September Breakfast run

After a brilliant day on the bike the day before, last Sunday dawned clear and calm, if a little cold. As we rode through chilly patches of early morning fog my temperature readout showed 10 Celsius, we were dressed for it though so quite comfortable. We were an hour earlier than usual as we had decided that "kickstands up" should be at 08h00 as the destination; the Du Toit's kloof restaurant was over 200km away.

We enjoyed a hot beverage on the veranda at Juffoshoogte while we waited for others to arrive. By 08h00 only Hein and Gerda and Metjie and Adrie had arrived, perhaps too long a trip for the others? We knew that Louis and Johlene would be meeting us at the restaurant because they had attended the Eagle rally in Worcester nearby, so okay the smallest breakfast run since January, no problem we would enjoy it and I was certainly looking forward to the ride.

An hour's cruise to Malmesbury along the all too familiar R45 and the temperature was up slightly; 12,5 Celsius but it was calm and sunny with the promise of another lovely spring day in the western cape.

No smokers in this small group so our stop in Malmesbury, where I needed fuel, was for the traditional "tea break". We warmed ourselves for a little while in the sun and then pressed on to Paarl and the N1, through the Du Toit's Kloof tunnel to the Trout farm just after.

The ride was wonderful, it had been quite a long while since I had been that way and one easily forgets how beautiful the mountainous countryside is.

The last time I had been through the toll road and tunnel I had decided that it was totally wrong for bikes to be charged the same as cars for the privilege so I had decided not to pay and had blasted through, briefly I wondered had they recorded my license plate? Were they waiting for me? No, this time I paid and all was fine although I still feel the same way, but Janet was with me so I behaved.

 

We found a spot on the sunny veranda, Louis and Johlene were already there, and the beer although ridiculously expensive at R22 a bottle was nice and cold.

We sat and chatted, there were quite a lot of bikers there who had also been at the rally so it was a festive place presided over by a troop of baboons who were on the lookout for food to steal.

 

Breakfast was good, a tasty sausage and a sweetcorn fritter made it a bit different but a little expensive at R75, there were other options though, and the scenery was fantastic.

 

We spent a very pleasant couple of hours there and then saddled up for the ride home, it was quite a long ride and our break was in Moorreesburg by which time I was really feeling the saddle muscles clenching. The temperature on the way home had risen to 31 Celsius and our total trip had been just over 400km, another really great day out on the bike, thank you guys.