The Orange baker and his family opened Whitey’s Pies in 2007, but Mr White started making pies 20 years ago at the Mountain Tea House near Mount Canobolas.

For at least the next four months Mr White will swap pastry for golf clubs and a travel bag as he and his wife prepare to spend the rest of the year travelling.

“I’m having a gap year, me and Helen are doing some proper travelling,” Mr White said.

“We are going flash packing. When we were young we went around the world with backpacks, now we are going flash packing for a few months. I’ve got to get my golf handicap down.”

Mr White is also looking forward to a more regular sleeping pattern and going to bed only once a day after 37 years of night shift and running the bakery when he would sleep before and after his midnight-to-9am shift.

“I want to go to bed from 10pm to 6am,” he said.

Mr White sold the business to Jacqui McAllery on February 1 but stayed on for six months to help with the transition. 

“It was just off the cuff, they wanted the shop more than me,” he said. “The people that bought it want to take it forward.

“It’s all going to stay the same but I’m getting out.

“They’ve got everything ... my name, my soul, my car [the bakery van], all I’ve got left is my boots,” he joked.

His daughters Billie White and Rachael Gander will continue working at the Sale Street shop and the bakers he trained will continue using his pie recipes. 

“I’m excited for him, but it’s bittersweet,” Mrs Gander said.

Although he is excited for the next phase of his life, Mr White said he also felt a bit lost after finishing yesterday and leaving something he has put his heart and soul into for so many years.

“As far as what I’m going to do I’ve got no idea,” Mr White said. “Next year I’m going to get a haircut and a job and not before. 

“Next year I’ve got to make a decision. I’m too old to work for someone and I’m too young to retire.”

tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au