March 2010 Chapter Run - Dalgety Dash
It was a cool and cloudy morning when 12 hardy souls met at the Hume Caltex for the start of the Dalgety Dash Run.
Iris and Tony, Rachael, Matt and Ken, Carol and John, Jill and Roger, Bricet and Bob plus your humble Run leader had all assembled our shiny machines in the parking area and we looked skyward at the grumbly clouds which earlier that morning had allowed a greasy drizzle to fall on the bitumen.
“Fear not, the sun will shine” I boldly proclaimed and to my surprise, it did. Half way up the Monaro, the clouds broke and warm sunshine greeted us for our coffee stop at Cooma’s The Lott café.
With tops down, we threaded our way south from the Snow Mountains Highway through a pleasant rural area to the east of Lake Eucumbene. The countryside had benefitted from the recent autumn rains and our route zig-zagged across an attractive, green undulating landscape on winding roads that we pretty much had to ourselves.
From there we rejoined the main road and a short drive into Jindabyne and a relaxing lunch at the Sublime Café.
The road to Dalgety heads south and east from Jindabyne and there is a short windy section on it where you come down off the main range onto the high plains in a series of short sharp bends.
Possibly the traffic authorities want to see if you are paying attention as it is bereft of advisory speed signs. In the event we were, and after a short stop for a photo shoot and to give right of way to an attractive young horsewoman crossing the Dalgety Bridge, we made out way without incident into Dalgety.
Dalgety was originally chosen to be site for the National Capital but was eventually passed over for Canberra. (One rumoured reason being that NSW reckoned it was too close to Victoria. As a Sydney born boy, I think that makes perfect sense.) But judging by the sounds coming from the Dalgety pub, the local residents appear to have suffered little from this historical slight.
The road from Dalgety takes you east towards Nimmitabel before you turn north to return to Cooma. We returned to the same venue to consume good coffee and sundry food items of high cholesterol content before reluctantly making our way homeward again back down the Monaro.
Malcolm