Before I do my time

I have been sentenced for a week's time in the Luanda Prison in Angola, starting on Sunday. This morning I decided to take a last bike ride before I leave and decided that I will quickly take a ride to Delheim Cellers near Stellenbosch as a mental preparation. A fellow inmate of mine who is doing time on a more permanent basis in Angola always asks for a few bottles of Delheim's Merlot whenever I go to join him in Angola, and I was out of stock. This was a good opportunity to restock as well, seeing that Delheim's Merlot costs exactly double at the Duty Free in Johannesburg. It was completely overcast this morning when I left home, with a 30% chance of rain predicted. I was not going to let that deter me from doing this 120km ride and besides, I had to test out my new iPod "earplugs" as well. A buddy of mine introduced me to earphones that serve the dual purpose of ear plugs and ear phones, and what better way to test them than on the road?

I headed straight for the N7. I know it is in a complete opposite direction, but what is the point in go from A to B and back on the most obvious route? It seems I always pass Philidelphia wherever I go, but this time I saw another road just past Philidelphia called "The Slent Pad" and thought it might be a good option to consider. I stopped to have a look on my map to see where it was going, but the road was not indicated on the map. I definitely don't mind taking unknown roads, but this morning I was not going to be too adventurous and the thought of hitting muddy roads after last night's rain put me off  a little, so I stayed on the more familiar ones towards Stellenbosh. Close to Stellenbosch I took another "first-time-for-me" road via Koelenhof, hoping that it would bring me out on the R44 where the turn-off to Delheim Cellars is. What a surprise, it brought me about 20 meters from the Delheim turn-off and before I could say "wine" I was on the Knorhoek Road to Delheim.

Going past Muratie Cellars I just took a couple of pictures with my cell phone camera seeing that my Dinky Toy camera's battery died on me. I am seriously in need of a new camera...and a GPS with a good map as well. At Delheim I just soaked up the tranquility of the mountains and vinyards. Everything was coloured in orange and brown and with the wet look after the rains it was just an awesome picture. After the gentleman at Sales helped me to carefully pack six bottles of Merlot in my top box, I first went for a coffee at the restaurant. I didn't want to head back, but I still had to get to the office. On my way back I stopped to take a picture of the ostrich that got quite excited when  a friend of mine from Scotland tried to snap him last year. We were hiding in the car while he was pissing of this male ostrich that clearly had more in mind than just posing for photos.

I took the same Koelenhof road back and finally ended up in Brackenfell. It was the first time that I have actually taken that road back to Cape Town and was amazed at how many roads there still are that needs to be discovered. I have my Merlot, had my much needed ride and had seen some new places as well. Oh, and my earphones/ear plugs work fantastic. All I need to do now is to choose my music carefully. I noticed that taking a sharp corner with David Guetta's Sexy Chick is much riskier than with Linda Ronstadt's Blue Bayou. My next trip will definitely take me back to The Slent Pad" to see where that is leading. Who knows, I might just find more to write about....