To Capetown and the long way back

Saturday afternoon we were in Capetown after a really good ride down from Saldanha, I had a meeting to attend so we stayed over with friends Joe and Annie. I took these photos of the iconic Lion's Head, Table Mountain and Devil's Peak at sunset from their veranda whilst sipping on a cold beverage. It really is a lovely view, further to the right of this one can see Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and many others were incarcerated during the apartheid years, quite clearly.

We left at about 09h00 on Sunday morning with the intention of linking up with other bikers in the Riebeek Valley area, possibly at the little town of Tulbagh for breakfast. I refuelled just outside of Melkbos on the R27 and then headed up to the N7, turning north towards Malmesbury.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, no wind, slightly overcast, just perfect for riding. We hadn't been on that section of the N7 for many a moon and as we sped along through the early morning it was not very busy, the N7 is the main artery for traffic heading up to Namibia and on a weekday it can be seriously clogged.

As we approached the N7 One-Stop after about fifteen minutes I felt those familiar hunger pangs, I lifted my helmet visor and shouted to Janet; "Should we have breakfast here?", "Yes, great!" she replied so we pulled into the Wimpy, a favourite breakfast venue anywhere in the country when we are on motorbike trips.

After a hearty breakfast we resumed our journey, every now and then we encountered queues of cars and heavy vehicles but happily sped past leaving them far in our wake and it wasn't long before we were riding through Malmesbury and out into wine country.

20kms along the picturesque R46 with "Kanonkop" off to the right and the imposing "Kasteelberge" in the distance we stopped alongside the road overlooking the beautiful Riebeek Valley. There is a 1661 monument to someone named Pieter Gruyhoff there (which I must look up sometime) but more importantly my old friend Paul Weinel's ashes are scattered there, overlooking the valley that he loved. I said a quiet "Hello." to my old BSAP (Rhodesian Police Force) comrade and we pressed on down into the valley.
Time for a beer! We pulled into a popular breakfast stop in Riebeek West where several other bikers had gathered, on any Sunday you can find bikes parked outside pretty much all of the restaurants in that area, it is a very popular riding area for Cape bikers.
Time to go and Janet gets her hair ready for the helmet. The ride wasn't exactly as we had planned it, but that's also part of the joy of motorcycling isn't it? Going just where the road and the mood takes you.

From there we took the 34km stretch of the R38 back to the N7, through the sleepy little town of Mooreesburg, down through Hopefield and back to the Phoenix Bar.Alex and Malcolm arrived on their matching Tenere's, Craig and Monica were also there on the demo model that I rode so there were three of these lovely bikes parked outside the pub. (For some of my American friends to drool over!)
In this picture some of the local bikers; from the left Amanda and Allan, Floors, Craig, Malcolm and Elise. The pub was quite busy through the afternoon, I took Janet home and put the bike away and then went back a little later in the bakkie.
Willie and Div enjoying a drink and discussing the upcoming Buffalo rally in Mosselbay which we will all be attending. I spent a very pleasant afternoon playing some pool and drinking a few beers, Willie kept buying them but I eventually managed to buy him one back and then got out of there before it got too hectic!

Looking forward to the Buffalo Rally on the weekend of the 19th/20th, a good 500k ride and a long established rally with a good bunch of guys, what more could one want?