Swartland Charuty Run, Mooreesburg

It's April now and the weather is supposed to be cooling down but man we've had some scorchers! This last weekend was one of those, I met up with some of the Meeulanders at the bike shop, West Coast Yamaha in Vredenburg at about 09h30 on Saturday. They were riding through to Mooreesburg for the Swartland Charity run and sleepover and I decided to tag along for a short visit.

 There's always eye-candy at West Coast Yamaha, how about this "TMax" scooter, a big step-through easily capable of 120kmh! I must check with Craig and see if I can take it out for a spin.

 The 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere' has all the bells and whistles including cruise control and heated hand-grips, multi-adjustable suspension, adjustable windscreen and aggressive good looks.

Just after 10h00 we hit the road and immediately Divi, the Meeulanders President set up a very fast pace as if knowing that it was only a short ride he wanted to make the best of it, and he was on his Harley! We blasted along the R45 and at times I was having to do 160kmh to keep up, we turned onto the 22km stretch of the R311 to Mooreesburg and settled into a slightly more sedate pace but only because it's such a bad road.

Cruising down into the town we waved at friends drinking beer at "Die Ou Stoep" pub and went to the showgrounds to book in, it was already quite warm as we unloaded at the site where the "Knights of the skies" had already set up a camp.

Some of the guys had arrived on Friday evening from the airforce base just down the road.

Time to wander around, see what's going on and most importantly get a cold beer down the neck!

The potjies were being prepared for the evening meal, you can bet those old guys know what they are doing, those pots were being done the right way, slowly over the coals - mouth-watering I moved on.

Yards and yards of lamb chops and boerewors on traditional half-drum braais, the aromas coming from this area were amazing, I had to get something to eat!

One of my favourites; spit-braai Karoo lamb done over an open fire. This takes a couple of hours, not like in the stainless-steel contraptions that look like hospital equipment, here you can see the lamb slowly cooking. It was fenced off which was sensible because guys like nothing better than to sidle up and slice a tasty piece off the flanks, and we all carry knives - they obviously knew this.

The pub was doing a roaring trade and there was a pleasing line up of old scooters and motorbikes outside, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make us feel at home, because this was not purely a biker event, it was open to the public but the organisers wanted bikers, people who know how to party and who aren't shy about spending money.

 I wandered around the stalls, some of whom had been at the recent Buffalo Rally, but by then I had had a couple of beers and it was time to get something to eat,

These people were selling lamb rolls, my friend Mark paid for my lunch - thank you Bro., on me next time. I felt much better after something to eat. There certainly was no shortage of good food.

The crowd settled into the party, there was good music and I thought it time to leave before I got too settled in, my friends were all sleeping over but I had decided that I was not staying, maybe next time.

The lucky draw prize, a 1200 HD Sportster and a crash helmet! This event is getting better each time and it is for a worthy cause, the elderly. I encourage western cape bikers to attend next year, bring your tent and sleep over, you won't be disappointed.