Kouga Crumble

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Thump

Race Dog
WD Supporter
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
4,061
Reaction score
112
Location
Port Elizabeth
Bike
KTM 1190 Adventure
Saturday night I decided it was time for another solo ride, so Sunday morning I left PE at 8h45. and headed out along a approximate route I’d planned the night before.

Unfortunately some of the roads planned had being blocked so I had to do a few back tracks as seen on the map below.

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I started off on the dirt roads from PE to The old road through the van Stadens river gourge. Stopped and helped a senior citizen who had a flat on the road next to the highway between Destades and St Albans rds. She wasn’t worried because her son was on the way, but I didn’t want to leave her on her own so just changed the tyre to pass the time.

Having done my good deed for the year I went on through the gorge.
Numbers relate to position on map as refered to in https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=30121.0

1.
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I road the bike down confident that the ride up was easy. Unfortunately I never got enough momentum and hit the slope at an angle. Back wheel just spun out leaving me picking up bike just as the spectators had gathered. Rode the rest with front brake lever at a horrible angle.

I had planned to sneak through Longmore but they had closed the road with fence, rubble and a large vehicle so I turned around.

Then went past Loerie dam (pic below) hoping to meet the road on the exit, only to meet another sign that says no entry. I turned around but then started wandering whether they had any right to put up the sign, isn’t it a public road? Who Has ridden that road?

6.
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I then took the short gravel detour past the PPC site into Hankey. Went to Phillips tunnel and contemplated climbing up to the window. It’s a shame all the signs at Phillips tunnel and to the window (Hole in top of rock with view of gamtoos valley on other side. Flippen awesome view at sunset) have been stolen.

9.
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Then went around to one of my favourite Gamtoos areas to have lunch.
The loose round rocks of between 50 to 200mm make riding along next to the river to this spot very tiring but worth while. Great place for a swim. I once had an inflatable with a seven meter anker rope which can’t touch bottom around this area.

3.
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My boys love jumping off the cliff opposite.
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Then after lunch continues up along the gravel turning into the link road  to join up with the R332. Great views with lots of bends on this stretch. Did not see another vehicle at all.
10.
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Also some faster straight sections with loose gravel
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Saw this dried up tortoise. Note the bones of his legs also intact.
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I also passed two king cobras along the way.
One was ±2 metres and rose up and flared just as I swerved to miss him.
By the time I had stopped he was gone. But nice seeing him flare up like that even if for only a split second, I can still picture it.

This is where my GPS got confused between the route and the tracks I had ploted so I went up along the tracked route again to meet up with Werner at a locked farm gate.
He had passed me when I was taking the pic at Van Stadens and I meet up again here.
Small world. I left him and continued the track route but went through too many gates for my liking, eventually taking a left going South again.

Got back to gravel and took a right without checking where I was. But had fun
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Then found a road turning right into the mountains again. Followed it and got exited when I saw it heads to riverside. Always wanted to go there.

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Then I get there and the gate is locked with lots of signs making sure I know my place.
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But I wasn’t leaving before seeing the view, so I left the bike and walked a bit further for this.

2.
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On the ride back out a flock, er.. herd… a bunch of sheep where in the road and scattered. One kept ahead of me, running to the side and then back into the road.
Eventually as he went right, I opened up and shot past. He got such a fright he jumped through the fence and got tangled between the wires. This happened before with a small buck so fortunately I always check if the animal is okay when I ride past.

The wire was too tight to open by hand. I had to use a spanner and rocks to wedge it open for the sheep to escape. (unfortunately on the wrong side of the fence.
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Then on past vredevlag.
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To the turn off to where the sour arses live
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I followed this road for a while and found out where Wolveseun comes from.
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This road just gets better and better as you go up the mountains.

Crossing the Kouga river
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7.
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And on through some passes to Nooitgedacht. The road is very sandy with lots of very loose gravel with rocks recently spread on the road with a lot of tight bends. Was quite tiring going down.
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Ostriches went for a run with me.
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And then I turned around as another sign said “no entry”
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Time was running out so I headed towards Kareedouw for fuel.

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And then down to Eerste Rivier. Beautiful
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5.
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Took the old road past Humansdorp during the sunset then Highway after Jay Bay.

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In Summary, I did 464km over an area of 1293km² in 10h45min.
Was glad to get home.
The N2 is very boring after a day like that.

There is a road to the Rus en Vrede eco trail. I will have to go back and explore that. It goes over to Baviaanskloof. Looks like fun but as it’s a 4x4 route I may need a riding buddy just in case.
 

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