November 10th and 11th

November 10th and November 11th are very significant days for us, firstly November 10th is Janet's birthday and also our wedding anniversary which this year fell on a Tuesday so we went out for dinner to our favourite place; Don and Connie's Beira Mar restaurant in Saint Helena Bay. Frank joined us there and picked up the tab so that made it a very good evening for us!36 years and still going strong! I had my old favourite; whole baby yellowtail with wedges and salad and it was outstanding!

This thing is like a baby whale and is not for the faint hearted but as you can see I managed to demolish it, skin and all

We had a very enjoyable evening chatting to our friends and enjoying a couple of glasses of wine and still managed to get home early enough to have a good night's sleep.

Now as to the reason why November 11th is significant; we are ex Rhodesians and that was the date in 1965 when Ian Smith declared independence from England, the Unilateral Declaration of Independence which is now celebrated by Rhodesians all over the world.

What was once the bread basket of the African continent is now Zimbabwe, and thanks to Bob Mugabe and his cronies it is now the basket case.

Anyway we are off on a Rhodie weekend, we are going to a place called "Bambe Zonke" not too far from here for a weekend of braais, potjies and a pork spit braai which we are really looking forward to, I will let you know all about it when we get back.

Cobra rally, Worcester

I woke up Sunday morning to the sound of rain falling on my tent, great all I needed! Shades of the "Slangkop rally" where we were woken up at 2am and chased home by the mother of all storms, at least it was daylight as I staggered bladderfully to the ablution block. It was too early for Frank to be awake so I went over to the CMA coffee tent and had a couple of hot cups of coffee to change the taste in my mouth while I contemplated packing up a wet tent.
Mustn't complain too much, it had been a good rally, the ride up on Friday had been fantastic even though the wind was blowing quite strongly. Frank and I met at 14h30 at the intersection outside the Langebaan Weg airforce base.

It was only a two hour ride so we took it easy, had a brief stop in Riebeek for a beer at a really pleasant little pub and then a fuel stop when we arrived in Worcester. We pulled into the rally site around 17h00 and eventually found ourselves a good spot to make camp, by then the wind was blowing quite hard so I tied my tent to a tree,

I didn't want it blowing over as had happened before! Once we had everything set up, mattresses inflated and bikes locked up it was time to have a look around and see if any old friends were around. It was good to see that Dalton the rally chef was there, his restaurant tent is always the centre of good happenings at the rallies and I think this guy is a real "celebrity chef", forget about that namby pamby Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay, I'd love to see a TV program with this chef - his food is bloody great and he is a well known rally personality. This is his welcome to my restaurant look!

We drank a couple of beers, wandered around greeting old friends and making new ones, we went into the main hall and listened to the music and just generally got into the rally vibe. The food stalls were really top class with a good variety of food on sale.

You really do meet the nicest kind of guys at the rallies, biker brothers all and we often bump into each other at various rallies around the cape. Memories of Friday night sort of blurred a bit but I know I had a good time and it was in the very early hours of the morning that I eventually crawled into my tent.

I was not a happy camper on Saturday morning! It didn't take too long to come right and as the wind was blowing quite a lot harder by then I decided to skip the mass ride, in fact I decided to skip all riding for the day.

By late Saturday the party in the main hall was hotting up and it became the centre of attraction, the beers were cheap and the strippers were good, pretty much all you need for a successful rally really! Which brings me back to Sunday morning, the lousy weather woke Frank up earlier than usual and we decided to get going. We bundled up our wet stuff and tied it all onto our bikes and then headed for home, in places it rained really hard and it wasn't long before my boots and my gloves were wet through. Still we rode at 120 to 130kmh blasting through the storm, slowing down occasionally when a vehicle in front caused a wake of spray until we could see far enough ahead to blast past and settle back into a comfortable cruise.

We stopped twice to have a break, changed wet gloves and laughed at each other and splashed off into the rain again and by about 13h00 I was at home having a hot shower. What a good weekend, and yes I will definitely do it again!

To go or not to go, that is the question

I am watching the weather with a certain amount of trepidation and disappointment, according to the forecast it is going to crap up from tomorrow right through to next Tuesday! This is particularly bad news for those of us looking forward to the Cobra Rally this weekend! Those of us who are bikers all know that if we are on a long ride far from home and we get caught in a bit of rain we will just grit our teeth and go for it, we have all ridden in the rain - it is inevitable but will we choose to go away for the weekend if it is pouring down before the bike is even out of the garage?
Another problem I have is that Janet has invited Linda to come and stay with her for the weekend, Janet does not like the rallies and lets me go off on my own every now and then, but now if I cancel and stay at home I will have to put up with the two of them for the whole weekend! There's incentive to just pull the rain suit on and hit the road. Frank's coming over for dinner tonight and we will discuss our options; go for it like real bikers or stay at home like a couple of moffies!

It's at times like these that I find myself reminiscing about favourite roads and favourite rides, I posted this photo a while ago but I decided to use it again because it is definitely one of my best roads, this was taken in the "Rooihoogte Pass" overlooking the Koo Valley on the fabulous R318 which runs from Montagu to the N1. We have done this one many times and have always enjoyed it immensely. Doesn't that winding road just look so inviting?

Here's something else we Cape bikers see plenty of! It's not uncommon to be diving into a lovely sweeper in a mountain pass and suddenly you find yourself in amongst a troop of baboons all over the road and the verges, they are incredibly quick and agile though and I have never seen or experienced any bikers hitting them - thank goodness because there are some big ones! There are a lot of other animals that we have to be careful of though, some that are not as quick or agile; from tortoises and snakes to small buck and in some other parts of the country, large game. Particularly in the evenings one has to be very aware of wild animals, I came very close to hitting a very large and very angry porcupine one night, can you imagine what that would have done to my tires?!

Anyway we did manage to get out and go for a bit of a local cruise, here you see my two babes outside the Paternoster Hotel which is only about 20kms from home but still a very pleasant cruise. Watch this space, we are going to the Cobra Rally this weekend - I can't imagine why I would cancel and stay at home!

Capetown weekend

Not a lot has gone on this week, it has been a difficult time at work because of serious gale force southerly winds blowing through the western cape, a precursor of summer and something that we have to deal with on the mussel farm. It makes things difficult and dangerous and even when we can work, if I have planned my seeding well and I have a place to go and harvest mussels, I have to spend six hours balancing and staggering on a heaving deck with the wind constantly blowing in my face. It can seriously piss me off!

We had a relatively quiet weekend, I attended a day long Masonic conference in Capetown on Saturday with Joe and after the conference Janet and Annie joined us, along with all of the other wives, at the Masonic Centre for a braai. It turned into a very pleasant evening attended by well over 250 people.

That evening back at Joe and Annie's house we played a couple of games of Cribbage, which Joe managed to win, and sat together and chatted over a glass or two of good whisky with chocolate and snacks which all went down very well.

This was the view from the restaurant where we had breakfast this morning; "Ciao Baby Cucino", an amazing buffet breakfast for R60 per person - you do the math! I was so stuffed I couldn't eat another thing until later in the evening.
Anyway it's going to be a long week at work until Frank and I go to the Cobra rally in Worcester next weekend, we are leaving on Friday afternoon and I am really looking forward to that one. I have a new sleeping bag to try out so I will let you know about it.

Oysters, braais and bikes

This is where we were last weekend, in Spain on holiday - we flew out on Friday and had lunch at a private hacienda and then flew back on Sunday, what a lovely weekend!

You could almost believe that from that photograph couldn't you? Actually we were just across the lagoon at Langebaan with Rene' and Bronx, they had been given a weekend at a friend's holiday home and we went over for a braai lunch, I took the oysters and what a good lunch that was! It's a fabulous old place right on the beach and worth a bloody fortune just because of it's location and the fact that it's on a double plot, I wouldn't be able to afford to buy the place but hopefully we may be able to go there once in a while.
Here's a braai that I did the other day, sausages and miellies and to prepare the sausages I braai them over the coals, rolling them around until they are almost done, then I remove them and slice them open through the middle lengthwise. I then sprinkle the rare meat with Aromat and black pepper and place them back on the grid flesh side down and brown them well.
They are then delicious with Coleman's Hot English Mustard and the miellies which were done in tinfoil over the coals as I have mentioned in an earlier post.
When I first worked out this sausage recipe I was happy to do them at a braai at Joe's house and he and Annie really enjoyed them, maybe two months later Rene and Bronx came to my house and I decided to do the same sausages for them and as I was preparing them Rene' said; "Oh I see you have got Joe's recipe for the sausages, he did them for us last week." !!! Nice friends I've got!
Talking about motorbikes! I saw this lovely XS1100 on a recent breakfast run, we bought one brand new in 1982 - our first ever brand new motorbike - for R3000 and I fitted the same "Windjammer" fairing, although mine was a black one, what a lovely motorbike that was! We did our month long 8760km tour around South Africa on that bike in 1984, I'll have to tell you about that trip, but it was really good to see that old bike in such good condition.

I sold the Yamaha for R3500 in 1985 and bought a 1983 Honda Goldwing, I wish I could have kept it because it was a fantastic bike.
And again on a totally different note; our hero has just clinched his seventh world title! Just look at this picture, you cannot get a motorbike much lower than that! He has to keep his knee and elbow tucked in to keep them off the tar.
We all know what a brilliant racer he is, a genius on two wheels on the track but I would love to know if he rides for fun on his own; if he does, what does he ride? Where does he ride? Does he do breakfast runs, charity runs or rallies? So Valentino, if you are reading this (Yeah right!)..........

Sturgis plans

Things are starting to happen - exciting things! Even though it's about 22 months until Sturgis 2011 we are getting things organised, and 22 months will flash past like time always seems to do. My good friend "BigH", Harry who lives in New Zealand now has indicated that he is working on meeting us in the USA to take part and my pool and riding buddy Frank is also keen to go. I was also contacted by "Karel" from Namibia, who reads this blog, about going along so it could be quite a group.

As I have a sister and two neices living in Portland in Oregon, that seems like a good place to start and having consulted an Atlas - the old fashioned way of checking distance - it doesn't seem to be all that much more that 1,500kms to Sturgis, a cool three day ride - or four days if we want to check out the scenery.

I have located and contacted an HD dealer; Paradise HD in Portland just to get an idea of what is required, so as I said - things are starting to happen. It won't be long before we are wobbling off on an unfamiliar motorcycle for a three day trip on the wrong side of the road!

If any of you friends out there have any advice please don't hesitate to give it, I will still have to investigate accommodation closer to the time but I am already getting that incredible feeling building up, the excitement leading up to a long motorbike ride. I sit poring over maps and pamphlets - drinking beer - and organising the trip, wonderful!

Frank and I resumed the FA Cup on Friday afternoon and I'm afraid he wasn't too happy with me as I managed to beat him 6 - 2. He'll still come on the ride though, I just hope that we don't end up like the guys in "Wild Hogs"! If we are riding through some open country and we come up to a pub in the middle of nowhere with 20 Harleys parked outside, do we go in?

It's going to be the adventure of a lifetime and I'm really looking forward to meeting my American blogger friends - we'll speak soon.

A couple of braais

I had occasion to do a couple of braais during the weekend, and as usual I will jump at the chance to do a braai. Janet and I had agreed to cater for my Masonic function for twenty people on Saturday evening and this necessitated quite a lot of work on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

My friend at the Saldanha Vleismark (Butchery) sponsored more than half the price of some 8kg of prime de-boned leg of lamb, three lovely big legs which I had decided to braai. First I rubbed them with olive oil and then liberally sprinkled with Aromat, a bit of garlic flakes and some mixed herbs and then I left them to marinate whilst I got the fire going. While this was happening I opened two bitterly cold Castles for us.

By the time my coals were good and hot it was also time for the second beer, I placed the legs on the grid and contentedly surveyed my work. Braaiing is after all, very thirsty work! Note to self: Next time remove the hosepipe before taking the bloody photo!

I kept the coals good and hot and kept turning the meat over and after about an hour they were all perfectly medium to rare. I savoured the wonderful aroma (and a few crispy edge pieces) as I removed them from the grid and placed them in an aluminium dish. To celebrate my success I cracked another cold Castle.Janet had in the meantime made three lovely milk tarts and as there are no children around I was allowed to lick the bowl! During the course of the evening and the next morning we prepared creamy Aromat potatoes (one of my favourites) and roasted butternut squash. It was a very successful meal by all accounts, I certainly enjoyed it.

My second braai was for lunch on Saturday before the meeting and we had my buddy Alan staying over with us, I marinated some chicken portions in olive oil, white wine, black pepper and mixed herbs and braaiied them along with some boerewors and potatoes in tinfoil.

There you have it, quite a typical South African braai meal except for the fact that there were no chops this time, but this was after all just supposed to be a quick and light meal; the boerewors is the protein, the potato for the carbs and remember that I told you earlier that at South African braais chicken is considered a vegetable!

It does look rather good though, doesn't it? It was.

Sunday ride to the Riebeek valley

Sunday dawned clear and calm and although a "moderate" wind was forcast we headed out after our traditional spa bath, I was feeling relaxed and calm (and clean) and eager for the ride - I had been looking forward to it ever since Fungis suggested it at the rally the previous weekend. Frank was already at the meeting point and it wasn't long before Fungis and Graham rolled in.Fungis' dashboard clock wasn't set so he asked Graham to help him, they both ride the same bikes so Graham took out his book and they got busy, we chided them to get a move on, we didn't have all day! "There, spot on." said Fungis, "Now all I have to do when I want to tell the time is add on thirty minutes." Eventually we set off - thirty minutes early?! At least Fungis won't be late for anything!
It was a good brisk pace set up by Fungis and Graham with us third and Frank bringing up the rear and a thoroughly enjoyable ride. I tried to imagine if I didn't have the motorbike, if I had a car, would I be doing a trip like this? I don't think so, car drivers don't do things like this because it's no fun.
We followed Fungis through Riebeek Kasteel into Riebeek West where he pulled off onto the side of the road, "Where are we meeting the guys?" I asked. "I'm not sure, it's something to do with a pumpkin." answered Fungis, I had my doubts, I knew the town quite well and the only "Pumpkin" I knew about was in Barrydale some 200kms further.


Fungis decided to phone a friend, yes they were already at the venue "The Pleasant Pheasant" which we had passed a short while ago. Never a dull moment with Fungis around, we soon pulled into the familiar venue where he reckoned we were going for our "Holy Commotion!" The Riebeek Valley is an incredibly picturesque area and a very popular area for bikers on Sunday breakfast runs, there are always plenty of bikes parked outside the myriad little restaurants and taverns in the town. We met up with the Winelands Ulysses group and were soon joined by Dick and Janet who had ridden through from Capetown.
It was a very pleasant couple of hours, we had a couple of beers and a good laugh with a great bunch of people which more than made up for the very average breakfast and soon it was time for the ride home. We went back through Malmesbury and then hit the rather boring 80km long stretch of the R45 with a vengeance, barelling along at a comfortable 150 to 160kmh. At that speed it didn't take long before we were pulling up outside the "Buffalo Bar" again for the A.B.F.
Here's Frank and Fungis misbehaving again!
Two beers at the pub and we were on our way home, Frank had a plate of the rather great looking chicken potjie even though he had just recently had a breakfast, we would eat later. All in all a very good day and a nice end to a good weekend, I still have to tell you about the braai we had on Saturday - that will be my next post. We'll speak again soon.

The weekend completed

It was a busy weekend!

That last post only took us up to Saturday lunch but I did go joling in the afternoon; there was a bike rally taking place at the nearby "Vlakvarkgat" resort, which I duly attended after taking Janet home for her afternoon nap. I'm not even sure how to explain "Vlakvarkgat" to you, I believe that a "Vlakvark" is a bushpig or warthog, and a gat is a hole so if you put all of that together you get a rather unpleasant mental image!

As far as the bike rally went it was a bit of a disappointment, it seemed that very few people attended this year, I spent a couple of hours there chatting to friends and drinking a couple of beers, the music was good and this guy did a very good burn-out but by the late afternoon even I had had enough.

We hadn't seen Don and Connie for a while so we decided to go to "Beira Mar" for lunch on Sunday, I know - I know we are doing too much joling and it is going to have to stop if we are going to accumulate South African Rands for our trip to Sturgis, but we thought "Just this once more, ok?" It is such a pleasant place, I mean just look at that venue! What a place to spend a couple of hours over some fine food and a bottle of good South African wine.

I had the Portuguese steak, a lovely tender 350g portion of rump steak on a hot plate done to perfection and accompanied by some excellent potato wedges (again!) It did go down rather well.

Janet had the "Espetada" which she has had before, a wonderful skewer of various meats done to absolute medium-rare perfection and dripping garlic sauce onto a mound of rice and wedges, and whenever she has this I just know that the left overs are going to make a couple of delicious sandwiches for me for the next day or two. After a very pleasant and quite long lunch we made our way home, happily replete and with an invitation to be at the restaurant on Wednesday week when they are auditioning a music duet for the customers, free snacks! We'll be there.

If I don't blog again before the weekend we have a breakfast run on Sunday, we are joining "Fungis" on a run to Riebeek to meet up with the Cape Ulysses group so we have that to look forward to.

If you're in the Cape and looking for a really good restaurant, try our favourite "Beira Mar", give Don a call on 0832560847 and tell him Andrew sent you, you won't be disappointed I can promise you that.