CYCLE
RIDE TO CACKLE andamp; GRUNT
andnbsp;
Six hardy cyclists – Aris, Graham, Mike, Warwick,
Keith and Margaret assembled at the Ashton’s place in Howick and set off at
about 10h00 on a lovely, but a bit windy, Sunday morning up the steep Curry’s
Post road.
andnbsp;
By the time we reached our first landmark, “The
Red Fox” (now under new ownership as “The Blue Lizard”) we were all breathing
quite hard. Next we went past “Beacon
Hill” on our left. (A walk over Beacon
Hill is highly recommended, as there are magnificent views over Howick and
Midmar Dam as well as many beautiful wild flowers including the “Candelabra
Plant”).
andnbsp;
We continued ever upwards working up a nice sweat
until we reached the D369 turn off to Lions River. We continued straight on and thankfully downhill past
“Groundcover”. By now Bushy and Pat
had caught up with us in their escort vehicle. The downhill section was short lived as we were soon climbing
again cycling past “Old Halliwell” on our right followed by “Mulberry Hill”,
“McMuddles on the Hill” and “Cranford Country Inn”, all to our left.
andnbsp;
The lovely scenery continued and 17km from Howick
we eventually reached the “Cackle andamp; Grunt” which is located on Montrose
Farm at Curry’s Post. There we were
warmly welcomed by our hosts Anna and Bruce Williams and were soon served cold
beers and other liquid refreshments. After a well-earned rest and a chat we
selected lunch from an appetising menu, had more drinks, and tucked into a
scrumptious meal. Time ticked on and
we had to set off on our return journey, luckily now mostly downhill. We decided to take a longer route back and
turned right down the D369 dirt road towards Lions River. The first section is quite steep and a bit
uneven so the downhill speedsters had a rough and precarious ride until the
junction with the N3 was reached. We
continued on the dirt road past “Lions River Trading Post”, “Lona’s Pianos” and
“Lions River Arts andamp; Crafts” before turning left on the tarred R103 back
towards Howick, passing the “Mandela Monument” to our right. We turned left after Tweedie downhill and
under the narrow railway bridge followed by more uphill work as we entered
Howick and even steeper turning up the Curry’s Post road back to the Ashton’s
place for tea and cakes on the back patio. (The return journey was 24km).
andnbsp;
Thanks go to Mike’s wife Dallas for providing us
with such a lovely big cake which went down very well indeed. Thanks also to Pat and Bushy for joining us
and providing a back-up service. The
cycle ride was again a nice change from hiking and a great day was enjoyed by
all.
andnbsp;
Keith Ashton