In Search of a BikeStop...

The sun is up, and I have dragged myself out of bed, a little earlier than usual. Today is the day that I have been looking forward to, for a couple of weeks now…. 

Like most of my friends, I try to get away on the bike as much as I can, usually to somewhere new, or along roads that I have not ridden on for years.

This ride was to take me up the coast and inland to Armidale and back again - a distance of about 1650kms.

The ride was through very heavy torrential rain that closed the highway in a few places and washed out or flooded most of the back roads that I tried. Traffic was everywhere and it was the end of the school holidays. 

It is on rides like that, that we all search for a place to stop, a place to dry out and warm up, to enjoy a decent cup of coffee and some real food. 

Every stop I made during that long weekend, seemed to end up with me drinking terrible coffee, and none of the food that I purchased, even when travelling along the main roads, would prompt me to recommend any particular place to you. 

I am sure that there are some great places to stop along those roads, that would have gladly served me the very best coffee and the biggest, hamburgers imaginable, and made a wet bike rider like me, feel warm and welcomed. (even if I did drip water at the front counter until it pooled around me!) 

I didn't find any of them though..... not one good BikeStop – maybe because it was really really wet, and I was very tired. 

Finding a friendly, good food stop during that trip to Armidale, would have guaranteed that I would have spoken highly of their great service for many years to come, and told everyone I knew about them. I was plainly out of sync with the journey, focused instead on the destination, and the warm bed that it offered. 

Normally I simply cruise through the countryside with my 20 year old dog on the tank, enjoying the journey, and not really caring where I end up or how far I go. If a coffee shop or pub looks good or welcoming, I stop, and generally am glad I visited.

But on these roads, I simply didn't know where the best BikeStops were. The weather was against me and I was determined to make Armidale by Friday night.

(and therein was the problem, I guess!!)

My luck seemed to change when I reached Tamworth, at the fabulous Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum. I pulled into the car park just as the rain stopped, and where I was warmly welcomed by Bill Austin.

Now this was the type of BikeStop I needed at that time, the Tamworth BikeStop.

I was wet and cold, and struggling to stay upright in my soaked leathers. Bill knew exactly what to do - he showed me inside the museum and pointed me towards a chair.

"BMWPete... strong coffee - milk and no sugar wasn't it?" Finally, I had found a friend in a storm, just what I needed.

I had dropped into the museum three or four months earlier and spent a few hours chatting with Bill and checking out all the great bikes on display there.   I was touched that he still remembered me, and grateful that I was amongst some great old bikes and friends.

Once I felt human again, I rode on towards Armidale, only stopping for a cup of tea with Jon and Vicki Taylor from Ural of Oz, up in the hills near Uralla.

Now things were beginning to feel right, this is what motorcycling is for me, riding, stopping every hour or so and meeting great people. Where ever you ride, you meet new people along the way, but I always like to drop in on old friends whenever I can.

I was really hoping that I had been booked into a good pub for the weekend. At the end of the days riding, it is always nice to know which pub has secure bike parking, and which ones would really prefer it if you just went somewhere else. 

As the sun was setting, I rode into Armidale in light rain, and found my way to the terrific Tattersals Hotel. As I arrived at the back door, someone opened the garage door for me and I put the bike safely and securely to bed. It felt like home.

I had reached my destination and I was out of the rain.

I had ridden up to the Armidale BikeStop to meet up with half a dozen old mates, the other original members of the UNEMCC, for a 30 year reunion.

Naturally, we spent the weekend enjoying ourselves in the various hotels that we had all frequented during the late 70's and 80's, we swapped stories, laughed as we tried to remember days gone by, and discussed the great rides and the best bikestops that we each had encountered over the decades.

The sun came out on the Saturday morning, and we rode west along Thunderbolts Way to the Bundarra's Commercial Hotel, a haunt of years ago. What a great ride. We were too early for lunch, so sat around on the large sunny verandah with our beers and our bikes, chatting to the bar staff and several Harley riders from Lismore. 

This was a perfect bikestop, the Bundarra BikeStop, where we all felt welcomed, comfortable and among friends – new and old.

Eventually it was time to go, so we said our goodbyes to the publican, and after a fast ride across to Guyra, and back down to Armidale and the Tatts, we settled in for a night at the pub.

Sunday mornings always seem to start too early for me, and this one was no exception. By the time I had dragged myself out of the warm bed, Groff was probably well on his way to Melbourne, Lance was already riding towards the fabulous Wombat BikeStop  (the hotel on the corner of the Olympic Highway), McKinnon was off on his beautiful old Ducati back towards the coast, Plug had left for Newcastle, and Kog was travelling towards his very own BikeStop  – Kyogle Kog's BikeStop .

Smithy and I waded through several big cups of coffee, before we each headed off in search of more bikestops that would help us to get back to our respective sheds.

That was the bike trip I went on, the long wet ride, on the ANZAC day weekend.

It was during that trip I became determined to record all the great bikestops that I know, and to locate as many others as I could, and to plot them all on a website - a resource for us all to use. 

So I have begun plotting them onto a map which shows all of my favourite BikeStops, and what they offer bike riders, a list of all the great pubs, where to find great coffee, great food, and great accommodation.

But I am particularly interested in all the BikeStops that welcome bike riders, and the places where riders feel welcomed.

Send in your BikeStops to be included on this site, - email your favourite haunts or suggestions to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .