VISARENDE ON A JOL (SOME IN SAND)

[Vis Arend]

Wifey and I are seriously training for our upcoming trip to Northern Namibia with Hardy and company.  I always and still believe the best practice is to get as much as possible saddle time in to prepare for such a trip. 
We did some saddle time for the last month or so.  We however need a zillion more and then we need to do training in some sort of sand.  I am comfortable with sand riding, but for wifey it will be a new adventure and she will have to learn from scratch. 

Some phone calls later a very friendly man / farmer confirmed that he has just the place for us.  A river bed on his farm.  A date was set and we were heading into the Karoo, both to get more time in the saddle and to get the much needed practice in the sand.

Day 1 King William's Town heading west into the Karoo.  361km.

We started the day early, we like to ride with the fresh morning breeze and before the traffic is to hectic, then we are onto the gravel. 

It was places very misty, so much so that it was tricky to read the gravel at places with all the mist on our visors. 

Some photos of our early departure.

[Vis Arend]

More ......................

[Vis Arend]

Our route was so planned that we would not go trough any town, so there was no take away on route.  We had some tin food with us and some boerewors.  We decided to have a stop around 11:00 to have a worsbraai.
Some fine wood branches lying around just did the trick and soon we had the most enjoyable hotdogs.

   

[Vis Arend]

After the nice hotdogs we almost took a siesta, but the road was calling, we still had a distance to travel and knowing some of the roads ahead, it will take time. 
Soon we were happy chappies again, digging into the distance and enjoying our surroundings.  The Karoo had lovely rains the past week or so and it was green, although you could see the veld is still without proper grass.  This must be like they say, "die groen droogte".

[Vis Arend]

We arrived around 14:15 at our destination  for the day where we were booked into a self catering for two days.
We had a very nice day with some nice and some not so nice gravel roads, but all in all we enjoyed it and had a good idea of distance that we can travel in a day on the 250's.  There was still plenty energy left in our tanks, but that had to be saved for the following day.  The sand can drain your energy before you know it. 

We had a good meal that evening and a couple of Scottish finest and called it a day, tomorrow is the big day for wifey. 

[Blou Zebu]

Dit is nie dat ek jaloers is nie, dit is dat ek ERG jaloers is!
Geniet dit!

[Mev Vis Arend]

Dit is nie dat ek jaloers is nie, dit is dat ek ERG jaloers is!
Geniet dit!

Ek kan vir jou een ding sê, ek ondek nou plekke op my lyf wat ek nie geweet het bestaan nie.     Bygesê, dit bly lekker.   

[0012]

       

[barabas]

Diot lyk jeeeerlik.  Regtig dis nou kwaliteit familie tyd!
Mooi area.  Kan nie wag vir nog nie!
Gooi!

[Vis Arend]

The big day for wifey arrived.  Both of us had a horrible night.  It was hot and humid.  Although the place we stayed had air-cons, Eskom had other ideas, the air-cons can only work with power which there weren't any for most of the night. To top it up the damn mosquitoes were trying to eat us alive.   
And the cherry on the cake was that we started our day without coffee. Now I am not a big coffee drinker, but I enjoy my cuppa in the morning, and my wife will kill for coffee, any time of the day.    So yes, our day did not start well.   

No need to tob on that, we had business for the day.  We arranged that we would meet our friendly farmer at 8.  We left our powerless self catering place and stopped at the fuel station to fill the bikes with much needed juice,  5 Minutes before 8 our host stopped next to us.  Man I like a man who is on time and without fieterjassies.  We greeted and headed out to the river on his farm.  It was a 45km ride and soon we were there.

Time to play.



 

[Vis Arend]

When we arrived at the river the sand was still compact and easy to ride.  That gave my wife a soft introduction to sand riding. 
We however chummed some of the sand to loosen it a tad and as the day progressed it became warmer and the sand loosened to a decent play ground. 

Wifey had a couple of oopsies, but the brave woman she is, she stood up and tackled the sand head on.  At the end of the day she was quite exhausted, but I think she did pretty good for her 1st time.  I am very proud of her for trying her best and not giving up. 

Some more phodies.

[Karel84]

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing!

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[ethanvr]

Respek, Mev Vis Arend. Dit gaan die trip in Namibië net so veel lekkerder maak.


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[Vis Arend]

It was getting shoesoe and we were lekke tired and we decided to call it a day around 12:45.  I was happy, although wifey was not so happy as she felt that she had too many offs.  I however know where she did wrong and next time we will work on that, but I am still very pleased with her progress.

Here is a vid of the sand riding.

We arrived back at our place and got ready as we were invited to a meal at out friendly farmers house.  There we had the most nicest tipe of bunny chow.   That was the nicest meal I had in a long time.  I for sure will try the recipe very soon.   

We arrived back at our cabin and had at least a decent nights sleep. must be the nice meal, the fresh air and our tired bodies.

[Sheepman]

Great  Love the boerie braai next to the road.
Mrs. doing well in the sand.

[Blou Zebu]

Great  Love the boerie braai next to the road.
Mrs. doing well in the sand.

Tannie ( @Mev Vis Arend ) BEste sand raad wat ek ooit gekry:
Haal jou hand heeltemal van die voor-briek af. Hou net die petrol stryf vas. en as hy wikkel draai hom hard.

So far no falls.!

[Vis Arend]

Great  Love the boerie braai next to the road.
Mrs. doing well in the sand.

Tannie ( @Mev Vis Arend ) BEste sand raad wat ek ooit gekry:
Haal jou hand heeltemal van die voor-briek af. Hou net die petrol stryf vas. en as hy wikkel draai hom hard.

So far no falls.!

Dis daai voorbriek, ek gaan 'n blok daar vasbind dat sy hom nie kan trek nie.   

[Mev Vis Arend]

Great  Love the boerie braai next to the road.
Mrs. doing well in the sand.

Tannie ( @Mev Vis Arend ) BEste sand raad wat ek ooit gekry:
Haal jou hand heeltemal van die voor-briek af. Hou net die petrol stryf vas. en as hy wikkel draai hom hard.

So far no falls.!

As Louis dit 'n 1000 keer vir my gesê het, is dit min, maar my hand luister nie na my kop nie.  Ek gaan hom volgende keer flippen vas maak.  Regtig.

[Oubones]

Nannie, jy is yster en het goed gedoen!
Jy het wat nodig is en dit is die wil en vasbyt om deur te druk!
Almal val, ek hoop maar net daar is kamera skaarste wanneer ek April in die sand is.
My wêreld is egter nou so op sy kop dat ek nie eers kans kry om te gaan oefen nie.
Ek het darem kans gekry om bly kleinkinders te gaan draai( regom Lesotho gery) so paar naweke terug

[Mev Vis Arend]

Baie dankie vir die komplimente.  Dit gee my sommer weer moed om die dinge aan te pak. 

Geniet die ryery in April, Oubones.  As dit nie vir my @#$% elmboog nie, was ons ook April daar, maar Mei is darem ook nie so vêr nie.