Berg River Marathon, seafood lunch and a Monday ride.

It has been a busy couple of days, the famous "Berg River Canoe Marathon" took place last week and was due to end in Velddrif on Saturday afternoon. Every year the townsfolk organise a festival to coincide with this internationally supported event and local bikers were invited to do a mass ride with the classic car club on the Saturday morning.

We all know that it doesn't take much to get bikers out on a ride and they came in from all directions in spite of the chilly weather, several of us were blasting along between Vredenburg and Velddrif at 170kmh with the temperature reading a bitter 8,5 celsius and I was wearing my cut-off gloves!

 There were a lot of bikes and several clubs represented, I didn't count them and I don't know if there was any official count but it was great to see such a good turnout.

There were some lovely old cars and we followed them in a slow procession around the town, riding through the suburbs so that the folks could see (and hear) us.

 The bikers had a good time and the festival seemed to be a great success, a large variety of food stalls, craft stalls and a busy beer garden were all being well supported. I stayed for a couple of beers with my mates and then headed home.

Sunday the weather was much better, no wind and quite warm and we had a bunch of biker friends coming round for lunch; I did a big pot of fresh steamed mussels, Janet made her world famous oyster soup, then it was cheese and biscuits and dessert.

 Sooi and Gerrie were the first ones at the mussel pot but it didn't take long for the others to join in, we had a very pleasant afternoon with much banter and bullshit as there usually is with a bunch of bikers.

 Divi dished out his homemade "melktertjie" shots after the dessert and had no shortage of takers; Murray, Gerrie and Janet seen here.

Quite a while after everyone had left I had to use the "magic words" to get Frank to go home but what a lovely afternoon it had been, I really enjoy entertaining and will use any excuse to host a gathering.

Monday dawned calm and clear and as I said on my facebook page; the best thing about being retired is that I don't have to go to work after a party Saturday but I can go for a ride instead so that is what I did. At one point I stopped next to an Ostrich farm and the curious birds came walking up either to see what was going on or to check out the bike.

I cruised around for about an hour and a half, just enjoying the calmness and the solitude. The Spring flowers are starting to show and it won't be long before the area is carpetted in colour and full of tourists. (Click on the photos to see them full size.)

I should have given up working a long time ago!