Dads & Lads: Namaqualand & Karoo 2019 (Complete / Volledig)

[Archangel]

Vol

Vol dankbaarheid dat ons so bevoorreg is om die trip saam familie (meestal Pa's en seuns) kon doen.

Vol gate. Darm meestal die bande. En dus is ons bankrekeninge nie meer so vol nie nie en ons nogals gatvol vir tires plug of ruil... 

Vol vreugde dat almal dit in een stuk tot by die huis gemaak het.

Allow me to translate for the souties and international readers...

The ride report is simply titled "Full"

Full of thanks for being able to do this ride, fathers & sons.

Full of holes (luckily mostly the tires), leaving our bank accounts not so full.

Full of joy that we all finally made it home in one piece.

Featuring:
Sidney @Sidpitt Pittaway riding a R1200GS
Charles @Spiekman Pittaway (Sidney's eldest son) riding a XT660Z Tenere
Brent @Brentpitt Pittaway (Sidney's youngest son) riding "Oom Chris se" R1200GS
Johan @MellowJo Kroes riding the R1150GS called "Great White"
Godfried "Dagga" Kroes riding his Honda CB250 (Johan's younger brother)
Gabrieltjie @Archangel De Beer-Kroes (Johan's only son) riding Johan's R1150GS called "Oupa". More details on the name, later in the story... 

We'll try to do this thing in something that resembles chronological order, so we'll start with the planning or prologue part, coming soon to a forum/thread near you. 

Some brief teazers...

Some of this


A bit of that


Ouch, some of these guys


More of this


But mostly, a lot of this...

[eberhard]

Vertel, vertel!

[Matewis]

SUBSCRIBE!!!!

[woody1]

 

[Lem]

Gabriel, het jy nie meer jou 950adv nie?

[MellowJo]

OK, let us give a little context …………..

In 2015, the same group did our first "Dads & Lads" tour , that time around Lesotho
http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=172612.0

Since then, 4 x grandchildren were born, which made bike trips a little difficult to sell to management … 

But eventually Sidpitt pushed the right buttons and this trip was born ……

The route was a circle around the Karoo, basically starting at Carnavon, then up to Verneukpan, Kenhardt, Pofadder, Klein Pella, Aggenys, Gamoep, Hondeklipbaai, Calvinia and ending at Sutherland …..


Google maps do not want to play along today, but the pic will give a rough idea of the route ….

[woody1]

Het jy sommer SITE VISITS ook gedoen

[MellowJo]

Day 0

On Saturday, the two groups aimed to meet at Carnavon, Group North started in Bloemfontein while Group South started in Melkbosstrand.

Group South took a route via Ceres, Oubergpas, Sutherland, Fraserburg and eventually ending at Carnavon ( about 580km according to Google Maps)

[Archangel]

OK, let us give a little context …………..

In 2015, the same group did our first "Dads & Lads" tour , that time around Lesotho
http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=172612.0

Since then, 4 x grandchildren were born, which made bike trips a little difficult to sell to management … 

But eventually Sidpitt pushed the right buttons and this trip was born ……

The route was a circle around the Karoo, basically starting at Carnavon, then up to Verneukpan, Kenhardt, Pofadder, Klein Pella, Aggenys, Gamoep, Hondeklipbaai, Calvinia and ending at Sutherland …..

The initial plan was to go to Swaziland, but the Capies managed to convince the remainder of the crew that it's a bit out of the way, after which this Karoo/Namaqualand route was conjured up. 

Day 0 1

On Saturday, the two groups aimed to meet at Carnavon, Group North started in Bloemfontein while Group South started in Melkbosstrand.

Group South took a route via Ceres, Oubergpas, Sutherland, Fraserburg and eventually ending at Carnavon ( about 580km according to Google Maps)

Ek dink "Day 0" was Vrydag 14 June, to Charles van Pretoria af gery het?

[Archangel]

Het jy sommer SITE VISITS ook gedoen

Aeries & Aggeneys 

[woody1]

Ek het geweet !!!

[Archangel]

Die official dynamics en naam van die trip het ook 'n paar keer verander. Die invitation was redelik wyd, maar soos dit tyd nader gekom het, het die realiteit sy tol geeis en op die ou einde was dit pretty much die "Dads & Lads, Take 2" deur die Koue Karoo.

Little did we know that it happened to be the "Vries jou gat af Fees" in Sutherland on the 15th of June when MellowJo and myself passed through there... (Yes, it's a real thing)



I promptly made this our trip logo, but I digress. So let me gather my thoughts and start at the beginning...

[Archangel]

Friday 14 June (I'll stick to dates, as we already have some differences in opinion on what day should be "Day 0")

Spiekman left Pretoria at roughly 10h30 and sent us all this pic of him hitting the gravel road towards Kroonstad.



Which prompted a flurry of pics that resemble work, but actually shows very little productivity. 

MellowJo approving some invoices,


Brent printing some last stuff,


Counselor Pittaway in his meeting


and myself trying to look busy!


Weather was looking frisky...

[Grunder]

Friday 15 June Friday 14 June (I'll stick to dates, as we already have some differences in opinion on what day should be "Day 0")

Fixed 

[Archangel]

Before I continue, I'll take a moment to reflect on the riding situation here and thank the Dads part of this trip.
Both Brent and Charles Spiekman were riding bikes that technically belonged to Sidney and I was riding a bike that belonged to my Dad. So here's a big THANK YOU for being awesome Dads. 

That said, for the sake of sanity and not being overly grammatical about this, I'll refer to each bike associated to the rider, with the exception of Brent, who's 200k km, R1200GS happened to run big end bearings the week before the trip. As it happened, Sidney's helping out Oom Chris and they came to an agreement and Bob's your uncle, Brent was riding Oom Chris' R1200GS for this trip. Or at least the first part of it... 

We also realised that at this point in time, Brent was the only "Lad" left, as the rest have all become Dads since our last trip. Should we rename the group to "Dads & Lad" ?

[KaTooMatt]

Am I the only one who can't see the photos in post 1, 11 and 12? I am on Firefox.

[Grunder]

Am I the only one who can't see the photos in post 1, 11 and 12? I am on Firefox.

I can see all the pics except the ones in Post #12

[Archangel]

Some of the other pre-trip work included a new rear wheelbearing on Jo's 1150.


Packing arrangements


Helmet repairs


And "Should we bring a tent" was discussed at length...

[Archangel]

Am I the only one who can't see the photos in post 1, 11 and 12? I am on Firefox.

I can see all the pics except the ones in Post #12

Just try a refresh, as I'm moving the pics around to the right places in the wording...    Let me know either way, so that we can fix it, thanks!

PS. I'm posting the pics as attachments and then going back to the post and embedding them between the text. That way I can host the images on WD instead of other hosting sites, and get the benefit of having them where I want, rather than just all at the end of the post.

[Cracker]

Nope, I can't see them either ........................ and I've absolutely no idea how to fix it