Day 9 - part 1 My original plan from Vioolsdrif was to circumvent Richtersveld to Sendelingsdrif, cross to Namibia and turn back east for a return trip to Joburg. After the Khawa dunes fiasco I was eager for re-match so I decided to turn back already in Vioolsdrif to save day or two for another attempt at the dunes crossing. The new plan was to cross to Nam in Vioolsdrif, turn east and try to follow Orange river as close as possible - basically trying to follow equivalent of Namaqua 4x4 track on the other side of the Orange river. After that I wanted to surf Kalahari sand along the Nam/SA border back to Bokspits.
Before the trip I have started a thread on WD asking if anybody knows tracks along the Orange river on the Nam side, but the feedback I’ve got wasn’t very encouraging. Basically, there were few D roads that ventured to a settlement or two from the north, but they were all dead ends and didn’t allow for an interesting route off the beaten track. However, looking at the satellite images I could see tracks going along the river east from the farm right opposite Goodhouse (the farm - lines of trees across the river - is in one of the pictures I posted in Day 7), which after few dozen km turned into Hom river and followed the riverbed all the way to Warmbad. That looked properly off the beaten track and interesting.
The only problem was that the route crossed something called Sandfontein Lodge & Nature Reserve, and I didn’t know if it is OK to ride there. According to Neville the place was a high end luxury lodge (not a good sign for riding), but he wasn’t sure if I would be let through. So in the morning of departure I got my lazy ass into gear finally, look-up their phone number and called them up. And sure enough, unfriendly lady on the other side told me that I’m not welcome.
Not keen to run into a dead end, I switched back to Sendelingsdrif plan. To save a day the plan was to make it all the way to Ais-Ais (all the way around Richtersveld) for overnighter, and from there to gun it next day on D roads as close as possible to Koes close to SA border, without any detour to the Orange river.
With that settled, the next problem was petrol. Last time I filled up was 300 km ago in Pofadder as in my modified original plan (the second one) I would fill up in the petrol station on the Nam side of the Vioolsdrif border. Luckily Neville had some spare petrol, so I bought it off him and was ready to go.
By the time I sorted all this out it was almost 11:00 am, so I set-off with gusto to catch up some of the lost time. First part of the route is rocky dirt following eastern boundary of Richtersveld Reserve to Eksteensfontein. On the way to Eksteensfontein I passed 4 - 5 4x4s which made this remote road feel almost busy.
From Eksteensfontein I contined west along the Richtersveld boundary. It is a nice route, but I got eventually bored of the main dirt road and started looking for alternatives. I’ve noticed on T4A track heading up into the Richtersveld community conservancy (or some such), which didn’t seem to be off limit (there was no barrier and a sign saying welcome). The track initially just along the heel of the mountains, but after few km it split with one leg connecting bag to the road circumventing the conservancy, and other longer one heading into the mountains and exiting at Kuboes. Intrigued I took the turn to Kuboes.
The route was a double track crawling up the mountains crossing numerous dry riverbeds. Eventually after about 10 km it took a turn north into a steep valley and followed along or through dry rocky riverbed.
The riding wasn’t particularly technical, but combination of the rocks and the heat did sap my energy a bit. I have made it up into the mountains, where the track still climbing up followed wide valleys across the mountains.
About two thirds into the track I came upon a barely readable sign saying Richtersveld National Park - No Entry Without Permit. So I had a dilemma - to turn back or push on and face the music should I get caught. I wasn’t too keen to backtrack through the rocky riverbeds as by this stage it was getting late and yes, the bolt holding the subframe was broken again with radiator half hanging in the air. It was also getting late and Kuboes was only 20 or so km away - probably a quarter of what it would take to get there backtracking. I also could see on T4A that the track follows the boundary and doesn’t veer off deeper into the park. So I decided to push on.
Surprisingly the track continued to climb up and up and wasn’t getting any smoother either - not a good sign for my fairing. Eventually I climbed to the top of a mountain that overlooked the flat plains below. That is where I came to my match. There was very steep and eroded downhill section that stopped me in my tracks. I walked it down and up and contemplated my next move. I wouldn’t ride it as the risk of injury was just too high. But with a bit of effort I figured I should be able to walk the bike down. The problem was I didn’t know what is the track like ahead. Should I run into similar section going uphill, I would be properly stuck as I wouldn’t be able to get the bike up, nor be able to backtrack - so would have to walk out for help and who knows how keen they would be considering I was there without permit.
The tricky bit:
So for the second time on the trip I choose to chicken out and turn tail. I guess I should rather stick with the gastro tourism.
Topic: Why is all the good riding so far away from Kathu... (Read 18561 times)
