You often hear the saying “It is not the destination, but the journey”. In the case of February’s BMW Motorcycle Club Breakfast ride, both the journey and the destination were great.

Looking out to the West of Johannesburg, it was very dark, overcast and rainy at 05h45 on Sunday morning.   I sent an SMS to Jenny Balsdon to enquire about the weather down South.   John played weatherman and said that the sun was starting to shine through.

Arriving at the Shell Eikenhoff garage just off the R82 behind the Lido Hotel, after you have crossed the Klipriver  (R82 is the extension of the M1 going south i.e. past South Gate on the way to Walkerville, and  is also called the Vereenigning Road), there were quite a large number of BMW motorcycles in the parking area, with a lot of people standing around deep in conversation, at around 07h15.  As can be seen, there were a few puddles of rain as evidence that it had rained during the night, but this did not frighten the riders at all.

After Nico and Peter addressed the crowd to talk about the route, the Brisk group left first, not before Nico chirped about the Brisk group going too slow and that the Slow / Leisurely group might still overtake the Brisk group and get to the venue first.

David and Rita led the Brisk group with Peter and Delaine as Tail-End-Charlie (about 13 bikes), the Leisurely group left about 10 minutes later with Nico and Caroline leading and John and Jenny the Tail-End-Charlie with about 16 bikes.   I was in the Leisurely group 3^rd from the back, when we stopped not long after we had started, and it seemed as if some of the GPS readings were “incorrect” and we landed up taking a totally different route, along the Golden Highway, with lots of 4 way Stops etc., but the route was improvised somehow, and we found ourselves on some back roads, going across the bridge, seeing the sluice gates open, before heading off to Parys, only having completed about 102 kms before reaching our destination.

And we arrived ahead of the Brisk group too, much to their dismay upon their arrival about 20 minutes later.

O’s had moved us from the Lappa and accommodated us on the patio / stoep, as the Lappa had flooded out the previous night.   Breakfast cost R 70 and comprised of Juice / Coffee / Tea, Toast, Baked beans, Fried onions, Scrambled Eggs, Fried tomatoes, Fried potatoes, Boerewors, Bacon and Mince.  What a spread!

See what too much Coffee can do to you!

All in all, I think a good time was had by all.   There were a few late arrivals, people who are members of the club, but did not start the ride with the groups.

The departure home saw various people use different routes home.    And I am also happy to report that there was no rain at all.

Written by Patricia Jenkerson