Baviaans â?? My jinx destinationâ?¦ (now incl. Sir G's report)

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Trailrider

Bachelor Dog
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Dec 10, 2006
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Location
George
Bike
Honda TransAlp XL700V
The Plan:

With a long weekend and a willing bike a plan was set in motion to complete the whole Baviaans route. This would be my 4th attempt. For various reasons I have not ridden through the Baviaans to Patensie, with Eisbeinâ??s bike breaking itâ??s suspension on the last attempt. This time weâ??re going through come hell or high waterâ?¦

This was the route decided upon:

We would leave on Friday at 1 pm and ride Montagu Pass and the Kamanassie road to Uitspan in the Western part of Baviaanskloof where weâ??d camp on Friday night.

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On day 2 weâ??d follow the green route (T1) through Baviaanskloof to Patensie where weâ??d have lunch and then follow the yellow 4x4 route (T2) over the Winterhoek mountains to Steytlerville where weâ??d camp on the Saturday night.

On day 3 weâ??d follow the purple route along the Grootrivier (T3) and from there follow our noses to possibly sleep in the Prince Albert area or even cross Prince Alfredâ??s Pass and sleep at Lake Brenton in Knysna. Weâ??d see where we end up.

On day 4 weâ??d make our way back to George.

The purpose of the trip were threefold: To get me through Baviaanskloof (for a change), for Sir Gravellot to explore the possibility of using this circular route commercially (Sir G is a tourguide) and for me, Sir Gravellot and Snap Crackle Pop to do an extended trip as a practice run before our big trip to Lesotho in six weekâ??s time.

It would be a wonderful trip!  ;D


The Reality:

It did not take long before the complications started â?? days before the trip even started.  :(

Wednesday:

Sir G realized that itâ??s his wifeâ??s birthday on Friday. ::) He would not be able to join us through Baviaanskloof. He would start early on Saturday and bypass Baviaans on the tar :puke_r: :BangHead: and meet us in Patensie for lunch. Luckily weâ??d still be three riders as Andre, the dealer principle of Honda Wing George, decided to join us for the 1st leg of our â??little rideâ?. ;) He wanted to see first hand what we did with these little Hondaâ??s. 8)

Thursday:

I had a look at the weather forecast and it turned out for the worst. :eek: There are no forecasts for the Baviaanskloof, but this is what was forecast for Joubertina (the closest town).

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Wet days and cold nights - not a good thing if youâ??re traveling by bike and sleeping in tentsâ?¦ I decided to keep this little piece of info to myself ;) and give no opportunities for guys to pull out of the ride. This ride is going through Baviaanskloof and thatâ??s that!

Day 1 to followâ?¦
 
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