Darlington dam.

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Thump

Race Dog
WD Supporter
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
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Location
Port Elizabeth
Bike
KTM 1190 Adventure
All right, I've been under pressure to write something here, especially the pics later.

Gromit posted a Planning a ride of ±600km of dirt, perfect distance for a hard core day ride.

So we agreed to leave my place at 06h30.

The planned route
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Unfortunately we were cut short and only got to do this route.
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But enough of that later.

The morning started of beautifully. :ricky: :ricky: :ricky:
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Riding along the N2 past Bluewater Bay :ricky:
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After a bit of GPS instigated detours we got onto the R75 for a while with some magnificent cloud formations.
Shots where taken in ride as we weren't in the mood to stop. :biggrin:

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We continued on towards the heavy mist ahead.
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When we reached the turn-off the mist was so thick we where getting wet.
Even the rainbow was white. Never seen that before, a white arc shaped as a perfect rainbow.
If you look carefully you can see a part of it below.

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Finally we took to the dirt with some great roads along a river bed and then through some cliffs and Baviaans type rock formations.

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After that the was a bit of gravel highway :ricky: :ricky: :ricky:

Then on to The dam wall.
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The Dam wall climber.
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The dam from the wall
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The moss from the leak in the base of the dam wall
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Close up of the greater leaks
(Note the gates above the concrete are closed)
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We then rode around to the east side of the dam and saw a lot of animals.
They are extremely shy and run away while we are still quite a distance off so no photos.
Except this one of the Wildebeest.
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And the lizard. We followed him around until he tired, then could pick him up.

After the picks Gromit shared his water with him.

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Then we turned away from the dam and followed an awesomististist road through the bush.
I did not worry too much about photo's here because I was having too much fun.
Bends, speed humps, dongas, plants and animals. Plensh.

Springbok, kudu, Blesbok, etc.
very dry but still beautiful. Doesn't mater what kind of nature I find myself in, there is always beauty to be seen.

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Then it happened.

As I came around a bend and accelerated out the revs climbed suddenly.
Ironically I had been telling my wife the previous day about guys who have accidents because a chain breaks.
Having a good quality chain and knowing there are bikes out there with much stronger engines than the KLR, and knowing how easy I am on the throttle, I new the chain would never snap.

But I did not figure on the master link coming out. (I've done over 10,000km on this chain with M/link)

Fortunately the chain just folded up neatly under the chain guard and nothing was damaged except the edge of the links it came out of.

We took a walk back just in case we got lucky and spotted the culprit when we saw these strange tracks in the road.

Following them we came to this little earth worm rolled up.
Gromit shared some more of his water and I picked if up and put it out the rode.

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There being no cell phone reception we tried a little repair with Blou draad, hoping we could ride slowly to a more accessible location.

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The gloves from the first aid bag were a real bonus while working with the greased up chain. :thumleft:

Then we had some lunch of Tuna with Fruit cocktail for poerring
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After lunch I rode ±100m before the repair stretched and we had to stop.
After trying again we decided to walk and look for signal.

Found some intermittent signal and phoned around.
First stop Bakkie cause he said we could always contact him if we need help. :bueller:
I didn't realise it was only so he would be the first to larf at us.  :xxbah:
But he did post a message on the forum and sent sms's of other contacts.
(actually he was going into a meeting so thanks for posting first Bakkie)

I phoned Drazil who sms'ed his Swaar, Herman's number in Kirkwood. Luckily he had about four M/links of different sizes.
Meanwhile I had spoken to 214, who was jolling in the bush with tyger and Anne's Villa close by.
But then 214 said no, we can load the bike in the back and take it home.

I am thinking he will rock up in a Bakkie.
Nope.
We larfed and said 'no way the KLR will fit in there'
But after some dismantling and fun and games...

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The brains behind making it happen.
Tyger is very smart for someone who's brain is so close to her backside. :thumleft:
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Then Gromit headed for Patterson and fuel, then home. :ricky:

While 214, Tyger and myself headed home in the Larney car, with Tyger sitting between the seats on the arm rest.
Her toes pressing all the wrong buttons for 214. ??? ::)

Got home and my two boys helped us unload.
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All in all We had a great time
Just goes to show
Life is all about attitude. :thumleft: :ricky:

Thanks Gromit for planning and waiting with me.  :3some:
We'll have to do it again soon. :ricky: :ricky:

Thanks to all the WDs that phoned or sms'd offering assistance even though we where ±200km away from PE
True to the wild dog spirit.  :thumleft: :thumleft:

And a special thanks to 214 & Tyger for coming to our rescue and for the great company on the ride home.  :3some:
(Even if you did steal some petrol to sniff)

And then my internet was capped and Gromit came to my rescue again so I really had to post tonight. Ne'

My boys are really impressed at how the guys are willing to assist when necessary. Great examples set there guys and gal

Bikes all fixed and waiting impatiently to be ridden again.
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