I left Hill End around 9am and hit the road to Mudgee, my destination for the day. The road continued undulating and hilly as it was yesterday. There was a dirt section for a few km but it didn’t last long and I was soon back on good tarmac with virtually no other traffic all day.

I came across this very strange looking insect crossing the road:

After about 35 kms I reached the former mining town of Hargraves, now just a tiny village with a single store, where I stopped for a cold drink:

The road onward continued hilly and afforded some decent views:

Just outside Mudgee the route joined a busy highway, which fortunately had a decent hard shoulder to cycle on safely:

Arriving in Mudgee just before 2pm I found accommodation at a comfortable motel in the town centre:

and proceeded straight away to the nearby wineries to sample their produce. There are about 40 wineries in the region and I managed to get around 5 of them by 4pm when most of them close.
The wineries in this region don’t tend to export overseas and the ones I sampled were unfamiliar to me; I found the wines to be of a good standard but probably not as good as those from other better-known wine-growing areas. It was enjoyable riding alongside the vineyards, I didn’t take any photos because I was in too much of a hurry to get to as many as I could before they closed.
On the way to the vineyards I crossed the Cudgegong River:

There are helpful signs everywhere telling you where the wineries are:

On returning to Mudgee I took some photos of the many interesting old buildings in this attractive town:

I then enjoyed an excellent gourmet pizza washed down with a local Barbera at Roth’s wine bar, then back to the motel.

Total distance today, including the excursion around the wineries, 98.1kms. Max speed reached today 63.5 kph - yes it was hilly!