Dongas, daisies and dead-ends in the Maskamberge

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Zanie

Race Dog
WD Supporter
Joined
Jul 19, 2014
Messages
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Location
Table View, Cape Town
Bike
Honda CRF-250 Rally
Gifberg. The only landmark on the most tedious stretch of the N7. What’s up there? That question led Lance to Mountain Passes SA’s website; “connecting the dots” between passes in the Maskam mountain range.

I had finally made semi-peace with sand, which gave Lance free reign on route planning. Many of the connect-the-dots roads, and even one pass, was found by eyeballing Google Earth for tracks, as they weren’t marked on Google Maps or Lance’s earlier version of Tracks4Africa.

I like the free-reign Lance, as it ended up being one of the most interesting routes I have ever ridden, including stunning (and steep) passes, many dead-ends, a festivity of flowers (and falls) and (for the newly converted) plenty sand.

This video sums up our trip:
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Day 01: The day of (the most) sand

Trip Statistics
Distance: 428 km
Elapsed time: 10:25:27
Moving time: 08:08:05
Average speed: 41 km/h
Average moving speed: 53 km/h

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Click here for a link to our route on Google Maps (the route ended short of Nieuwoudtville due to Google Maps gremlins).

It would be a small group of four on this ride: me and Lance, and his parents Ernie and Lynette. We had decided on the town of Nieuwoudtville as our base; largely due to a lack of other accommodation options at the start of the flower season (early August).

You could reach Nieuwoudtville from Cape Town in 3.5 hours if you take the direct route, but that is boring. Lance added some fun loops and our ride time tripled.

We left Cape Town at 08:30 and climbed off tar at the Algeria / Cederberg turn-off. The Olifants River was quite full. Last time we were there, Lance played (and got stuck) in the sand next to the bridge.

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Next to Clanwilliam Dam:
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Sections of the road appeared to be undergoing maintenance and were quite rough.

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In Clanwilliam, we stopped at a lovely place called Velskoendraai for lunch. The owner was very friendly and plied us with some of his own special brew called “pittekou” – literally “chew pips.” It consisted of granadilla and something with kick.

Pittekou:
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Our next point of interest was the Bushman’s Cave Open-Air Theatre, reached over Kraaibosberg Pass.

Kraaibosberg Pass:
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Bushman’s Cave Open-Air Theatre:
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The theatre is used for a variety of events, including weddings and concerts. On arrival, I promptly dug myself a hole. I managed to get out by rocking the bike back-and-forth and out. Note the nice shady parking provided in the background.

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Some bushman paintings can be found when you hike a short distance. When I say short I mean short. I don’t walk far in 2kg per boot.

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The breath-taking view from the top:
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We took a turn-off to the left roughly 1km after Bushman’s Cave. Here the road started to get sandy. Lance lost control in a spectacular manner, but unfortunately Ernie was not close enough to catch the action, other than a distant puff of sand.

Check the S-bend track in the sand:
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Lance decided to put the bike down after the second weave, rather than risk a high-side.

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This was a road that demanded tribute through downed bikes. It decided to up the stakes (i.e. add more sand) until the next victim fell.

Ernie and Lynette recovering:
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Lance adding a helping hand:
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The sand did not let up. Ernie, with a heavier bike and pillion, was not having a fun time.

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I was somewhere up ahead, which is why I’m missing from the montage above. With my recent Namibia experience serving as a bolster, I used my throttle to my advantage and managed to stay upright without dabbing. Victory!

I still could not believe how far I had come. Until a lightbulb moment 3 months previously, my only way of dealing with sand was to paddle or cry or both. Slightly more than a year before this trip, I would not even ride more than 40-60km/h on gravel.

Our next pass was Brand-se-Berg:
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We stopped in some shade at the Doring River crossing, 8km before the road join the N7. At this point I noticed that my bike was leaking black stuff.

Note the dot of black stuff on the ground close to my side-stand:
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My bike had recently been serviced. The black stuff was guesstimated as a potential overfill of oil. It turned out we were wrong. More on that later.

The bush behind my bike in the photo above was absolutely covered in these large critters:
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We had to make an emergency stop, because Lance was being munched / stung by some other critter (we didn’t find it).

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Time was ticking on, but we had a whole mountain pass that we wanted to explore. Gifberg Pass was beautiful in the late afternoon light.

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The steepest bit was tarred:
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We encountered a random mini-pass somewhere in the backwaters behind Gifberg. I almost lost it on the one hairpin (in a slow tortoise-like way).

Running out of road:
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Amazing rock formation:
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Lance’s quest for farm-road short-cuts between passes resulted in yet more sand.

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I’m amazed Lance could find his way around, despite the various splits in the track.

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I had a couple of wobbles…

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…but being two-up was even harder.

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The view was beautiful though.

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And you could smell the flowers.
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It was past 5pm and we were nowhere near a tar road yet. Our goal shifted from “reach accommodation before dark” to “reach tar before dark.”

We found a water crossing. I stopped to inspect, being ever-cautious. Lance charged through. Ok. So I guess it is safe.

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Lynette had decided to walk across and take some nice photos (e.g. the one of me above). We had no shortage of photographers / videographers on this trip; with 2 GoPros and Lynette snapping away with both her cell phone and camera. The fact that there was almost 8 hours’ worth of footage to work through is the reason my trip report is 4 months behind schedule. Most of the photos here are snapshots from GoPro footage.

Ernie with his bike-submarine:
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My spotlights stopped working from this point onwards. It turned out that the spotlights’ fuse was not waterproof.

We had one last bit of sand…
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…and some more wobbles (with flowers as scenery)…
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…before we hit Ouberg Pass (one of the many Ouberg Passes in SA).
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Given the very remote location, this sign was particularly intriguing.
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We had some altercations with wayward sheep. First they ran in front of me (at least not too close), from the right- to the left-hand side of the road. The grass was obviously not as green as rumour had it, so they made an about-turn and promptly decided to go straight back where they came from.

Lance’s view as he went past:
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Ernie and Lynette’s view when the sheep decided to high-tail it right in front of them.
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A complete stop was required.
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The road became mucky…
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…causing the third fall of the day.
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This particular stretch of road was peppered with gates. Lynette, as the pillion, usually did us the favour of opening and closing them.

One of my favourite Afrikaans sayings: “Die son trek water” (the sun pulls water, i.e. it is getting late).

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We reached our last gate and the tar roughly 20 min after sunset.

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We arrived at our accommodation, Van Zijl Guesthouses, in the dark. Supper was had at Nedersetting. The people were a bit touchy about us parking on the lawn close to their guesthouses, so we had to move. The meat-eaters’ meals were great (I had potjiekos), but the vegetarian dishes were really not value for money, considering they had a one-price flat rate for all supper meals and small-town folk don’t really understand or cook vegetarian dishes. A great discovery at our accommodation: electric blankets!
 
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