Charlie's WorldOff road ride to Mt Dale
I’ve been off the bike for serious rides for a bit due to winter being crappy (see radar pic!) and very wet and the fact that I’m a big wuss and also I was back in England (as you may have gathered)
But there was a serendipitous break in the weather, I didn’t have any commitments and my family were all stuck into art or TV shows or other stuff.
So I fired up the mighty DR and went out on another adventure off road.This time, to Mt Dale.
I first noticed there even was such a place as Mt Dale when Jay and I went on a trip to the old town of York (see posts here and here) many years ago and I saw a signpost on the side of the road for it.
It’s been a must visit target ever since and now having off road transport, I went out to see what it was like.
Mt Dale is pretty accessible on wide dirt roads (looking at Google Earth) and theres a viewing thing at the top which looks west out over the forest towards Perth. To get to it from my house, I headed off to Jarrahdale on the tarmac and then down to the Albany Highway
I was a lovely day and the riding out to Jarrahdale, even though it was on tarmac, was no chore.
Eventually I got onto dirt at Kinsella Road, which weaves through the Jarrahdale State Forest taking me north towards Mt Dale.
It’s a well graded dirt road, so no drama hammering down here at warp speed, just being watchful as I had never been that way before and I didn’t want to get surprised by a right angle bend or some logging works at 110kph!
Kinsella Road brought me out to the Brookton Highway – a few km more on tarmac and then off right onto Ashendon Road. I didn’t have a map, but I’d memorised the route as it wasn’t overly complex. The bit that is hard to remember is the length of road between junctions, so sometimes I’d convinced myself I had gone wrong when I hadn’t
As it has been very wet over winter, the road was a bit boggy in places, which meant a few fun sideways moments. When I say fun I mean ‘holy crap, I’m going down on my arse’ moments. Luckily, no Mr Backside meet Mr Dirt incidents actually occurred.
Ashendon Road is even wider than Kinsella Road and was a blast to ride on. I did come across a bloke walking, which was very odd as the road doesn’t really go anywhere to walk from or to – it’s miles out in the middle of nowhere and the direction he was walking goes further away from anything. Very odd. He seemed fine though and had water..
After convincing myself I had taken a wrong turn, the road suddenly climbed steeply and I was there at the top. Very deceptive! The view was amazing. Just miles and miles of forest. You could see Perth (well, the tops of the 3 skyscrapers) in the distance, poking out above the canopy and through a gap in the hills, all the way to the ocean, probably towards Rockingham where I had just come from.
I walked around the top, up to the fire-tower and took some better photos looking in each direction. I was amazing, so tranquil and the views were of endless trees in all directions. It’s accessible with a normal car (with a bit of determination) so if you’re thinking of going there, just do it but don’t bring the Ferrari.
Not very technically challenging for hardcore bikers, but a long way on dirt and a great afternoon well spent. Next time, find something harder to get to.
Charlie's World 
i think those that ride motorcycles have a lot of fun in life. adventure! freedom! the open road!
btw, i have only ridden on the back of bikes. i am too old and too paranoid and too chickenshit to even ride on the back of one anymore!
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Its the best feeling – as near as you can get to being a spitfire pilot! I think being on the back of a bike would be terrifying – much better off learning how to ride one yourself – never too old for that!
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Very Cool POV photos! It would be so fun to have a dirtbike and go wherever to photograph it!
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Thank you 🙂 I love exploring on my bike – I’m not a great rider, but it’s always a great experience getting places that most people don’t take the time to get to. I’ve only just started – in the next few years, I’m going to take the bike much further into the Australian wilderness. Love your site by the way!
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Your tour is truly awesome i love to watch this type of tour. I also have a bike and also capturing videos while i am driving.
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