WMA dayjol 28th May

I wrote about this one last year, it was an amazing success for an inaugural dayjol and I am sure that this year it will be even better. If the organisation and preparations are anything to go by it cannot fail.

If you weren't there last year you missed out - don't miss out this year!

Homeward bound

Sunday morning was sunny but cold as I headed out of Margate down to Port Shepstone and back through to Kokstad where I stopped for a breakfast, I had decided to take the N2 route and visit my sister and brother-in-law in the little eastern cape town of Komga some 500kms distant.

Heading back through the Transkei again the road was excellent but still constant vigilance is needed as animals forage on the roadsides and stroll across to see if the grass is greener on the other side. Again I did not feel like stopping in any of the towns that I rode through; Qumbu, Mthatha or Dutywa - where we lived from '76 to '86 - but I had to stop in Butterworth to refuel and by then my backside and legs were really tired after about 400kms.

I was happy to arrive in Komga and enjoyed a braai that evening. Monday being a public holiday I stayed for lunch to enjoy some time with my family and then headed through to East London, only 65kms away to spend the evening with some old family friends.

Tuesday saw another 500km ride to the beautiful little Garden Route coastal town of Plettenberg Bay where I spent a very pleasant evening with my youngest sister and two of my nieces, that had been a bit of an unpleasant ride with early rain and then incredibly strong winds around Port Elizabeth and Humansdorp but by midday the wind dropped and the sun shone promising me a better day for my last ride.

Wednesday I saddled up early and hit the road just after 07h00, I was eager to get back to my lady and had a 630km stretch ahead of me, happily it was a wonderful sunny day with only a gentle wind and the N2 is a joy to ride under those conditions.

I hit Knysna rush-hour traffic and the town was shrouded in early morning fog but it didn't take long until I was back at 140kmh heading for Sedgefield, Wilderness, George and then a welcome Wimpy breakfast just outside of Mossel Bay. From there it is 500km and I have easily done that before when riding back from the Buffalo Rally.

Swellendam, Ashton, Robertson and then my first beer stop and another leg stretch at the Dros in Worcester. Home is about 220km from there and I parked the bike just after 15h00 after a really wonderful day's riding.

The homeward journey along the  N2; 1,718km was negligibly longer by 127kms than the outward journey but it was a much better ride, if I were to go again that is the way I would go.

The big red machine performed flawlessly and I got a very pleasing consumption of 19km/litre which I thought was excellent considering that I am rather heavy on the throttle at times.

 The overpriced but essential souvenir tee shirt with a large HD emblem on the front, but as they say; ~"Been there, done that, got the tee shirt."

Africa Bike Week rally visited and the Saturday braai

Friday dawned clear and sunny, I do not suffer from hangovers so the previous night's excesses did not bother me, this was my day to visit the rally, the 8th annual running of Africa Bike week. By the time I got down to the rally road it was already hot and very humid, typical Kwa-Zulu Natal!

I was quite early so I had no trouble finding a place to park but it was filling up quickly.

 I had no sooner arrived when I saw three "Rhodesian Survivors" rolling in, here I am in the midst of a reunion and there are more of them, we chatted briefly and it turned out that they were from Australia on a touring holiday which included the rally.

I wandered around after a bit of a breakfast, the Harley stand was obviously in full swing with a whole lot of new models on display including a fantastic looking trike priced at a whopping R450,000!

It's not so easy to enjoy a rally on your own, at least that was the way I felt, I went into the main arena to get out of the midday sun and have a couple of cold beers and enjoy some of the live music, which was very good.

 By mid afternoon the place was heaving with revellers and the various stands were doing a roaring trade, rally road includes a lot of restaurants and pubs as well as food stalls and the usual purveyors of both hard and soft drinks.

I went and bought a "Bike week" tee shirt at an exorbitant price but I had to have one, by then I had had enough and took a ride along to Ramsgate to visit "Pistol's Saloon", a place that had been recommended to me and which was crowded with bikers, a very interesting place.

 A couple of cold draught beers there and I was ready to call it a day - been there, done that, got the tee shirt. A hell of a long way to visit a rally; 1,650kms.

Dinner with my friends that evening was great.

Saturday was completely the opposite; cold, wet and windy and I was grateful that I had been down the day before, my host Barry had invited a bunch of ex-cops to his home "The Woanery" for a braai but us Rhodies were not about to let a bit of inclement weather put us off!

Barry is an excellent host and a collector and dealer in Rhodesian and Police memorabilia, he has a huge collection so his pub is an interesting place, it was to be full of people later in the day!

John Alford and I took turns at bar duty, John is an excellent fellow whom I had the pleasure of meeting, he was there with his Harley but was unable to ride that weekend due to a rather badly wrenched knee.

The braai later was great, Barry has a sheltered area but it was too cold to stay out long - the party moved inside and a great time was had by all;

 A fine bunch of men, most of whom I last saw in Bulawayo some forty years ago!

"Stretch" Hughes, my old comrade from the Crime Prevention Unit, the fact that I was able to meet up with all of these excellent fellows was what made my trip to Margate so special. All good things must come to an end, I was leaving the next day - please let the weather be kind to me!