Pretoria Steel Challenge

Rand Gold Riders

Guys Showing Us How

Sunday it was first off to church and then time for shooting again.
Along the way we passed the Gold Rand Harley Club teaching all the newbies how to ride in formation.
Makes me think we should be on our Harleys on the way to Pretoria but we were a bit chicken with the cold creeping in.
This Sunday was the second time we shot the Pretoria Steel Challenge and I just love shooting there.

ROs In Their Reds

There are major improvements to last time with all the RO's in red uniforms, all ready to instruct us on rules and regulations, just great
The people are fabulous. They have time to chat to you and assist you if you have a problem.
Richard had a serious jam on his Shadow and within two ticks Guys was out with all his tool, the gun dismantled, jam removed and everything put together again.
We got our act together and improved on our previous times but what I love about Pretoria Steel Challenge is the camaraderie.
No pressure and no fuss.
Thank you for always making us feel very welcome.

Golden City Club Shoot

Saturday was Golden City Club shoot and when we are are not enjoying the open road we definitely will find us shooting.
Saturday was 8 stages with a minimum of 140 rounds and far targets aplenty and a few swings and a stage where you had to pull up the targets with a wire cord to expose them and shoot strong hand only while you kept them visible.
Always something new.
This was the first time we actually stayed after the shoot and had a beer with other members on the veranda.
The club is looking really ship shape and each time we visit something new has been done.
Well done Ronel and Leroy you do a fab job.
One of my favourite people to shoot with is Alex and he help us after the shoot to Chrono our ammo. We have to tweak it a bit but we are virtually on the correct power factor.
Thanks Alex you are a honey as usually also thank to Gareth for shooting with us.
As usual loads of fun.

Mother's Day at the Pretoria Bottanical Gardens

Mother's Day was a treat again this year.

We spent the day enjoying a picnic at the Botanical Gardens in Pretoria.

Loved spending the day with the family.

Thank you all the people in my life that make it so special and blessed.

Beanie Drive

On Friday I did the rounds and collected from all the ladies that are contributing to the
Beanie Drive.
The ladies at the Salvation Army have been fabulous and the Ryn Park ladies have just been so generous with their time.
So far our Beanie count stands at "140"
Some will be distributed at Marikana, some have gone to the Orphans Organization in Zimbabwe, some to St Peter's Methodist in Etwatwa, so we have 280 ears that we are warming thus far.
Thanks ladies - Keep it up.

S A Grand - Paarl

Diesch Andrews from Die Anker

So we did not see too much of Philippolis last night when we arrived except for the few out on their night walks.

We had a lovely bed and bath with steaming water last night, thats all we ask for on our travels.

The Griqua Canons

I think the town takes a while to wake in the morning because when we left at 8:30 there was not much happening except for some locals enjoying a coffee on the veranda of a coffee shop.

The petrol station had no petrol so we had to go to the co-op to fill up. Looks like they charge as they like - petrol here is 30c a litre more than at Trompberg which is only a 58 km distance.

Dutch Ref Church Consecrated 1826

The main road is tar and all side roads gravel. Quaint

Still in Use - No Joke

houses and a beautiful church take you back to a time long ago.

We had a look around at the Old Qriquas Cannons and the Van der Post Gardens (no gardens, only the brick walkways).  I akso never knew Emily Hobhouse was buried here.

I am please we took the route through Philippolis, we had to see it. We may never pass through here again but we can at it to our "Done It" list.

Now it is on the road back home to sort out gun licenses, the transfer of No 8 (which has been a nightmare) and a few other nitty gritty thing.

S A Grand - Paarl

Our last day at De Kleinjne Bos Country House. It was a good stay and I loved looking out on the mountains when we opened the windows in the morning, but I would have loved a few things to be different.

Bain's Pass

I would have loved if the linen was changed just once during our stay and it felt like you were living in someones home when you come out of the room and straight onto the dining room. Could have done with somewhere comfy to sit and relax at times as it was a fairly long stay doing B & B accommodation. Would have loved to see more smiles from the owner, but was good other than that.

Limietberge

Today we are doing the long route home with our first visit to Wellington and Ceres. We are so glad we did this because Bain's Pass is awesome viewing. with lovely history to it.

It was built by famous road maker Andrew Geddes Bains between 1849 - 1853. This is a remarkable accomplishment if you take into account that it is 25 km of road winding through the Limietberge where rock had to be blasted at some sections and supports of up to 20m high had to be built to support the road. Spectacular, especially with the mist hanging over the mountains.

Through Ceres and Touws River and then we will see where our noses take us.

Along the N1 we passed the Vespa Club gunning their

A Vespa On His Way - Shame

way along the highway. I just had to get a photo as we passed. Shame. Looks like loads of fun

Finally we landed up crossing the Orange River and in

Orange River

Philippolis, the oldest settlement in the Free State.

We booked out accommodation on line while in the car. Isn't technology great.

When we arrived at the "Anker", we knocked but there was no reply. All the doors were standing open and no one was home. Here people don't lock their doors and the old folk

The Oceanos's Port Hole

and joggers were still out on the streets after seven when all the is in darkness.

Mr. Andrews joined us on the stoep while we were enjoying our wine, cheese and biscuits and told us some interesting details about his life.

Mr. Andrews is an ex Navy man and was part of the rescue mission of the Oceanos that sunk on 4th August 1991. In our bathroom we have one of the port holes that he collected during this rescue.

Richard and I chatted until late.  There is no TV and is good for conversation to do this. Had a super day seeing the sights and a super evening enjoying each others company.

Today was a good day.

S A Grand - Paarl

Shooting In The Morning Fog

Saturday was last day day of shooting for Richard with the first round starting off with a delay because the morning fog. Shooting was a tad difficult with the sun disappearing behind the clouds every now and then but all in all a good tournament.
We took a trip out to Durbanville and some more wine estate visits and ended up back in Paar at the Spice Route to buy some craft beers which we could now taste as the tournament is over and we can do some drinking again.
It has been two months which included lent of no drinking and no chocolates and Richards decision to not drink until

Oratzio Getting Ready to Shoot

after this tournament.
We also enjoyed our first bottle of wine in two months accompanied by a seafood pizza at the Wilderer in the Spice Route.
The Simonvlei's wine is still the best so we went back and added a few more cases of Merlot and Chardonnay to our collection from Paarl.
Early to bed so that we can be off on the road early to do a bit of sight seeing

S A Grand - Paarl

Clearing Guns, Getting the Day Started

9:00 am start on a beautiful Western Cape morning with blue skies and not a breeze to be felt.

NG Church in Franschhoek

A much better day for Richard on the range and by 11.00 am we were off to Stellenbosch.

There are now so many wine estates that it is impossible to stop at all so we were quite selective where we were going to buy our wines.

Simonsig, Backsberg, Boschendal and a few of the smaller ones and then off to
Franschhoek.

Warren has always raved about Franschhoek so we had to experience it for ourselves.

Gourmet Burgers in Franschhoek

It has an up beat European vibe with the main road lined with street cafes set in a background of Cape Dutch architecture.

We ended up having gourmet burgers with the most delicious sauces at Cafe Franschhoek.

I know why he loves it down here.

Tonight is a cheese and biscuit night after all these eat out meals.

S A Grand - Paarl

Patrick, Clive & Richard Relaxing

Starting time for Richard's squad today was 11.30, so it was no rushing this morning and we ambled along to the club, enjoying the morning

De Kleijne Bos

23 or 24 shooters shooting Universal and so far I have not been up to the other ranges. I haven't really been doing my job - it is too beautiful down here to do loads of research.

Richard is slowly getting back into the swing of things and he is impatient to get back to his old scores.

No shooting for him until tomorrow morning 9.00 am so we were free to visit the surrounding wine farms.

First stop was "Simonsvlei" - one of my favourite wine estates. I couldn't wait for this visit. We left after a few cases loaded into the boot we made our next stop "Fairview". The wines not my favourite but the cheeses good.

Some more cases and cheeses into the boot and then off again.
Landskroon was our last stop today with a lovely lady to help us make our choices. This is

It's A Break Franco - Go Ahead, Enlarge The Pic

the estate of Paul de Villiers (A member of Western Province) who sponsored each shooter with a bottle of "Paul Hugo Red".

It Did Break - I saw It

We only realized the connection when we saw the wine on display.

Now for a bit of a laugh.

We have been on an alcohol free two months and late this afternoon we decided we just wanted a burger and then off to read and relax at De Kleijne Bos.

We stopped of at "Proviant" restaurant - it looked lovely with tables under the big oaks - very inviting. It is enormous inside but only one other table with a couple having a glass of wine each.

Richard ordered our burgers and asked the waitress if we could have our own sparkling water that we had just bought at "Simonsvlei" at the table. Not a problem.
Had our burgers, asked for the bill. How about this - never ever heard of this - corkage of R25 added to our bill.

The funny thing is I had just joked about it. I think we will just go back to drinking wine.