Local is Lekker!

The weather was quite strange this past weekend, hot but windy and I was keen to do some riding, I met Frank at the bike shop; West Coast Yamaha on Friday afternoon and after a bit of a chat and a cup of coffee with Craig and Monica we walked over to the "Rooikraans Pub" for a couple of games of pool. Frank's game is definitely improving and I only just managed to scrape a win, last week he beat me!

We did just about nothing on Saturday, which can also be a good thing but then I start getting antsy about Sunday, I really have to get out on the bike.

Sunday morning the wind was definitely a factor so I said to Janet; "Let's just do a local cruise, go and see Des in Velddrif and then end up somewhere for lunch."

She was cool with that so after the spa bath and bottle of bubbly, which is where we relax and discuss all sorts of things, which also resulted in me having to drive through to the mall to buy a new iron for Pumi, our maid who had managed to break the last one, we were good to go.

I realy enjoy Des' shop at No 1 Bokkom Boulevard, there is always something new to see and now there are two ladies; "Die Bokkom Susters" on the front veranda. We took a bit of a long detour on the way out; up past the Langebaan Weg airforce base and back down to the R27 for a high speed run through to Velddrif. Then the wind was behind us so we didn't notice it, but any run heading west we had to lean into the gusts coming in from the ocean.

It was good to be out on the road and the big red machine was performing extremely well, it is not a very fast bike, it is a comfortable long distance tourer but it will do more than 220kmh (just), which is quite fast enough for me now, I'm not interested in going any faster than that anymore.

We sat on the pleasant, colourful veranda and had a beer which we had taken along with us/had left in the fridge the last time (delete inapplicable) because Des doesn't have a liquor licence so he may not sell beer, and admired the view while we chatted.

Des had his lovely Suzuki side car rig parked next to the river for passers-by to admire and he has completed the very inviting looking jetty area where his customers can relax with their meals.

Des and I discussed the upcoming fifth annual Polar Bear run and tentatively set the date for the last weekend in July again and then we took our leave, it was time to ride some more.

Perhaps if the wind had not been so strong we would have ridden further but as it was we ended up in Langebaan and after cruising around the beach front restaurants which were already full to overflowing we settled into a comfortable booth at the Cattle Baron, which was already pretty crowded anyway.

They have a buffet lunch on Sunday, but thankfully they also have their a' la carte menu, I prefer to be served my food than have to walk through the tables with a plate full to overflowing with all of the other diners craning to get a look at what I have chosen.

My Pork rib and Prawn Combo at R103 was absolutely delicious, the ribs were tender, the prawns were fresh and the garlic butter sauce was dripping off my elbows at the end. Definitely something that I will have again.

Janet went for crumbed chicken breast on mashed potatoes with a creamy sauce which she also declared to be delicious and as it turns out I will be eating that on a sandwhich tomorrow at work, I just love the way she can't finish these meals most of the time. In fact I feel a bit hard done by if she does eat all of her food at a restaurant!

We cruised back home and took it easy, a very pleasant day all withing a 60km radius but sometimes you don't have to go far to have a good time, just being out on the bike makes it all worthwhile.

Next I will be writing about the Capetown Bike Show on Sunday, I'll tell you all about it - by the way, what do you think of the new look for this blog? I've still got some tweaking to do but your comments would be appreciated, is it better to read with black on a white background?