A few days out of Cape Town

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

westfrogger

Race Dog
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
1,073
Reaction score
11
Location
Weskus
Bike
BMW F650GS / Dakar
One bike, a few days in hand and no firm plans. Ah hell, let's head east. Haven't been there for a while. And that's pretty much how it went.

With Cape Town being wedged into a corner and surrounded by a few mountains the immediate route east is somewhat limited. The Ns are boring, and full; so opted for Ceres via the Bains Kloof Pass. The next plan was Swartberg Pass, which I had only seen the southern part of. So I aimed for Prince Albert, which seemed a reasonable place to overnight. My ride followed hot on the heels of the rain, but I had good weather all the way. Being Mister Smartass I naturally strip the linings out of my jacket in ride with ventilation mode in the Yes Please position - not smart: fekking cold in the Karoo. Blue skies though.

1210laingsburg01-XL.jpg


1210laingsburg02-XL.jpg


Laingsberg was fuel, a quick lunch and a glance at the Vloed Museum. Next in line was the infamous you-will-die stretch of the N1. With eyes glued to the speedo I headed out of town, expected a paparazzi of speed cameras and traffic police. No. Not far from Laingsberg Central is a sign that proudly claims that it has been so many days since (I should imagine fatal) accident, and then lists the previous record. The numbers were 0 (last night, that morning?) and 11. That's a record folks. 11 whole days that the spatula was needed for. Be proud of that.

I wanted to turn around and take a photograph. Should've really, because as I crested the very next blind rise I find myself staring into the cold eyes of a Merc/BM/Audi/Polo driver. In my lane, next to some innocent driver in the correct lane and closing in on one another at around 240 km/h. Ah yes, the yellow line ... I think I will ride there for a while. Whoooosh.

Who needs coffee.  :lol8:

Then there was the truck and double trailer ... overtaking another truck loaded with cars. Yellow line and hold on (or don't actually - relaxing works best!) for a double whammy of displaced air. You'd think these folks would back away when they see oncoming traffic. No. I pull off at the next funny sign (the Karoo is peppered with 'em) ...

1210laingsburg03-XL.jpg


Now for those that have ridden/driven there go make some tea. The rest of you who spend far too much time behind a computer surfing the Wild Dogs site: the Kanniedood stretches (there are several) are short stretches of road where they have laid narrow strips of tar across the road. So when you drive your car over them they make a bit of noise, and supposedly wakes you up before you kill orphans and kittens travelling the opposite way. Now on a thumper you don't hear them at all. This particular one was just after a bend in the road, which I thought a little pointless because those that were sleeping found themselves in the bushes before they made it to the noisy strips ... (and while we are being clever, let's reduce the speed limit by 10 km/h).

1210n102-XL.jpg


All things considered the N1 stretch was actually quite pleasant. Very little traffic, and enough room to evade the ones trying to kill me. Boring scenery, but gets better with some Dire Straights in the ears (whoops, giving my age away now). Plus Prince Albert had cold beer and some fine lamb chops. No pictures of either, you know damn-well what they look like.

Next up was this Swartberg thing everyone keeps on yabbering about. I mean, how amazing can a mountain pass possibly be?

 
Top