early sections from Windsor through Wilberforce follows the Hawkesbury
before following the ridges to the steep decent to find the Colo River.
The last bend before the river is a hair pin left-hander which requires
extra caution. After an optional stop at the Colo River general store,
the road is made up of smooth, uphill sweepers with blind corners and
some exits hidden over small crests. Armco and rock are your catch fences
as the careless have found. The road then becomes filled with faster bends
and gets bumpy until the turn off to Putty, (don't take the turn) on a
newer road surface with faster bends before more tighter corners just
before the Halfway Roadhouse.
The fast road continues before it dives into a
narrow valley. This Valley is signposted 35-55km/h and is this the most
chalenging part of the ride. It is a narrow road through the valley, so
keep away from the other side of the road as cars and trucks like to cross
the white lines. After some 16 km of tight bends, the road opens up to
farmland. Take the turn at Milbrodale to Broke/Cessnock this is a good
quality road with great vision around most of the corners. Turn right
after the wooden bridge for a top-up of the go faster juice, and then
head to Wollombi for a great lunch at the Wollombi Tavern. Just beforeyou
get to Wollombi there is about 300 metres of dirt road that is not too
difficult to manage on any bike. There is also petrol available at the
Old Northern Trading Post south of Wollombi at Laguna.
Leaving Wollombi, the road is narrow before becoming
faster on a well surfaced road to Central Mangrove. There is usually a
bit more traffic along this road, and some places do not leave much room
for over taking. The choices from here are to head back to Sydney via
Wisemans Ferry or via the overly policed 'Old Road' (aka Pacific Hwy).
This decision is best decided on the day as the road down to Wisemans
Ferry requires all the senses to still be operating at 100%. Don't attempt
this road if you are at all tired.
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