oo7
Race Dog
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2007
- Messages
- 1,482
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Los Angeles, USA
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
Having last had the privilege to ride with my mate Lootch in 2007 through that awesome place called Namibia, I was very excited when he dropped me a mail to say that he will be leaving the mud island on a temporary basis to visit Dual Sport HQ. Apparently his sister or someone also got married.
Anyhow, I decided to thoroughly use the excuse and immediately put a day’s leave in and started to plan a route for a quick weekend ride with the man. After breaking down a while ago on a planned weekend trip through the Cedarberg, I haven’t yet had the chance to ride there again, but also have always wanted to ride through and over the Swartberg / Anysberg area. Having eventually decided on the latter area for our quick three day excursion, I started dropping hints at Brakenjan to join us. Using the emotional excuse that he should come down from Joburg and surprise his good friend Lootch (something I knew would sit close to his heart), I also pointed out that it will be the ideal opportunity to use as a shake down ride for his new acquisition, a dream of a 1997 Kalahari R80GS – which was currently serviced and pampered by Dust Devil at his shop in Woodstock.
So to cut a long story short, I collected Brakenjan’s chubby last Thursday from Dustdevil, and then collected him and Mrs Brakenjan from CPT Int’l. Lootch and fam also had flown in the week before from her majesty’s kingdom but I haven’t seen him yet as the plan was to meet up the following morning at Le Cap where he had rented his steed for the trip.
Needless to say the man locked his skoonpa’s Merc’s ABS fitted brakes when he saw Brakenjan next to me when he pulled in at Le Cap’s place. Good on you, Mr Brakenjan! :thumleft:
Here we are with Le Cap’s at his place after Brakenjan had surprised Lootch with his presence:
(Please note that I am only 1,89m tall, so definitely die kortgat op hierdie trip :biggrin
It was raining fairly hard when we left Le Cap in Edgemead around 11h00 and followed the road past Durbanville Hills, through Durbanville, agter-Paarl and eventually had our first stop here on Bainskloof Pass:
Everytime I get onto that pass it is just magical. Turning the boxer’s ear out of each hairpin turn going up out of Wellington is amazing, as you almost immediately have to start decelerating for the next turn and then shift your weight over to the other side. As mentioned, it was a wet day, so the clouds on the top lookout spot prevented us from overlooking Wellington, but it created a fairytale atmosphere:
Down on the other side I always have to stop and admire this piece of river meandering through the kloof:
The Kalahari could well be described by many as an ikon, but with that rain jacket, it’s more a question of striking a resemblance with our own mister I R Sinclair. To me Brakenjan looked the whole day like a copper on a polisie bike – and couldn’t help but to chuckle every time I saw this look ;D
After racing up Michel’s Pass we stopped for lunch at a fine establishment that serve these great double cheese burgers (as always Mav - this one was taken especially for you):
We left Ceres without seriously increased cholesterol levels and about 10km’s north on the Calvinia road took the turn off towards the Swaarmoed Pass / Matroosberg. This was taken on the Swaarmoed pass, overlooking Ceres:
By now we have left those clouds in the background behind and the day was turning out to be just plain beautiful.
Leaving the area below Matroosberg, we took the road past Aquila game reserve towards the N1 and upon reaching Touwsriver turned off the N1, where we left the boring slab for the first time and struck gravel:
I had used Google Earth combined with T4A and picked a route from Touwsrivier running just south (but parallel with) the N1. Following the pre-selected route on the GPS we were routed onto an even smaller one where Sersant Sinclair seemed to be getting more and more into his element on the back of the Kalahari in the Karoo:
This huge dam suddenly appeared, but I haven’t been able to find it on any map, so I suspect it must be a privately owned insignificant one, as we were currently on a farm called Coega Farms on T4A.
The little road was just getting better and more exiting by the kilometer. We really started enjoying the ride and was spoiled with various water crossings, nice patches of lekker thick sand, some climbs and drops and of course just plain and simple beautiful karoo scenery.
In fact we enjoyed ourselves so much that we eventually couldn’t help but to reach a climax right here
I was the only useless etter to have shown an interest in real estate during the whole trip, and popped over like a kid on his first day without side wheels on his new bicycle, when I tried to be clever by trying to stay on the middleman while crossing a puddle – didn’t work as I slipped of into the deeper side rut and landed on my side, halfway in the mud and bush and pinned down by the pig – much to the amusement of our local immigrant:
Who of course just breezed through on the sooz:
The little road just kept winding through the most stunning scenery and the land was alive after the rains. We passed through some beautiful farms, especially in the area around the Elandskloof river:
Have you ever seen a tortoise that can do 40km/h?
Leaving the smaller farm roads behind, we found a stretch of road that must have been the best piece of gravel in the country. What a pleasure floating through the place on a road like this:
Amazing how almost luscious the karoo was after the rains:
This little pass greeted us just before we connected with the R323 tar road out of Laingsburg.
We followed the slab for 8km’s south, before taking the turn off for the Floriskraaldam. By now it was late afternoon already, as the awesome little roads that we played on took much longer than initially planned. Also taking some time was the fair amount of farm gates that we had to open and close enroute. Prince Albert, our first night’s stop, was still about 110km’s away, and with only about 45min-1hr of proper daylight left, I realised that we will probably have to ride in the dark – something I am never keen on for obvious reasons, especially more so when the possibility exists that wild animals could be attracted by the bike’s lights.
The Floriskraal dam wall:
After the dam the road continued to further wind through farms, but the farm gate closing and opening thing was fast becoming not so much fun anymore. Brakenjan coined the term “leapfrogging” in this scenario and suggested we each took turns riding in front, stopping, getting off your bike, open the gate, get back on your bike / push it through if you do not have a GSA, park it on the other side of the open gate, deal with obscenities from your riding mates when racing through, closing the gate behind the hooligans, getting back on your bike and then attempt to catch up with them again. I didn’t count how many frieking gates we had to do this with, but it must be at least around 25-30 ???
The setting sun was painting the sky as it can only do in the karoo, and the dark eventually added a different angle to riding.
I ended up being very lucky, as a bokkie (I think it must have been either a duiker or a steenbokkie or something similar) crossed my lights RIGHT in front of me during this stretch – had I been a meter further down the road, both of us would have been served up – he most probably medium rare and yours truly extremely well done
Here Lootch brought us back to our senses by demanding a smoke break and a bit of relaxing under the stars.
For those that have been – the starry sky in the karoo is just number one, especially when there was no moon as was the case on this evening. Times like this when one is in amazement of the vastness of the Creator’s work. Which include the blessing of dear friends.
We eventually pulled into Prince Albert just before nine, where we had a house booked (courtesy of Mav’s mother in law) almost right next to the Swartberg Arms, which cook up a great rump steak.
Here we are upon arrival in Prince Albert checking in the with Mrs oo7 & co
(Day two to follow shortly)
Anyhow, I decided to thoroughly use the excuse and immediately put a day’s leave in and started to plan a route for a quick weekend ride with the man. After breaking down a while ago on a planned weekend trip through the Cedarberg, I haven’t yet had the chance to ride there again, but also have always wanted to ride through and over the Swartberg / Anysberg area. Having eventually decided on the latter area for our quick three day excursion, I started dropping hints at Brakenjan to join us. Using the emotional excuse that he should come down from Joburg and surprise his good friend Lootch (something I knew would sit close to his heart), I also pointed out that it will be the ideal opportunity to use as a shake down ride for his new acquisition, a dream of a 1997 Kalahari R80GS – which was currently serviced and pampered by Dust Devil at his shop in Woodstock.
So to cut a long story short, I collected Brakenjan’s chubby last Thursday from Dustdevil, and then collected him and Mrs Brakenjan from CPT Int’l. Lootch and fam also had flown in the week before from her majesty’s kingdom but I haven’t seen him yet as the plan was to meet up the following morning at Le Cap where he had rented his steed for the trip.
Needless to say the man locked his skoonpa’s Merc’s ABS fitted brakes when he saw Brakenjan next to me when he pulled in at Le Cap’s place. Good on you, Mr Brakenjan! :thumleft:
Here we are with Le Cap’s at his place after Brakenjan had surprised Lootch with his presence:
(Please note that I am only 1,89m tall, so definitely die kortgat op hierdie trip :biggrin
It was raining fairly hard when we left Le Cap in Edgemead around 11h00 and followed the road past Durbanville Hills, through Durbanville, agter-Paarl and eventually had our first stop here on Bainskloof Pass:
Everytime I get onto that pass it is just magical. Turning the boxer’s ear out of each hairpin turn going up out of Wellington is amazing, as you almost immediately have to start decelerating for the next turn and then shift your weight over to the other side. As mentioned, it was a wet day, so the clouds on the top lookout spot prevented us from overlooking Wellington, but it created a fairytale atmosphere:
Down on the other side I always have to stop and admire this piece of river meandering through the kloof:
The Kalahari could well be described by many as an ikon, but with that rain jacket, it’s more a question of striking a resemblance with our own mister I R Sinclair. To me Brakenjan looked the whole day like a copper on a polisie bike – and couldn’t help but to chuckle every time I saw this look ;D
After racing up Michel’s Pass we stopped for lunch at a fine establishment that serve these great double cheese burgers (as always Mav - this one was taken especially for you):
We left Ceres without seriously increased cholesterol levels and about 10km’s north on the Calvinia road took the turn off towards the Swaarmoed Pass / Matroosberg. This was taken on the Swaarmoed pass, overlooking Ceres:
By now we have left those clouds in the background behind and the day was turning out to be just plain beautiful.
Leaving the area below Matroosberg, we took the road past Aquila game reserve towards the N1 and upon reaching Touwsriver turned off the N1, where we left the boring slab for the first time and struck gravel:
I had used Google Earth combined with T4A and picked a route from Touwsrivier running just south (but parallel with) the N1. Following the pre-selected route on the GPS we were routed onto an even smaller one where Sersant Sinclair seemed to be getting more and more into his element on the back of the Kalahari in the Karoo:
This huge dam suddenly appeared, but I haven’t been able to find it on any map, so I suspect it must be a privately owned insignificant one, as we were currently on a farm called Coega Farms on T4A.
The little road was just getting better and more exiting by the kilometer. We really started enjoying the ride and was spoiled with various water crossings, nice patches of lekker thick sand, some climbs and drops and of course just plain and simple beautiful karoo scenery.
In fact we enjoyed ourselves so much that we eventually couldn’t help but to reach a climax right here
I was the only useless etter to have shown an interest in real estate during the whole trip, and popped over like a kid on his first day without side wheels on his new bicycle, when I tried to be clever by trying to stay on the middleman while crossing a puddle – didn’t work as I slipped of into the deeper side rut and landed on my side, halfway in the mud and bush and pinned down by the pig – much to the amusement of our local immigrant:
Who of course just breezed through on the sooz:
The little road just kept winding through the most stunning scenery and the land was alive after the rains. We passed through some beautiful farms, especially in the area around the Elandskloof river:
Have you ever seen a tortoise that can do 40km/h?
Leaving the smaller farm roads behind, we found a stretch of road that must have been the best piece of gravel in the country. What a pleasure floating through the place on a road like this:
Amazing how almost luscious the karoo was after the rains:
This little pass greeted us just before we connected with the R323 tar road out of Laingsburg.
We followed the slab for 8km’s south, before taking the turn off for the Floriskraaldam. By now it was late afternoon already, as the awesome little roads that we played on took much longer than initially planned. Also taking some time was the fair amount of farm gates that we had to open and close enroute. Prince Albert, our first night’s stop, was still about 110km’s away, and with only about 45min-1hr of proper daylight left, I realised that we will probably have to ride in the dark – something I am never keen on for obvious reasons, especially more so when the possibility exists that wild animals could be attracted by the bike’s lights.
The Floriskraal dam wall:
After the dam the road continued to further wind through farms, but the farm gate closing and opening thing was fast becoming not so much fun anymore. Brakenjan coined the term “leapfrogging” in this scenario and suggested we each took turns riding in front, stopping, getting off your bike, open the gate, get back on your bike / push it through if you do not have a GSA, park it on the other side of the open gate, deal with obscenities from your riding mates when racing through, closing the gate behind the hooligans, getting back on your bike and then attempt to catch up with them again. I didn’t count how many frieking gates we had to do this with, but it must be at least around 25-30 ???
The setting sun was painting the sky as it can only do in the karoo, and the dark eventually added a different angle to riding.
I ended up being very lucky, as a bokkie (I think it must have been either a duiker or a steenbokkie or something similar) crossed my lights RIGHT in front of me during this stretch – had I been a meter further down the road, both of us would have been served up – he most probably medium rare and yours truly extremely well done
Here Lootch brought us back to our senses by demanding a smoke break and a bit of relaxing under the stars.
For those that have been – the starry sky in the karoo is just number one, especially when there was no moon as was the case on this evening. Times like this when one is in amazement of the vastness of the Creator’s work. Which include the blessing of dear friends.
We eventually pulled into Prince Albert just before nine, where we had a house booked (courtesy of Mav’s mother in law) almost right next to the Swartberg Arms, which cook up a great rump steak.
Here we are upon arrival in Prince Albert checking in the with Mrs oo7 & co
(Day two to follow shortly)
