My old friend Des Pistorius has passed away after an illness, he was a legend in biking circles and will be sorely missed, I first met him at a Ulysses Rally in Colesburg in 2002 but had occasionally seen him before then. At that time he was with his fourlegged friend "Widget" who used to ride everywhere on the bike's tank with Des, after Widget moved on Des trained Boswell to ride with him.
Des was an incredibly adventurous rider and in 2011 he passed through my area of the Western Cape while on a trip around South Africa on a Vespa towing a trailer! We were able to spend a bit of time together before he moved (slowly) off continuing his trip.
We spent many an evening chatting on skype and I always used to look out for him at the big rallies, I was keenly aware of the fact that he wasn't at the 2014 Buffalo Rally where I had seen him the previous year.
A little while ago I wrote a story on this blog about Des having done more than one million kilometres on this Goldwing and the last time we spoke he was telling me that he was thinking of getting a sidecar to fit to the bike, what a character we have all lost, an iconic figure whose passing is going to affect thousands of people.
(photo stolen from facebook) My condolences to his family, to the Ulysses Club in Durban and to all others affected by his passing, I hope Boswell is in good hands. Rest in Peace my old friend, I will miss you.
7 comments:
sorry to read that you lost a good soul. He looks incredibly interesting and the last shot with his dog looking so happy is very sweet.
Thanks John, yes he was one of a kind, Boswell used to go everywhere with him they were inseperable, I just hope that Boswell is being taken care of.
So sorry to hear that my good friend has passed away. His love of biking and adventure is legendary. Although we lived far apart we chatted often, he slept over when he passed through East London. I never heard Des ever speak badly of anyone. Rest In peace Des.
Hi there,
Thank you for your kind words. Yes Des (my father-in-law) was a man in a million. Boswell has been adopted by very good friends of Dads. So he will be well looked after. While Dad was in hospital he would go on a walk a about looking for Dad. But would always come back home.
Regards
Jacky Pistorius.
Hi Jackie thanks for the message and the news, I'm going to miss Des very much. My condolences to you and the rest of the family.
Thank you. Dad's funeral was attended by so many people. They seem to think that there were at least 350 - 400 bikers. Absolutely amazing, and so good to see. Dad was loved and respected by so many.
Thank you all.
Jacky.
Jacky I am hoping to see some photographs, I expected that there would be a lot of bikers at the funeral, I hope that there will be something in the next BikeSA. What an amazing tribute to an amazing man, Des found his place in life in the biking fraternity, it's a place that I love and for sure he did and I'm proud that our paths crossed.
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