The Grand Tour, Rhodes and beyond

So, at the end of 2016, Flange and I did a solo trip down to Prince Albert and surrounds. We hade a great time, so for 2017, we decided to widen the list a bit. I started the planning in May this year, and it included long time bucket list places such as Rhodes and Coffee Bay. I sent out a basic itinerary to some mates and china's, and two took the bait, Rory, a long time friend and riding partner, and my brother Pete, who has just retired, at the tender age of 52! So we were to be three bikes, two older oil cooled 1200 GSA's and my boet Pete, on the LC version, and Flange (my long time wife & pillion). If you are wondering where "Flange" comes from, it is simple, a flange is something that fits on a pipe! I have a fair bit of gravel time under my belt, and Flange loves the gravel stuff, so I chucked in some gravel travel for us. This would prove to be interesting, as both Rory and Pete were not that gravel savvy, but they were bok and in for the adventure anyway. I did all the planning, booked the accomodations, sent out packing lists to the tourists, as well as some routes I had put together in Garmin Basecamp for the boys to load in their own GPS's. The boys also obliged by fitting off road rubber, two of us put on some Anakee Wilds, and my boet chucked on some Karoo 3's. This was something I insisted on, and it proved to be a wise move! I usually ride a Mitas E07 rear and Karoo 3 front combo, but got a set of Wilds for a good deal so thought I would give them a shot.
Departure date was set for 16th Dec, and Day 1 was an easy tar trip to Clarens for overnight stop 1.