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.
2 comments:
Cool, thanks for taking us along. These Bike weeks things must be all the same, our big ones Sturgis and Daytona are hectic but for me it is the ride going and returning is the fun part.
Thanks Michael, yes they are huge, very well organised but crowded. I have always wanted to visit Sturgis or Daytona bike week but doubt that it's going to happen. I have now done all the local big rallies that I'm going to do, from now on it will be the smaller rallies.
Post a Comment