Day 12 - Robertson to Saldanha

I knew it was a good idea to stay over, we had stayed at the Grand Hotel on several occasions and it is a very comfortable old hotel, good clean rooms and good food. Actually most small towns have a Grand or a Royal Hotel and we enjoy staying in them whenever we travel, the pubs are always interesting and it's good to get into a conversation with the locals.

After a very good breakfast we were back out on the road just after 0800 and I was looking forward to the ride instead of suffering it had we continued the previous night. It was a glorious day and we could tell that it was going to be a hot one, not to worry though we would be home before midday.

Robertson to Worcester is a good fast road and I have mentioned that stretch in an earlier blog, a real pleasure to ride and not too busy at that time of the day, although we were looking forward to getting home I was already feeling sorry that the ride was nearly over.

After Worcester we took the R43 which winds it's way through Wolseley and past Tulbagh, roads we have travelled many, many times and which are thoroughly familiar. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned before that road is used extensively by heavy vehicles avoiding the toll road and sometimes they slow you down a bit. Soon we were cruising through Riebeek and then onto the R311 which heads to the N7 near Mooreesburg.

There we encountered the first of the stop/go road works but it was pleasant to park the bike and stroll in the sun, an elderly couple got out of their car behind us and came over to chat and admire the bike. He would love to get another bike; "Had an old 500cc in my younger days."

"So what are you waiting for? Go and buy one and get out there."

Through Mooreesburg too early for any pubs to be open, the R311 continues for twenty rough and bouncy kilometres until it joins the R45 heading through Hopefield to the R27. Here I accelerated up through the gears and we settled into 150kmh with the mid morning sun coming up behind us.

All too soon we were riding into Saldanha, looking forward to seeing old "Fat Cat".

It had been a really excellent though brief holiday, we had travelled some unfamiliar roads and visited unfamiliar towns and had had a bit of an adventure. Altogether we had travelled 3175kms which only equated to an average of roughly 400 per riding day, we had had four days where we did little or no riding.

Cheers! Good to be home, now - when's the next trip?