A Road Race and a Night of Camping

The VW Family

It’s funny. I’m done my IT contract now (it finished a week ago) and I’m still too busy to have time to write about the adventures on Sark and Normandy/Brittany. Hopefully I will find the time soon, there are lots of tales to tell. It was a good trip.

Back on The Road

Before we left I brought Babe to Volker for some small tweaks and a little warranty work. The 2016 camping season was a great shakedown and gave me enough time to go over the full system. It was a short list of things for him to look at and we were both sure it would get done before my first camp out. And it was.

This past weekend (a long weekend here… “May 2 4” or Victoria Day) was my first planned trip and it included both a bike race and a visit with some VW friends. It worked out well. First a photo of Babe’s new cousin though. One of Volker’s clients decided they wanted an orange Westy. So there’s a second camper clad in Matador Orange. You’ll notice a major difference between these two though. And I’m very happy with my decision to paint the top white. I wonder if they’ll ever meet out on the road.

Two buses clad in the same paint
Two buses clad in the same paint

The Steve Bauer Classic

I spent Friday getting all of Babe’s contents back in… stocking towels, putting dishes and cutlery back in, dish towels, flashlights, and all the things that came out for winter storage. Then I loaded up my camera gear on Saturday and headed out to the race.

This race is definitely one of the hard ones on the local calendar. It has one climb up the Effingham hill that starts with a long false flat and then hits the riders with a tough 500 meters of climbing on each lap. It also features a Queen and King of the Mountain category for the elite races. Winning the race doesn’t guarantee winning the other and both are fought-for prizes.

Here’s a small galley of the elite women plus junior and elite men. There are some photos on PedalMag.com as well.

You can find my larger gallery at http://www.kraiker.photography/Bicycle-Races/2017/SB-Classic/

Camping at Brandywine

After the race I hopped back into Babe and headed west. Some friends in the VW camper family are moving to Victoria to be close to their daughter and grand children. Jay and Jaye are great folks and we’ll certainly miss seeing them around these parts. And being the great folks they are they decided to host a farewell to their place in Appin (good luck finding that on a map!). Brandywine has been their home for something like a dozen years and has Jay’s private airstrip, a couple of hangers with two planes and a lovely garden. The hope was that the long weekend would be good enough for people to fly in and bus in, with campfires in the evenings. A good plan that the weather didn’t want to co-operate with.

We were three campers strong (including J & J’s Eurovan) and only one early-bird who managed to fly in early Saturday before the clouds and rain rolled in. So we dined with shelter and sat around various tables talking about a myriad of topics. Quite a variety as Jaye brought out some bottles of whiskey she didn’t want to have to pack 🙂

I didn’t take many photos but have these to offer…

There will be more camping and more bike races to come. We’ll see if I’m able to get caught up with my writing before then.

2 Replies to “A Road Race and a Night of Camping”

  1. Jaye Herbert says: Reply

    Was great you and Andrea could join us. Thanks for the pictures.

    1. You know you’ll be missed here, right? Really glad we got to spend a night at your place. And to meet some of your family… honestly an honour!

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