I decided to head east from Bathurst to Oberon and then join the Jenolan Caves Road to Hartley, before doubling back to Lithgow for a coffee. From Lithgow I would take the Great Western Highway (GWH) back to Hartley and then to Mt Victoria and then Blackheath. The return journey would be from Blackheath to Mt Victoria, then take the causeway across to Bell, joining the Bells Line of Road to Lithgow and then home to Bathurst via the Great Western Highway again.
The route taken:
The ride from Bathurst to Oberon and then Lithgow was uneventful, but highly enjoyable as always, apart from the profusion of bugs. Its flowering time in the Canola fields and if its not bees and white moths and butterflies, its other winged bugs that gat splattered across the front of the bike, the visor and my leather jacket. I had my ipod in, so I was riding to the likes of ACDC's Back in Black and a variety of other rock road songs.
After a coffee at Lithgow MacDonalds (which is getting more and more slack as far as service goes these days - very disappointed !!) I made my way back along the GWH to Hartley historic village. This is a very pretty historical village and definitely worth a stop and explore.
A map of Hartley Village
Ivy Cottage and The Shamrock Inn
Ivy Cottage was built in 1845 and was the Police Magistrates house until fire destroyed it in the 1890s. In 1930 it was rebuilt and re-roofed and is today a private residence.
The Shamrock Inn (to the right of Ivy Cottage) was built in the 1840s as a private residence, but with increased traffic to the Turon Goldfields, was converted and expanded to be an In in the 1860s. After it ceased being an Inn, it reverted back to being a private residence. It is unoccupied today and demonstrates the type of building construction used between the 1840s and 1860s
St Bernard's Catholic Church and Presbytery
St Bernard's was completed in 1848, the money for its construction beig nraised by the predominantly Catholic local community. it is still a consecrated Church and is popular today for weddings and other specisl services. Mass however is seldom held.
The Catholic Presbytery was completed in the 1850s and this sandstone building housed St Bernard's priests. The doorway under the buildings left side was the only entrance to the kitchen and all meals had to be carried to the Presbytery dining room via the outside staircase.
The Court House
The Hartley Court House, completed in 1837, was designed in the Greek Revival style, as can be seen by the columns outside the main entrance. Petty crimes were heard in the courthouse until 1887 when the function was transferred to the courts in nearby Lithgow.
From Hartley I headed east, up the Victoria Pass, a nice climbing road with a couple of tightish corners, to Mt Victoria. I contemplated stopping here for lunch at the very grand Imperial Hotel, but decided to forge on to Blackheath. I stopped at Blackheath's Victory Theatre Cafe for lunch, well coffee and cake :)
The Victory Theatre, Antique Centre & Cafe, Blackheath.
After my lunch, I headed down to one of Blackheath's amazing lookouts, Govett's Leap Lookout, perched on the northen side of the Blue Mountains main "spine" and looking out over the Govett's Leap waterfall.
Views from Govett's Leap Lookout
From Govett's Leap, returning to Blackheath, I came across another strange animal cautionary road sign seen often in Australia.............
Another lookout, or rather two lookouts side by side, worth a visit in Blackheath are the Valley View and Evan's Lookouts, accessible via a side road on the east end of town. These two lookouts provide some great vistas of the canyons and Grose Valley below and the shear sandstone cliffs that make the Blue Mountains such a wonderous place to visit.
The area around these two lookouts was covered in wild flowers, including the local NSW Waratah, wild Irises and Broad-Leaf Drumsticks.
Wildflowers - Broad-Leaf Drumsticks
From Blackheath I retraced my route to Mt. Victoria, where I turned off the main highway onto the casueway road linking Mt. Victoria with Bell. The road is about 10Kms and joins up with the Bell's Line of Road. If you turn right you head back towards Sydney via the Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens and the little village of Mt Wilson. Turning right, as I did, takes you back to Lithgow via Clarence and the ZigZag Railway main terminus.
The road from Mt Victoria to Bell is a decent road, but watch out for the speedlimits. Likewise the Bell's Line of Road is also a good road, but soon speed limit changes will take effect, reducing the 100kph sections to 80kph and the 80kph sections to 60 or 70 kph. The Bell's Line of Road is highly policed and this was borne out today with two Highway Patrol cars at Clarence in the 80kph zone. From Lithgow it was straight home along the GWH to Bathurst. After leaving home at 10.00am I got back at 3.00pm with a little under 300kms travelled in total.
