Freedom Road Rally

The sun woke me up at 9am, shining hotly into my tent. The left side of my throat was sore and dry, I was reminded of the words of the song by Kris Kristofferson; "My thick old tongue felt like it had been licking something sick and wrong" as I staggered bladderfully to the ablution block - it had been a good evening! But let's start at the beginning;I met up with the other three; Frank, Div and Willie at 0830 on Friday and it was like something out of "Wild Hogs" except that there was only one Harley, two BMWs and a Yamaha made up the group and we set off at 0900 for the 400 odd kilometre trip to the little coastal town of Stilbaai, I had been looking forward to this ride for ages and it looked like the weather was playing along as I led the group out of town and into open country.

Our first planned stop was for breakfast in Worcester but I knew there would have to be others as Frank needed a smoke every now and then, as it was our first stop had to be in Mooreesburg for petrol. We kept our speed to around 140kph for Div on his Harley and had a very good ride into the late morning, it was starting to get very warm as we pulled into the "Whistle stop" for a very welcome breakfast.

One of my favourite sections was coming up as we mounted up again, the road from Worcester through to Robertson, Ashton and then to Swellendam is biker heaven. We sped along the wide, smooth blacktop flashing around and past the slower cars and I was genuinely feeling sorry for people who dont ride motorbikes, they really don't know what they are missing.

After filling up in Ashton the guys let me go on ahead, I like to ride that road fast and Willie came along with me. I wasn't riding as fast as I have before, just around the 150kph mark but just really enjoying the sweeping bends, just playing nicely.

The N2 was busy as usual, lots of cars and trucks but also more motorbikes and it wasn't long before we were pulling into Stilbaai. Setting up the tents was a sweaty business, it was really hot but it wasn't long before our site was established and we could get down to the serious business of rallying!

We took a trip downtown to buy some supplies, it being a Christian Motorcycle Association rally there is no bar tent so we bought some beers and some whisky and went to the local pub for a couple of frosties.

That evening we got ourselves a table at "Dalton's" rally restaurant, we see him at most rallies and he really does excellent food at very reasonable prices, he is a chef and a biker and quite a character!

My roast beef, roast potatoes and vegetables was excellent and only cost R35 ! Seeing as how we stayed there for so long I also had Calamari and chips sometime in the early morning and that also cost R35.

That was a great night and I stumbled off to my tent sometime in the early hours of the morning, Frank stayed there. It was that next morning that I was so rudely awakened by bright sunlight, I showered and got dressed and went off in search of a cup of coffee and found Frank still sitting there talking to some stranger, that's rally for you!

He slept for pretty much the rest of the day though, missed out on the mass ride and some nice pub time and as it turned out we ended up back at Dalton's place that evening. Frank joined us there feeling a bit rough, mind you I also felt a bit rough! The festivities continued late into the evening again.

Sunday morning dawned very grey and overcast and I thought we were in for a wet ride home, as is my usual custom I packed up early and was ready to leave at 0700, I had a very welcome cup of coffee at the CMA tent and then headed out for the ride home.

There were a few little spots of rain but it wasn't long before the sky was clearing up and I settled into a relaxed, fast pace. I had planned to ride through to Barrydale to have breakfast at the "Country Pumpkin" and what a welcome breakfast that was!

The ride was fantastic, the weather was clear and the big red machine was eating up the miles in her usual comfortable, majestic style. What a fantastic motorbike! The R62 through to Montagu was over all too soon, I settled into a comfortable 160kph and soon I was back on the road heading through to Robertson and Worcester.

I wasn't the only one riding fast though, there were quite a few bikes on that road and they were mostly all hauling along. I hope that there aren't any speeding fines in the post in the next couple of weeks. I had a thoroughly enjoyable ride home after a thoroughly enjoyable rally and I arrived home at about 1230, in time to have a nice afternoon with Janet.

Next it's the Buffalo rally at Mossel Bay! Can't wait.