It gives me pleasure in announcing the appointment of Alan van den Handel as the new Director of the Garden Route Chapter.

On behalf of HOG Africa I would like to thank Tony for his leadership in creating the stable Chapter platform from which Alan can lead the Chapter in the future. 

Alan has been secretary of the Garden Route Chapter since its formation last year and is committed to serve on the committee as Director. I have absolute confidence in his ability to lead this growing Chapter.  

Join H.O.G. Tygervalley at ‘The diamond of the West Coast’, their unique new venue in Lamberts Bay 280 kilometres north of Cape Town.

Lamberts Bay is a quaint fishing village eagerly awaiting the ‘roar of thunder’ meeting the sounds of fishing boats as they signal their departure from the harbour. The roads that lead to Lamberts Bay are in excellent condition and the village is breathtakingly beautiful. The calm waters of the bay will be the backdrop to a playing field for Harleys, our onsite entertainment, opportunities to meet fellow riders and just to relax and have fun.

• rally website

There were bikes of every size, shape and colour imaginable, with acres of chrome, all polished to within an inch of their lives, brought there by riders from every part of Southern Africa - and most had been ridden to Margate. And noise - the constant rumble and crackle of unsilenced exhausts threatened to overwhelm the music that blared from two sound stages, two night clubs, two dozen pubs and eateries, and two hundred stalls, each with its own sound system.

But the real show was the bikes and their riders, literally thousands of machines parked along Beach Road and Harley Davison Street outside the Harley Hotel, mostly Milwaukee iron but with a large contingent of sports machines, tourers and dual-purpose bikes from Japan, Britain and Europe - and some of the most eye-popping custom creations ever seen in one place.

Each evening the squeal of tortured rubber (and clouds of blue smoke!) filled the air above Harley-Davidson Street as stunt rider Dave Egan defied the laws of both physics and gravity.