A breakfast run to Darling

Sunday morning saw a clear and sunny day but with a blustery southerly wind that could only get worse as the day progressed, Janet had work to do so I dropped her off and rode on through to the Engen One Stop where I was to meet up with the Meeulanders for their monthly breakfast run.

Frank was already there filling his tank, it wasn't long before other bikers began trickling in and we stood around drinking famous Wimpy coffee and looking at the bikes.

We met Jasper who was just cruising around on his brand new K1600GT, a pleasant guy on a lovely bike, I'm sure we'll see more of him as he lives just down the road.

 The usual suspects gathered, looking forward to a ride; Heinie and his lovely wife Gerda were there.

Stephen chats with Mark and Charmain, I haven't seen them for ages so it was good to catch up.

Kick stands up just after 09h00, there was quite a crowd, I didn't count them but I estimate about eighteen bikes with maybe twenty six or so people, a great crowd for a breakfast run. We rumbled out of the garage forecourt at about 09h30 and settled into a sedate cruising speed in staggered formation, well disciplined because of the speed gantries on the R27 and we had to pass two of them. 

Everyone knew that after the second gantry we were going to turn off to Darling so we would not have to worry about the third one and sure enough as we passed under the second gantry the hooligan in all of the bikers was unleashed! I was riding pretty much in the centre of the pack and suddenly I was having to do 170 to 180kmh just to keep the mob in sight! An exhilirating blast ensued with cages pulling to the side of the road to let the hooligans flash past, it was wonderful stuff and the big red machine felt sure and nimble on the new rubber.

After the turn off it was fifteen kms on a narrow, bumpy and not so fast road into the little town of Darling and we lined the machines up outside Cafe Mosaic,

There's a message from Terence in this picture. Time for breakfast and believe it or not we could get beer! (Maybe I should keep that quiet!)

 Breakfast was a convivial affair on the sheltered verandah, plenty of space for all of us and a rather pleasant setting.

 My breakfast for R55 was pretty good, two eggs, two sausage, bacon, tomato, toast and coffee and it went down rather well. They managed to serve the crowd in a relatively short time and the food was still warm so I would have no hesitation in going back there.

 Soon it was time to leave, here's Mercia on her Bandit - note the barely legal number plate, that one wouldn't get picked up by the overhead cameras on the speed trap gantries!

Noisily the bikers peeled out into the quiet Sunday morning street, briefy disturbing the peace as they accelerated en masse back towards the R27 and across to Yzerfontien where another beer beckoned at the Sports Club.

 I had one more beer with my friends and then it was time for me to head back, collect Janet from work and go cook some barnacles that I had collected during harvesting operations on Friday.

I'm having a seafood braai soon and I am experimenting with dishes to serve to my friends, this is one of them, the barnacles occur on the mussel farm only about once a year and usually they do not get the chance to grow to a decent size after settlement, this year things seem to have coincided perfectly and they are pretty big.

 There's the tasty bit, they are a bit fiddly and awkward to eat but absolutely delicious and well worth the trouble.

I even managed to get Janet to try one and she enjoyed it although one was enough! Keep reading and I'll tell you how the braai day goes.