The Garden Route - A Christmas Holiday Trip Report

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LuckyStriker

Bachelor Dog
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
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Location
Bellville
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BMW G650 X-challenge
Many pics. I hope you don't get time-outs

Part 1 (intro) ? Roads around Joubertina

Christmas was celebrated at the in-laws this year. Zanie wanted to ferry home her inheritance using her little Fiat bakkie whilst I desperately wanted to take the bike. So we compromised and loaded the bike on the Strada with the intention of using it at our destination and me riding back alone.

It was embarrassing to be seen with a perfectly serviceable bike on the back and I would divert my head every time a motorcycle came roaring past us. Looking back on it now, I should have tied a ribbon to the bike and acted as if it was my Christmas present! :D

My father-in-law lives in the town of Joubertina (pronounced You-bur-tina) where his family have farmed and schooled since before the dawn of time. Joubs-town is located in a region called the Langkloof or ?long valley?. The area is exclusively agricultural, producing mostly apples and pears.

But I?ll skip the details and take you on some of the trails I rode instead.

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The neighbouring hamlet of Twee Rivieren (two rivers) has many quaint farmhouses with colourful villagers.

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After passing through Bokkie se boord (Bokkie?s orchard) where Santjie Strydom nearly froze to death last winter after her husband abandoned her, I came across several fantastic little tracks into the surrounding mountains. The fynbos had a strong scent and every time the bike brushed a bush the smell of tea would fill the air.

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A few kilometres behind the clubhouse where many a dispute has been resolved with the fist, lies the Diepkloof dam. It was a scorcher of a day and I rode the piano into the shallow waters for a cool down. Where the ochre clay suddenly shifted to black, I turned to avoid submerged trenches that could have swallowed the bike whole. Mostly the water was shallow enough not to flood my boots though. The snorkel I constructed earlier did its job when the engine disappeared briefly under the waters.

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The next day we loaded all the kids on the back of the Fiat promising them a real Christmas tree, chopped down in the old plantation. I scouted ahead with the bike to make sure the roads would be accessible for the bakkie. As you all know the camera fails to convey the steepness of an incline or descent.

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On the day before Christmas, Zanie and I took the looping Kouga road. It was a nice ride on a beautifully maintained dirt highway.

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Switchbacks carved up the valleys and mountains, passing through shallow rivers and wooded greens.

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We happened upon a farm where the petrol pump promised us R1.89 per litre. Time appeared to be standing still in the Kouga.

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The Kouga River snakes it?s way down a deep ravine parallel to the Langkloof, all the way into the Baviaanskloof from where it joins the Gamtoos River and empties itself into the sea near Jeffries Bay.

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Some locals enjoying the cool water of the Kouga. They hollered and waved frantically as we rode past and laughed with delight as Zanie took their picture in passing. Even though the temperature was ?only? in the low 30s, the humidity caused one to perspire constantly, making a supply of water on even a short trip very important.

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We rode one last winding road that climbed out of the secret valley and crossed back over into the Langkloof.

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And so we rode on to The Heights. So called because of a ridge that ends abruptly over the kloof giving us a marvellous view over the fertile lands of the Kromrivier valley below.

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Some of the trails had to be ridden carefully and respectfully. Loose rocks may cause you to spin the rear wheel madly if you are too heavy on the throttle. Not only do you risk your tyres, but you screw up the trail for others as well. Unfortunately the slow riding also meant we were cooking away in the heat of the sun. There are times when I hate ATGATT!

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From The Heights we decided to follow the railroad track all the way back to town. The narrow gauge track has not been used in several years and the service road has followed in its decay. Since lorries took over the transport market, The South African Railways has gone into steady decline.

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My wife has the misfortune of celebrating her birthday the day after Christmas. Joubertina has very little in the way of entertainment, so we decided to go on a morning bike trip and check out some bushman paintings on a farm called Hoeree.
The route was quite terrible at times and I almost felt completely out of my depth. I managed to cope with this rather nasty piece of road without making my wife get off and walk?much to her consternation! At the end of our ride she showed me her hands. They were calloused from holding on so tight while the bikes bounded along the rocky roads.

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Down in the narrow valley we explored the single track road and marvelled at the beauty of the cliffs around us. We saw several deer, antelope and other wildlife. A very special day!

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In one particularly sandy, river crossing the front wheel picked up a severed root and pulled it up and into the mudguard. At first I couldn?t understand what was going on as the bike slowed down rapidly and I began to lose my balance. As always my wife looked at me indignantly as she picked herself up and dusted off her clothing. The root was deeply wedged and it took several swearwords to get it out. The offending vegetable must have been torn from a tree and driven into the sand by the recent floods that swept through the area. Fortunately nothing was damaged or even scratched but Zanie burnt her hand on the hot headers trying to assist me.

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We finally found the bushman paintings. These are not pre-historic and were made fairly recently during the early eighteenth century. Something that was curios though was the depiction of the large dog involved in the hunt. It seemed almost wolf-like and was pictured much larger than its nearby prey.

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Towering cliffs near the bushman caves. Originally the bushmen were classified into two separate tribes by anthropologists, The Khoi and the San. Today we know that the people of the Kalahari, the Karoo and the West coast were all one and the same (Khoisan) and the original inhabitants of Southern Africa.

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Riding along the source of the Kouga River.

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I wish I could explain how farkin steep this incline was - The pic just don't do it justice. It just went on and on for what felt like an eternity. And to make matters worse, the surface was covered with loose rock the size of tennis balls. I had to tell Zanie to get off and follow on foot. There was no way I could handle the piano up that, with two of us on board.

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Derelict house. We left the farm and returned home to spend the remainder of Zanie?s birthday with her family.
 
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