Moto S.A. DAY 18 - 21. Johannesburg.

17 February 2010

I was solo again and had a week and a day to get back to Cape Town for my flight back to London. My cousin at Fourways had invited me to stay for a few days. I accepted gratefully. The opportunity to get some R&R before the long ride south was good news.

Getting my gear washed again was a big bonus. They made me do it!!

The bike headlamp bulb had failed. I went to BMW Northside Motorcycles on Witkoppen & Cedar at Fourways. This is Monte Casino nearby. It is built in the Tuscan style. A new H7 bulb was fitted and the computer error reset. At Midway Mica I bought a spare H7 bulb. The free coffee at BMW helped ease the price gap, sort of, and they DID fit the thing. But that Mica store is brilliant.

This is Harry Galaun Road - I am heading for Midway Mica here!

During my four days in Fourways and Midrand (where I also had been kindly given accommodation by my sister-in-law) I was able to get around brilliantly on the motorbike visiting old friends from the 1950s and 60s. I had left S.A. in 1966 to join the R.A.F and never made it back for good. The above is taken in Kenmare, Krugersdorp.

This is one of my very good buddies, LVK, from those good old days growing up in my home town of Johannesburg. LVK now lives in Krugersdorp.

At this point my camera, a Canon Powershot SD550, failed with Error Code E18. There was absolutely nothing that I could do immediately. Luckily, the day before I set off for Cape Town, I was loaned a Panasonic Lumix for the journey. The camera was to be left for collection in Cape Town.

Every day and every evening was spent in the company of friends and/or family. Also, I was able to meet BB from the ThinkBikeSA forum. This motorcycle safety website had been extremely helpful to me during the planning stages for this long (mainly solo) ride. BB, in fact had even loaned me his mobile phone for the whole duration of my S.A ride - more than a month. We met for a drink at the Mugg & Bean at Carlswald. He even, thoughtfully, fired up his wireless laptop at the coffee table and enabled me (thanks to his 3G card) to make a quick posting to the Biker Pub forum. Brilliant. Thanks BB - I hope that your phone is back with you by now! CLICK HERE for the link to ThinkBikeSA.

My intention had been to leave Johannesburg on Saturday morning 20th February. But an invitation to a braai (Bar-B-Q) on Saturday evening meant an easy decision to postpone my departure by a day. This was a good decision. The braai and the company were superb.

So, although I also visited Bordeaux, Bedfordview, Carlswald, Parkview, Greenside and Randjeslaagte I am unable to post any pics.