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Welcome to my blog, these are the ramblings and musings of an (upper) middle aged biker and if you enjoy braais, (barbeques) beers and motorbikes then hopefully you will enjoy what Janet and I do; we do lots of braais, we drink lots of beer and we tour South Africa on our motorbike, which at the moment is a BMW R1200RT. Join us, read about what we do and please leave us your comments.



Thursday, April 23, 2020

Day 28 of 35 days in quarantine

I'm experiencing cabin fever, the trouble is this damn virus, because of its public relations makes me feel apprehensive when I go through to the shops. None of the other viruses that affected us; SARS, Ebola, Swine flu etc., had the impact that this Chinese one has because they weren't promoted and publicized by self proclaimed experts on social media the way this one has been. You can't go on line without seeing all manner of contradictory messages and dire warnings of impending doom, take for example the way it started off with panic buying of toilet paper of all things, why? There are people who now sit with cupboards full of toilet paper, they won't have to buy for years! I'm tired of it, I want to ride my motorbike, I want to ride it now. As the old song goes.

With that in mind here are some photos from past rides to whet your appetite before the roads are opened up to us again, soon please Mr. President!


I'd even take a crappy weather ride now
At the start of Clarence drive

Eating wild rock oysters at Breede River lodge
Ten years ago now we took a couple of days off and rode down to Witsand, stayed a night in the Breede River lodge and ate rock oysters and fresh seafood. The weather was lousy at first but cleared by day three. Great ride.

Local bikers know this place very well, the "hole in the rock" between Ashton and Montagu built by Alfred Bain who was responsible for several mountain passes in the Western Cape. The road and the tunnel through the Kalkoenkraanz was opened in 1877. Just above it is the old blockhouse built by the British during the Anglo/Boer war.

It's a beautiful area, I love riding there. Since these photos were taken there has been extensive roadworks which I am sure will greatly improve the ride between Ashton and Montagu, I can't wait to go and have a look.

This one is from a different part of the Province, this is between Piketberg and Eendekuil and I cannot resist a picture with a derelict building. Lovely riding area this is too.

This is the R44 coming down from Porterville back to Piketberg, we have ridden this many times, western cape bikers will know it well, our annual "Polar Bear run" has been in Porterville for the past five years and this is the way home on Sunday with a hangover.

This happens quite often, after a nice lunch and a couple of glasses of wine Janet has a sleep, amongst bikers though this is not unusual, I know of lots of ladies who sleep on the back of the bike.


That's it, the ride is over. Let's get out there real soon. Our club members are dying for a ride and as soon as this lockdown is over we'll all be out there, see you on the road.

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