Trailblazer and the Merry Dogs of the Southern Cape

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Trailrider

Bachelor Dog
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
11,238
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Location
George
Bike
Honda TransAlp XL700V
At last! A trip long in the making was finally here. I even even fitted some new tyres on my baby for this trip. Ain't she a beaut!
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Before we start some background:

The idea for this ride started way back in January 2008 on this thread. Back then I only had the 200 and as it happens Trailblazer bought a 200 as well, so all of a sudden Trailrider & TrailBlazer were both riding red 200's and a nice trip together seemed a foregone conclusion.
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Trailblazer's living in Gauteng presented a challenge though and before we could go on our ride his bike was stolen (no insurance)
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But sometimes it seems some rides are just meant to be. Months later Trailblazer managed to buy another bike - a TransAlp.
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As luck would have it Trailrider & TrailBlazer were now both riding TransAlps and the trip was back on
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All of this brought us to Friday morning the 11th of September 08H45: Ready to Ride!
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Trailblazer is on an epic 3-week ride currently. Some South Cape Wild Dogs and I would be privileged to join him for 3 days and show him around our neck of the woods. The plan was to take the scenic routes and sleep over in Gamkaskloof (The Hell) and Attakwaskloof.

We met up with Dr Dirt (and his exquisite black KTM990Adv) at the designated rendezvous point and headed out direction Montagu Pass.

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Everything on this trip, every kilometer, would be a first for Trailblazer so we took it slowly to let him soak in as much as possible before the inevitable sensory overload set in. This meant lots of photo stops
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Dr Dirt at the Old Toll House:

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In days gone by Dr Dirt would have to pay 2 pennies for each wheel before he could pass here
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Some more Montagu Pass scenery:

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Over Montagu Pass we ride through Herold and on to Paarde Poort:

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Paarde Poort spits you out in the Klein Karoo proper. Here we met up with GrysAlp from Outshoorn who rides a very nice bike indeed!
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The route takes us past Dyselsdorp that boasts a licorice factory and a very nice church.

Dysselsdorp started in 1838 as a mission station. In 1877 John X Merriman (who later became prime minister of the Cape Colony) gave the land to the 148 coloured families that lived there. Dysselsdorp's most interesting feature is a Roman Catholic Chapel at the top of a Hill. The road to the Chapel "zig-zag's" up the hill and represents the different "stations" next to the "Via Dolorosa" en route to Golgotha (Calvary).

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The view of the Swartberg Mountain Range from Dysselsdorp:

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We have to sleep in those mountains tonight. Seems we might be in for a cold night...  Dr Dirt was not surprised at all to find that, after Western Province utterly humiliated the Bulls, Hell has indeed frozen over!
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We carry on past De Rust and into the majestic Meirings Poort. I was almost jealous of Trailblazer who was seeing all of this this for the first time. I was leading and GrysAlp was sweeping, freeing up Trailblazer to enjoy the surroundings. What a beautiful country we live in
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A quick stop at "Herrie se Klip"

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and the Meiringspoort waterfall.

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While Trailblazer went to photograph the waterfall we enjoyed the great scenery around the car park
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In Klaarstroom we spotted another biker and I decided to say hallo...

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... while Dr Dirt tried to chat up some of the local lasses
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We had to get a move-on. We're supposed to meet Eikeboom (from Somerset West - KLE500) in Prins Albert for lunch and as it happens we arrived in Prins Albert mere minutes apart. Lunch at the Swartberg Hotel it turned out to be - lamb, sweet potato, rice and veggies. Regte boerekos
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After lunch we tackled the magnificence that is Swartberg Pass.

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At the Hell turnoff we sadly had to say goodbye to GrysAlp who only joined us for the day. He rode ahead back to Oudtshoorn while 4 merry men took the broad way straight into Hell
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What a pleasure this road turned out to be. The road was graded and improved recently with all stones removed and all potholes fixed.
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And there she lay:

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Even the road in the kloof itself is a pleasure to ride. We rode through the length of Gamkaskloof right to the property at the back were we would stay for the night. What a great spot!

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The drinks and ice were unpacked first.
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We washed away the dust of the day discussing the marvelous ride we had and the routes that lay ahead. The fire was lit under the big pepper tree and the conversation carried on well into the night. It set the tone for what would be a wonderful weekend to remember.
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