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Welcome to my blog, these are the ramblings and musings of an (upper) middle aged biker and if you enjoy braais, (barbeques) beers and motorbikes then hopefully you will enjoy what Janet and I do; we do lots of braais, we drink lots of beer and we tour South Africa on our motorbike, which at the moment is a BMW R1200RT. Join us, read about what we do and please leave us your comments.



Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rock and Roll in Capetown and lunch in Velddrif

On Saturday evening we were at a Rock and Roll party at the Hout Bay Yacht Club, something to do with the opening of the sailing season and what a good party it was! The band was excellent, the booze was cheap and the food was good and sometime in the early hours of the next morning we were back at the house where Rob and I finished off the last of Dick's good whiskey. It had been a party of note and I'm not quite sure what time it was when I eventually fell into bed.
We were not in any huge hurry to get on the road the next morning so we were able to take it easy, even so I needed a pit stop on the way. Our destination for lunch was Des' shop; "Ek en Djy Visserye" at No 1 Bokkom Boulevard on the banks of the Berg River, some 160kms away.
It was a lovely ride, there was quite a strong wind out of the north but that was the way we were heading so it didn't bother us too much, I stayed at 140kmh just slowing down to the speed limit at the lay byes where we expect the speed traps but I didn't see any at all, must have been a rest day.
The big red machine comfortably ate up the distance and it was just after 12pm that we cruised down the dirt road along the Berg River towards Des' quaint little shop.
Next to the shop is Marina's River studio where her art is on display and for sale, lots of interesting things to see;
We have been there many times and the last time this was "Lady Gaga", this time it was his ex Mother in law holding out the "bokkoms", dried harders (mullet) a West Coast delicacy.
Leon and Christine who used to have the "Seafood Shack" restaurant in Velddrif are now doing lunches on weekends at Bokkom Boulevard, we had enjoyed their restaurant and I wrote about it some time ago, so I was keen to see what they were doing;
Looks good for R40 (You do the math.) We ordered two beers and two lunches and sat down to have a chat with our friends.
It really is an idyllic location and Des and Marina are very friendly people, bikers too so they love having other bikers come by.
There is also the option of a cruise up the Berg river with Dan who operates from the jetty right in front of the shop, it was very relaxing sitting there watching the boats cruising past and whilst we waited for our food Des showed me his new clothing range, so far only tee shirts but with Des you never know! This is bound to catch on;
Inside Des' shop there is an eclectic mix of things to buy, things to make you laugh and things to ponder over. His cash register has a bell on the side in case customers want him to ring something up;

Whenever we go to No.1 Bokkom Boulevard there is always something new to see, it wasn't long before our lunch was ready, a simple but deliciously satisfying meal;
Clockwise from the left; a lovely creamy Feta cheese with olives, sweet and sour mussels, potato and lettuce salad, smoked Snoek nuggets with a seafood sauce and home baked bread. I really enjoyed the meal, perhaps the ambience had something to do with it, apparently Leon and Christine do different meals each time and I am keen to go back for their seafood pot sometime.
Soon it was time to get our ducks in a row and move on. (Sorry!) Seriously though, you Western Cape people should visit sometime, turn right at the major four way stop after the bridge over the Berg river as if heading to Piketburg and after about one kilometre or so look out for the sign "Bokkom Bedryf" on the right, go right down to the dirt road which goes left along the riverbank, a good easy to ride road and you'll soon come up to Ek en Djy Visserye, and as I said Des loves having motorbikes parked outside the place - tell him I sent you.

5 comments:

Christie said...

Hopefully you can take us next year although it doesn't serve any of the big five. ....

the rider said...

I'll be pleased to take you there my love, you need to meet Des!

Geoff James said...

Wonderful photos Andrew - great time of year in the southern hemisphere. My wife particularly liked the sentiments on the T shirt - she reckons that she needs one too!

the rider said...

Thanks Geoff, yes we're coming into our best weather now plenty of riding. The tee shirt's good isn't it? I can imagine people all over the world wearing a "Velddrif" tee shirt!

GF said...

I love his cash register ;-)