Click for map of ride

We got up at about 7:00am after a fairly sleepless night.  Trucks kept stopping and starting all night, one of the problems when the Caravan Park is located next to public toilets.

The BMW wouldn't start so I stripped the insulation off at the ends of 2 wires of the electrical lead I'd bought the day before (while Junko packed).  I connected them to the BMW battery terminals then connected the other end to the GPz after Junko had started it.  After a few attempts the BMW started (odometer reading 24254 kms).  We rode up the street to do some shopping.  Having only just started the BMW I parked on the hill in the main street, so I could roll start it easier (if need be).  After shopping we returned to the bikes to see 3 old men chatting near them.  One noticed us and yelled "Where are you off to today girls?"  "Glen Davis" I replied in an obviously male voice, forgiving the gentleman of his mistake.  I really do need a hair cut...
Much to my expectations (and the fact that it now had an audience) the BMW wouldn't start, but after a quick push from Junko, to get me rolling down the hill, it groaned into life.  We left Merriwa at about 9:30am.  I returned to explain to the men that the bike was like me.  Hard to start up in the morning.
Next stop was Mudgee, we arrived, very cold, at around 11:00am.  By the time we thawed out, got petrol, done some shopping and taken some photos we eventually left at about 12:30pm

Next stop was Rylstone, it was a smaller town than Mudgee but still had some great old stone building.  As it was 1:15pm we had lunch (pies) and left at about 2:05pm.

Pleased with the time and the conditions of the road we continued on to Glen Davis.  I notice that the local river had flooded recently as there was still debris in nearby trees and fences.
The road turned to gravel but, to my satisfaction, returned to a sealed road shortly afterwards.  However, just after the tiny town of Glen Alice it turned to gravel and stayed like that.

We arrived at Glen Davis at about 3:30pm and I was shocked to see that the streets were dirt.  Recent rain had turned sections of road to mud, so I had to exercise some caution - as I didn't want to drop the bike.  We made our way to the camping ground and set up the tent.  The next thing to do was explore the ruins of Glen Davis. A man on the balcony of his nearby house advised us that in order to see the refinery ruins we needed to first see the owner of the Glen Davis Hotel who may let us see the ruins (as they are on private property).  The hotel looked empty so we walked on to the Museum.

The Museum showed a bit of the history of the old shale mining town of the 1940's and 50's.  The population was once 1600, but today it is only a handful.
We walked back to the camping ground were I replaced the clutch cable on the BMW in fading light while dinner cooked (noodles).   I was carrying a spare cable because I knew the existing one would break soon.
That night it rained and I wondered if it would stop.  Fortunately it did, otherwise the roads may be to muddy to get out of Glen Davis.