We haven't done much riding lately, it's winter down here and although we do get good riding days during our relatively short winter, they are usually on a weekday when I have to work - as per Murphy's law the weekends are usually crap!
We have been on leave for the past three weeks with our family visiting from the UK so also not much time for riding although I did take my oldest grandson for a bit of a cruise the other day,
He loved it and I know that my daughter and son in law would never let him get on the back of anyone else's bike, I dropped him off at the supermarket where they were going shopping and then I stayed on the bike for about an hour cruising locally just to get the battery up, it was great.
Our family went back home on Saturday and I have to go back to work on Wednesday but as luck would have it Monday was a clear and sunny day, it wasn't very warm, 16'5c when we started and 18,5c when we got back but it was an ideal day for the bike and you can dress for the cold weather.
We headed out of town around the lagoon bypassing Langebaan and out onto the R27, by the time we were cruising under the first of the speed trap gantries I was settling in, shoulders relaxed, feet centred on the pegs and smile on the face - damn it's good!
We took the rather bumpy 15km road to the little town of Darling and then through to Malmesbury at a steady pace, no rush just enjoying being out there. From Malmesbury I took the road out towards Durbanville, this is wine country and it's beautiful.
Just over 160km from home to Wellington and we stopped outside the Gecko lounge at around midday, well satisfied with the ride.
We have eaten at the Gecko lounge before and it has been good, I thoroughly enjoyed my 800g pork spare ribs with onion rings and chips;
Janet was not very happy with her crumbed pork chops, although the meat was tender it lacked any flavour, rather bland. I have had this dish there before and was very happy with it, perhaps a different chef or an off day? We spent a good hour and a half there, two beers and a bottle of wine from one of the local estates plus a shared starter of stuffed peppadews (actually also rather bland) and then a coffee to end off with came to R440 with the gratuity, good value for money as far as I am concerned.
Time to head home, this time a different route - out of Wellington I turned right on the R44 for the 26km blast to the Hermon turnoff, an excellent road, wide enough to sweep easily past the slower traffic and then down through the farmlands to Riebeek Kasteel, Riebeek West and then the R311 to the N7. This is an excellent fast road through the Swartland, undulating but pretty straight and very little traffic, Janet slept most of the way until we slowed down to go through Moorreesburg and then it was the lousy 22km stretch to the R45.
Lots of roadworks on the go here, deviations and stop/go sections so it was slow going but at least the local government is maintaining our roads, not like the other provinces!
Somehow my speed crept up to around 150-160km/h on the R45 and I soon left all of the other traffic behind, just adjacent to the airforce base there is another stop/go section, a long one and as we approached I saw the stop sign up but in the distance I could see the traffic that had just gone through, I swerved around the stop sign and accelerated after the disappearing vehicles ignoring the angry protestations of the attendant, hell man I caught up before the end of the roadworks and felt very happy with myself.
You all know that feeling of being at one with the bike, when you are sitting relaxed, you look into a corner and the bike takes it, a slight wrist movement and it straightens up from the apex and you are accelerating towards the next one, brake and dive in, look through and open up with the road flashing by inches beneath your feet - how can you explain it to those poor souls who don't ride?
Stay safe.
3 comments:
Wow excellent value for lunch, thats about $ 36.00
Nice to see those green fields. Everything is so brown and dry here right now. It is all we can do to water the shrubbery enough to keep it alive until the rains return.
Very cool that your grandson enjoyed his ride. Might be some two wheeled machines in his future.
Michael Harris that's why South Africa is a great place to have a holiday, your money is worth so much here and food and accommodation places, hotels and resorts etc., are world class.
Brandy my grandson is a big fan of Formula One so I don't think he'll be into bikes but he does enjoy the rides.
The western cape is beautiful in winter and now as spring approaches we are famous for the very brief wild flower season, I will be posting some photos very soon.
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