We attend the Mohicans Rally in Langebaan

It seems like ages since I last attended a rally, well since I actually took my camping gear and slept over for a couple of nights, haven't done that for a long time. This past weekend saw the local chapter of the Mohicans mcc holding their annual rally in Langebaan and six of us went along to support and to "show the colours".

This cool picture by Michelle Liebenberg shows me arriving on my beloved 13 year old BMW which has now done just over 133,000km. Michelle takes great photos.

Sampie and Kathy

Daan and Bev

Gerrie

The rally certainly seemed to be buzzing with a lot of people coming through in the afternoon, those poor people who have to work! Friends and ex members of the club, Craig and Monica had a food stall set up so we made that our base after visiting the pub for a cold beer.

They were selling very nice boerewors rolls and lamb sosaties and were one of three food stalls at the rally.

We wandered around a bit, meeting and greeting, checking out the other stalls and the bikes being prepared for the concourse d'elegance.

Neat Triumph Rocket 3

Ladies prep a GSXR

As well as the usual games, many of which involve the consumption of alcohol, there was an interesting one that I hadn't seen before which involved contestants having to shake marbles through from one bottle to the next in the shortest time, it actually attracted a lot of attention with much shouted encouragement.

Ladies winner and overall winner

Inevitable law enforcement visit

Greeting a brother

We had a brief drive through visit by Law Enforcement but I must say that, at least on Saturday, they didn't hassle us and there were no road blocks on the way home. I don't know if there were any on Sunday but I doubt it.  Overly zealous law enforcement ruined a rally in Velddrif recently and from what I've read online bikers are fed up with the amount of roadblocks in and around Margate where the South Coast Bike Festival was held this weekend.

Good selection of trade and food stalls

Camping space and chalets

We were framed! This wasn't our idea, Joe, Gerrie and I were chatting and this was thrust upon us!

Well done to the Mohicans for a well organized and well run rally, I hope that their expectations as far as attendance is concerned was achieved, bikers certainly seemed to be having a good time but then they always do.

A really nice Easter breakfast run

We have a custom in our club where anyone wanting to go for a ride, unless they particularly want to ride alone, posts a notice on our facebook page or our Whatsapp group inviting other members to join in with meeting time and venue. So it was that I saw a notice from Anton for a breakfast ride on Easter Sunday and we headed out to Juffroushoogte to join them.

It was a little chilly at first but with the promise of a lovely day ahead, calm and sunny and as we sat drinking a hot coffee waiting for the others to arrive I was eagerly anticipating a good ride. It ended up with nine of us altogether on five motorbikes.

Customary meeting place

Coffee before the ride

The place that Anton and Rinette had chosen for our breakfast near Malmesbury was closed so we decided to go to Darling after phoning Brig's Barn to make sure they were open. We have been there before and we know that the food is good.

We had an eclectic mix of motorcycles parked outside, including BMW, Yamaha, Indian and this beauty; Heine's brand new Triumph Bonneville T120 of which he had only just taken delivery. A retro styled modern 1200cc, attention to original detail was perfect even the fuel injectors were made to look like old carburetors. I love that retro look.

It's only about a forty five minute trip to Darling so we weren't in any hurry, we kept the speed at 130kmh just to stay ahead of the traffic as we rode south down the R27. We pulled into a halfway laybye for our tea break, gathering to chat about just how nice that short ride had been so far.

This time I didn't forget, Janet had made a very nice grenadilla liqueur with fresh fruit and vodka and it really was delicious.

"Cheers everyone" and of course the new motorbike was also a topic of conversation.

From there a pleasant cruise into the little town of Darling, renowned nowadays for the restaurant "Evita se Perron" belonging to Pieter Dirk Uys and his alter ego Evita Basson.

We parked our steeds in the shade under a carport and went through to the veranda outside Brig's Barn, we were able to order a beer by then so we sat and chatted while we waited for our breakfast.

A nice touch, an Easter egg each

Brig's breakfast, not cheap at R85 but good

After a hearty breakfast we headed back up the R27 - passing uneventfully through a traffic roadblock at the Engen One Stop and down to Langebaan where we visited Pirate's Bar.

Thanks guys for the lovely day out, another unscheduled breakfast run turns out to be an excellent one.

The Club gathers for a mussel pot because the braai was rained out

Last Saturday we were due to visit friends for lunch at the West Coast Farm stall on the R27, (I have told you about this place already, and about how much I enjoyed the offal pot) so I suggested to Janet that we go by bike and go for a bit of a ride; Saldanha to Malmesbury and then back down through Darling. Janet thought this was a great idea. You bikers will know all about this, when you're in a car you take the shortest, most direct route but when you're on a bike you want to extend the trip, this would make it 167km instead of about 64km.

It turned out to be a lovely ride, the weather was great and we arrived at the farm stall just after midday, met our friends and had a great lunch. I had the offal pot again, that is going to become my 'go to' place whenever I want that meal. It rained a bit while we were there and there was a bit of rain on the way home but that didn't dampen our spirits at all.

The next day, Sunday we had planned a "bring'n braai" for our club members but when we woke up it was bloody raining! don't get me wrong, we need the rain here but not on a braai day! This was actually the second time that this has happened, if you need rain plan a big braai.

I met up with club members at the biker church service in Vredenburg, as an aside mine was the only bike parked outside, everyone else attended in cages! We discussed our options, my pub and back verandah is big enough so I invited everyone to come anyway and we would eat the mussels and Janet's pudding - I had a huge pot of mussels that needed to be eaten.

While we were there the clouds parted and the sun came out, too late and wet to braai but the mussels and the fresh bread that we had bought at the farm stall went down very well, in spite of the change of plan we all had a very good time.

These guys got mussels brought to their table

Antoinette serves Frank garlic butter

They're a great bunch of people these Meeulanders, definitely family and we will have a braai sometime soon, maybe I'll plan it quietly!

We rode again on Monday morning, Janet and I and some of the committee members met at the Cove Hotel in Saint Helena Bay to view and discuss the use of the venue for our "Dart Run" which will be held in late September. So lots of riding this past week - excellent.

Now it is Easter weekend, well from tomorrow and I'm sure there will be more biking although traditionally it rains over Easter. Where ever you are going, ride safe, take care and have a wonderful weekend.

April rides, a visit to Farmhouse Grill again

April has started off pretty well, we've done a couple of nice rides already. The weather has calmed down considerably, in fact we've had quite a bit of rain which has adversely affected two planned braais, but that's Murphy's law isn't it?

The big red machine's odo clicked over to 130,000km last week, that's in 13 years so at 10,000km per year I suppose that's not a hell of a lot. Get out and do some more riding. The mechanic who has been looking after my bike said that this engine is good for another 130,000 but I don't think I will be!

On Sunday 4th eight of us on five bikes gathered at Juffroushoogte for the monthly breakfast run and what a pleasant run it was, the weather was absolutely perfect. We had already decided on the Farmhouse grill in Piketburg, owned by a brother biker he gives a special price for bikers having breakfast there.

There were no more Stop/Go's on the R45 so we enjoyed an uninterrupted run through apart from a brief fuel stop in Hopefield for Willie to fill up. Next stop was in Moorreesburg again, tea break and waiting to see if anyone of our members who had stayed over at the Swartland Rally in the town was going to join us, no one did and the word was that they were having trouble getting out of bed, so good had been the party the previous night.

Next to the garage in the town

Gerda pours the tea

Strong home made liqueur for tea

went down very well

From there it is only 30km along the N7 to Piketburg and on a Sunday the N7 is a very nice ride, no heavy vehicles and light traffic so we were able to push it a bit, only slowing down as we entered the outskirts to avoid the notorious traffic speed traps. Soon we were lining the bikes up outside the Farmhouse Grill.

Once the meet and greet and the important matter of liquid refreshments was taken care of  we moved out into the courtyard, we chose to sit outside rather than inside as it was such a pleasant morning, we chatted while we waited for our breakfast, and what a good breakfast it was.

This is the Biker's breakfast for R54 ! Really good value, I don't know of a single other place that we have been to that gives a breakfast like this for such a reasonable price and bikers will travel all over the country on their breakfast runs. I have no hesitation in recommending The Farmhouse Grill in Piketburg to fellow bikers, give Frans a call on 0714608944 and tell him the Meeulanders sent you. We'll certainly be back.

We rode back to Velddrif along the really nice R399, just over 60km at a steady 120-130km/h, there we said goodbye to Hein, Gerda and Floors and pulled into the Wielhuis Pub for a last one before heading home. A really good day out, a lovely ride and only a 270km round trip although it felt like quite a bit more.