Everybody needs to be aware that we will never be able to have enough cycle ways to get bicycle off the roads.

So although they are a good idea, drivers, be aware that bicycles are a legal vehicle that are allowed to use the road and have the same right as cars, trucks and buses.

Our mayor, Bob Kirk, was saying something about a new rail trail for cyclists to use from Goulburn to Crookwell.

I do not believe it will ever happen, but if it does, and if the people in charge do a good job of it, the same will happen: some will yell, ‘Go ride on the rail trail’.

But some cyclist are actually going to work or are riding where the rail trail does not go.

Non-competitive social riding groups will welcome the rail trail, but will also still ride to some of the great little towns around Goulburn.

So, if you are behind a bicycle or two, please be patient and overtake safely, the same as you would do if it was, say, a tractor in front of you.

Actually, I went tor a ride with a friend last week and was amazed at the number of cyclists who ride by themselves.

I would like to point out to all cyclists that riding on your own can be very dangerous as if you are involved in an accident – be it with a vehicle that does not stop, or by accidently veering off the road – who is going to find you?

Getting back to safety in numbers: we have a riding group called ‘Bright Sparks’. 

Through winter, they ride at 1pm every Saturday. The meeting area is the Blue Hills shopping centre.

There are no fees as such to join, but we do expect riders to be self sufficient and have insurance.

On Monday, April 24, I took my mother to Crookwell for a bit of a trip down memory lane. As a six-year-old, in 1941, she had been sent there by her parents from Sydney.

They had become increasingly concerned about the ever-closer threat of war, which, by that point, had left the main stage of Europe and entered the Pacific region.

My mother, Eileen Jenkins (nee McManus), was sent to the Sisters of Mercy school in Binda. Due to the distance between Binda and Sydney, her parents found it difficult to visit regularly.

Friends of theirs, the Hallams of Crookwell, took my mother and her older sister into their home for weekends. The Hallams owned a property called ‘Rossmoyne’, and my mother often talked about the wonderful times she spent there with the Hallam family.

Expecting nothing more than a drive around Binda and Crookwell last week quickly turned into an afternoon of adventure and discovery. We were kindly assisted by the lovely lady at the Binda General Store, who showed mum a recently written book that contained her details as a boarder at the Sisters of Mercy school.

At her suggestion, we then headed to the Crookwell Information Centre where we were ably assisted by Jo, Andrew and other staff who put us in touch with the lovely Mary Willis, head of the Crookwell Historical Society. Mary had a direct connection with the Hallam family and was gracious enough to take mum to walk the grounds of ‘Rossmoyne’.

We are very grateful for the kindness and generosity of the property’s current owners, who allowed mum to wander freely, reliving and recounting wonderful days of long ago.

My mother and I would like to thank all the people we encountered that day. It was a marvellous experience for us and every single person we met went out of their way to help us. Crookwell. Binda. Beautiful places and wonderful people living in them.