Cederberg Quickie

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oo7

Race Dog
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
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Location
Los Angeles, USA
Bike
BMW R1200GS Adventure
After coming down with a serious case of tripilitis (you know, that terrible disease caused by not going on bike trips) after my tjommie Brakenjan chose the next step on the corporate ladder above our friendship :biggrin:, I just had to get on the bike and opted for a weekend ride in the Cederberg. I wanted to finish a particular route called the “Old Post Road” which I were unable to complete last year after my then GSA’s battery broke down and we ended up turning back. So I spoke to one or two nice oke’s during the week and none were able to join and eventually it panned out to be me, myself and I.

I decided to tackle the Old Post Road in the opposite direction than what we previously tried. This meant that I had to approach it from (out of) the Biedouw Valley, so I left Cape Town Saturday morning with Cederberg Oasis as the overnight stop in mind in order to allow me to do this.

Bainskloof Pass was particularly fresh.
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And so was my boney
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The pass however was not its normal joy to ride. I had to virtually go upright through all the corners, as the road repair guys for some reason just left all this loose stuff on the pass.
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This is super dangerous, especially for the squids gunning it up and down here. I decided to take it veeeery slowly.

Next stop was the Wimpy in Ceres. Only for my dear friend Maverick of course.
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I then left the Hamlet and the Gydo overlooking the Hamlet behind, before I struck the first dirt:
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Good to see the Desert is at last in its element.
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From here on I meandered through some farm roads, seeing funny rocks
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When I reached the tarred road again that connects the R303 and the R355, I somehow managed to be on the wrong side of the farmer’s security gate. Fortunately, while pondering what  to do since there was not a soul in the yard to open the security gate for me, a big truck pulled up and let me out on parole.

From here on I had about 40km odd to go to the Cederberg Oasis, where I had an 800g T-bone waiting. The scenery started to become more what I pictured the Cederberg environment should look like:
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A couple of ups and down later and Mount Ceder was in front of me. I like to take pictures of beautiful mountains.
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I really enjoyed taking this picture.


This is the road leading out of Mt Ceder into the next valley where my steak was waiting.
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While I got off the bike to take these pics, the band Smash Mouth’s “All Star” was reverberating through my head. It was really reverberating as I had to put the i-pod full blast to hear anything while riding, so when you stopped riding it was really chaos. Which was cool. And I felt like an all star. Suddenly the tripilitis mysteriously vanished and I was on top of the world, even down here in this valley.

I really enjoyed the solo riding. This was my first solo trip of note (if you can call this a trip of note), but so far for me the best thing about flying solo, was the fact that I EXACTLY knew who’s dick in the riding party was the longest, thickest and was swinging the furthest. It was mine. I therefore had nothing to prove to anyone. If I wanted to take it slow. I did. If I wanted to be crazy, I went crazy. If I wanted to stop. I stopped. And riding wise I had an awesome time so far – the road was really quiet (I have not even came across one car since I left the tar) and I just enjoyed the cornering, and the ups and downs and  I LOVE the BMX. I was a bit worried after having fitted the long range tank that the wee bike had lost its innocence as a result of the added weight (when full), but all this fear has now turned into joy. The knobblies that I fitted also makes a huge difference on gravel in comparison to the previous Sahara Metzelers and gave me the world’s confidence. The bike has never been exactly what you would call “a pakkie fokof”, but it has got more than enough power to keep the smile on my face. It is a lot easier to handle in more technical stuff than my previous frame of reference, the GSA, and today I got proof once again that I am 100% satisfied about the difficult decision to let go of the GSA.

Anyway.

Mount Ceder seemed like a nice place to take the long haired chief of staff away for a weekend (mental note to self). Towards the top of the next hill, if one looks back down – you can see Mt Ceder and the road I just came on (Blinkberg Pas?), in the background:
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A couple of clicks on and the valley in which the Cederberg Oasis is situated, awaits:
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I am a bit disappointed –  thought I would have been able to spot my 800g T-bone form here.

Upon arrival I met the very laidback and friendly proprietor Gerrit, who showed me to my campsite in the orange grove. Sha na na!
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Started unpacking but realised I needed some help and called a friend. Hello Buddy.
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I wanted to go commando and just sleep under mosquito net part of the tent.
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Buddy however was not only already cold, but also from here. And he wanted the flysheet.

There you go Buddy:
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I like this place. Its laidback.
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My steak was, well, how do you describe something that is perfect?. And Buddy introduced me to some more of his friends who helped me in the struggle with the half dead cow. We eventually won.

During the evening I chatted to Gerrit and he pulled out a map of the Cederberg. This map was just the bee’s knees. You can’t even compare the latest T4A version with this map. It seemed to have everything on, topographical detail, nature conservation info, lodging & campsite info, minute roads, 4x4 & hiking tails etc. If you are also a map junkie, then make sure you order this baby for R99.95 here: It comes in a nice waterproof finish
https://www.themaps.co.za/cederberg.html


I decided to square up with Gerrit the night before. Total bill came to a whopping R204! That is inclusive of camp fees, 800g’s of Daisy and (I think) about 6 Buddy’s. Value for money if you ask me.


The next morning (Sunday) I idled the Leo Vince out the campsite and realised again that I like mornings to any other part of the day. The light is just softer and nicer
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The road to Wupperthal via Eselbank seemed promising
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Pinkgoat was also here
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Aint that just majestic?
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I always wonder if I will be able to trade life as we know if for something completely off the beaten track like this?
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Naaah – I like my luxuries to much. And I don’t think these okes here knows about the interweb. They may know Jacko though :biggrin:


This is just beauty. (And the mountains are kinda nice too)
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The only water crossing of the trip – it must be the dryest time of year being just before the rainy season starts.
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The village of Eselbank lying ahead in the distance.
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I purred my way through it waving to a few old timers who can’t sleep late and then stopped on the next hill looking back the peaceful little place:
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From here it was nice ride with some sand patches and whoopies here and there, until I got to what I presume is the Esel’s bank. They have made a concrete road of what seemed to have been the worst  (in terms of incline) bits. The village in the distance is Wupperthal.
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Wupperthal getting closer
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Wupperthal was also still beginning to wake up. I didn’t want to be the village gomgat biker so tried as slowly and quietly as a I could making my way through the village .

Here is the church that was built in 1834
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And the mission store:
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Having left Wupperthal on a road that you can manage to maintain an ave speed in excess of third gear, I looked back at the place. Funny (as in weird) feeling I actually had when I prowled through there. Anyway – behind it you can clearly see the road leading up (and down) the Eselbank.
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Next stop a couple of clicks on – Biedouw Valley.
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From here I turned onto a road that led me up the Kraaiberg pas. If you look closely you can spot the pass at the top. This I believe is the beginning/end of the so called Old Post Road. My raison d'etre (for this day at in any event :biggrin:).
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At the top of the Kraaiberg pas, overlooking the Biedouw Valley.
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Having conquered the Kraaiberg pass and the start of the Old Post Road, I followed a nice ride with lots of sand and marbles – to such an extent that my bum was more out than on the seat. The marbles was quite tricky. For a couple of times I actually stopped and checked both my wheels, as the swaying was very consistent when having a blow out. After nearly having lost it once or twice I had to remind myself  to stay sharp and focused, as my wingman was vetting agreements in Joburg and would not have been of any use had I come down. Not that he is of any use normally. :biggrin:

I then got stopped by a huge electrified gate, clearly fencing off a farmer’s yard. T4A introduced him as Albe Bakke from Agterfontein. Not a soul in sight however. And once again according to T4A the road leads through his front lawn. I politely parked my bike, entered the fenced off area and knocked on the front door. Still no one. So I just decided what the heck and drove through the man’s front lawn, out the other big gate and continued on my mission. Here at this beacon T4A indicates “The Old Post Road”.
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From this beacon you have a panoramic view overlooking the Tra-Tra river gorge to the south east
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And due west you look towards the Tankwa Karoo:
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Here is an attempt to explain the lay of the land a bit better, with the Old Post Road running between the marker “Biedouw” till it reaches the R303:
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Fuck.
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I hate gates. Especially if you are on your own. And especially if the sand is such that you can’t push your bike through. And with the current luggage setup I had to have a run up, timing my heavy number 14 moto-x boot through the space created by the tankbag in front, the anti-monkeybutt below and the dry bag behind. I didn’t fancy doing this all day.

This is the exact spot where the GSA’s battery konked in last year during a trip with Faantjie.  
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RR here https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=29166.0  (although I believe some of Faan’s pic’s aren’t hosted anymore)

Start of the Karretjies pas.
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Another (*~@^%. At least the view of the Doring river below is nice.
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After going through about 3 or 4 more of those murderous frieken gates, I reached the Tra-Tra  which has got this nice flat black piece of rock to cross. If there is no water. :biggrin:
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From here on it was plain sailing, crossing two branches of the Doornriver, past the farm Elandsvlei (where the nice farmer-guy who helped me & Faan with the GSA a year ago lives), until I reached the longest single stretch of road between two towns in South Africa. The extremely boring R355 or so called Ceres Karoo Road.

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Here I made a quick stop to powder my nose for the laborious ride back home: While contemplating whether the gate must in fact be closed or whether it will close by itself, I adjusted the anti-monkeybutt (which by now is ever so slightly failing to do its job), adjusted the tunes (decided on a Koos Kombuis en die Warmblankes repeat – mainly because that’s all I can hear), chowed a piece of biltong, sucked on the Camelbak and then did the whole getting up the bike routine again. Only to realise. I am still on the same side of the gate.

Ai.

At least my mission was accomplished.

oo7 signing off.

PS: Some thoughts on my equipment use during the mission

The TT tank  - I filled up in Ceres on my way into the Cederberge and when I refilled in Ceres again, clocked 383 km’s. It took 17 litres, giving me just over 22km/liter. I therefore theoretically have a range of over 570km’s (given the 26liter capacity) although I would imagine this would be more in the region of 450-500.

The combination of the Ortlieb Dry Bag tied down with Rok Straps. The Ortlieb bag as I have mentioned before, is brilliant. I had my tent, sleeping bag, blow up mattress, tooltube, additional tyre spanners, compressor and some clothing & snacks in there. It is really easy to open/close and is completely dust proof. The Rok straps are such a pleasure to tie something down with, as it just clicks in / out. It is also simple to attach anywhere to the bike as long as you can loop it through itself. I will get myself two more Rok Straps. Just because.

I recently had my mom bring me a Wolfman Enduro small expedition tankbag (https://www.wolfmanluggage.com/Expedition/sm_expedition_tank_bag.html) in from the USA. I used it this weekend for the first time and want to make love to it. Completely waterproof, very easy to strap onto the bike (onto the BMX at least), is made with the same durable material as the Ortlieb and can actually take a lot of stuff. Nifty secret pocket on the inside. I used it al the time and can’t think going without this handbag on any excursion ever again.


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