Anti-clockwise around the country, JHB to CTN and back, 6500km's

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Wild Blue

Pack Dog
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
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Location
JHB North
Bike
BMW R1200GS Adventure
(First time posting with pics, so I hope this works…!)

I did this trip in December, but just haven't managed to get my ass into gear to write the report...  First off, I'll skip the part around getting permission from my wife to go off on my own for two weeks - once I had that, it was pretty easy!  My plan was to essentially to travel anti-clockwise around the outside of the country, avoiding as many major roads as possible.   My major constraint was that I had only 12 days and also wanted to spend a few with family in George.  I wanted to get in some decent passes, also some time in the Cederberg and see a lot of new places!.  I set off on 8 December, riding alone for most of the 6500km’s.  

** This report will most likely be more pics and less words and rather than providing a detailed account of each day, I’m just posting a few comments and pics of the route.

Day 1:

Here’s the rough route I took, although there were significant deviations to do passes, etc.





Everything packed, panniers’ weighing in at around 11kg’s each, and good weather forecast.  Day 1 was down to Douglas, where I planned on camping on the banks of the Vaal.  Lots of really neat scenery long the way and a fair bit of dirt.  One only really realises what a beautiful country we have, when one get’s on a bike…





Looking out over the Bloemhof dam and realising just how hot it was!





The dirt roads around the Douglas area are pretty good generally, although they often have thick sand along the edges.  On two occasions I had vehicles come past me at speed, weaving all over the road and almost throwing me off in the sand.  Once you hit it, it’s a pretty scary thing trying to get out again, especially if you have a bit of speed behind you!





I finally made it to Douglas around 4pm having done around 720km’s and settled in on the banks of the Vaal, in a really stunning campsite called Sunset View River Guest House.  Great people that run it, and after a a trip to the local Spa, I settled down with a T-bone and a six-pack to watch the sun set.



 
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