A Triumphant Ride to Wellington
Donald Momple from Mike Hopkins Motorcycles in Bree Street Cape Town, contacted us about a bike ride on Sunday 8 May 2005 to Paddagang in Tulbagh. So on Mother’s Day it was up bright and early and off to the Engen Garage to fill the bikes. Down the West Coast Road, through Tableview past the Caltex Refinery and onto the freeway towards N1 City McDonalds parking area. A wonderful time of the day to be motorcycling, not another soul in sight with the road to one’s self.
Once parked at McDonalds, we waited a few moments before Donald and his fiancé Susan arrived on a silver Triumph Sprint ST, Marc van Est rode a British racing green Triumph RS, Carl on his silver Tiger and me on my black Speed Triple. It wasn’t a terribly warm morning, so we had dressed in layers in the event of the sun showing itself? We departed from McDonalds just after 08h30 and made our way up the N1 towards Klapmuts through Agter Paarl. But the closer we got to du Tooitskloof Pass, the darker it became and as we approached the Wellington turn off, the guys stopped to chat about an alternative route. By this time it had started to drizzle and it was quite clear that the weather was not about to improve. The alternative of course would be Wellington, or thereabouts.
We rode through the sleepy little town and just before the ascent towards Bainskloof is a lovely little Restaurant called Vercelli’s. More than equipped to handle the inclement weather, we were greeted by friendly staff and an adequate breakfast menu. We sat outside under a tarpaulin covered gazebo sipping hot coffee and cappacino’s while the rain pelted down. Shortly after our arrival, the BMW Club must have had similar thoughts and pulled in filling up most of the restaurant. After a good while of listening to Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band we decided to head back as there was a break in the weather.
Unfortunately the road down to Vercelli’s is a trifle dodgy with deep crevices and slippery mud offering someone a damn good slide if you lost your concentration for just one moment. Be that as it may, we left Wellington and took the same route home that had got us there in the first place.
Carl and I stopped off in Bloubergstrand on the way home then spent the afternoon catching up on some heart-stopping motorcycle racing. If there are any Triumph owners out there that fancy a ride (mostly on the 3rd Sunday of each month), kindly contact Donald at 021 4238461
