Crossed-up
Pangaman
This is a report of a 6-day trip to the Richtersveld and back. Forgive my long-windedness, but that’s how I am. I’ll post pictures and edit this post when it becomes possible, real soon, as time permits.
My friend Dave asked me to ride with him to the Richtersveld to visit some colleagues excavating an archaeological deposit in a cave there. Some of you know Dave as the chap who suffered a deep vein thrombosis last year, caused by relatively minor bruising suffered in a fall on a WD ride. He's back on his Dakar and rapidly getting his mojo back. One thing led to another and Andy660R and the indefatigable Camelman on his spoggerige Ténéré came along too.
I packed the previous night and parked the bike inside.
We set off on Thursday morning in a slight drizzle under lowering clouds. Met up at Swartland One-Stop at 6am. We soon escaped the weather and by Citrusdal the skies cleared to a perfect day. Took the gravel along the Olifants to Clanwilliam where we turned inland. It's sad to have to ride Pakhuis on tar now but I suppose the Agter-Pakhuis people are enjoying it. Down to Doringbos, Botterkloof Pass and across to Niewoudville. Had a quick look at the crazy bike collection while filling the bikes.
Stone farm cottages south of Nieuwoudville.
From here we took the Grasberg road up toward Paardekraal farm which lies at the head of narrow tongue of mountain that extends over the Knersvlakte. Here there is a pass which plummets down by more than 500m to the vlaktes below. Putting a name to this pass is not easy. It crosses the Perdekraal and Die Hel cadastral boundaries, and seems to be called various names, mostly involving “Hel”, Helskloof, Helspad, Hel se pad etc etc. If this is not a WD first perhaps there is someone who might know more about this really spectacular little pass? The surface is quite good, although it is obviously not used much. The road all but peters out at the bottom, with a choice of various tracks to follow. We ended up finding a tiny track which took us across to the Sishen-Saldanha line where we turned north along the service road, which we followed to the R355 crossing.
At the top of the pass.
Just south of Kliprand we turned west again and took a beautiful secondary road which wound its way through beautiful Namaqualand scenery to the N7 just south of Garies. Camped in the municipal campsite for the night. Guys, this is not the best campsite there is, but it’s one of the cheapest – in fact, it’s free. There’s a number to phone and a fellow is supposed to collect your money. The number mostly doesn’t connect, and if it does, he doesn’t pitch. There were other folk there and they also tried to pay, but to no avail.
Friday morning we took the gravel up to Springbok. There was a freezing gale from north which made climbing Studer’s Pass extra exciting. On past Liliefontein, nearly 1000m above Garies, with a spectacular view stretching 70km to the Atlantic. The road winds in and out of little Namaqualand valleys between huge exfoliated domes of gneiss and presents one beautiful vista after another. This is another gem of a road.
Next we took the Spektakel road and then turned north to Nababeep where Andy was briefly stationed in his Air Force days and where I grew up. Nababeep used to be a thriving copper mining town. The mines closed, the sulphurous, pungent smoke from the smelter has stopped, and the town has slumped into a depressed and depressing state. I don’t know how the people are managing there. The roads and services are collapsing, shops have closed, and yet the town seems full of people.
Filled up in Steinkopf and headed down the tar to the Lekkersing turn-off and up to our camp at Bakkrans Caves, also known as Spitzkloof. The road was entertaining, as was trying to arrive at the campsite in the sand without losing composure in front of our hosts!
Our campsite.
The excavation. Sorting is painstaking work.
Here covered because of the wind.
The Spitzkloof/Bakkrans Caves.
On Saturday Andy660R and Camelman went off on a hectic ride up to Eksteenfontein over a 4X4 route along the Wildeperderant mountains. Dave and I helped a bit with the excavation.
Sunday saw Dave once again helping with the excavation and Camelman, Andy660R and I headed north, hoping to find a track around the east of Ploegberg to the back of Kuboes. My navigation sucked and I missed the important turn-off. Nevertheless we had the most amazing ride up a blind valley to a deserted and isolated ‘veepos’ miles and miles from anywhere and separated from our destination by a range of mountains. I can’t imagine that many adventure bikers have made it up this valley. Sometimes the unintended road can bring unexpected pleasures. I didn’t care that we didn’t get to Kuboes and feel good that that road can be saved for next time.
Along the way I noticed a large Middle Stone Age open site, littered with artefacts.
Eksteenfontein.
The business centre.
Then we popped through to Eksteenfontein where we picked up fuel and refreshments. Like many small places fuel is available if you know who to ask. In this case it is a local who sells the different varieties of fuel at R60 for units of 5 litres. When you need fuel the cost is secondary, I suppose. The last time I was in Eksteenfontein was a great many years ago. At that time there were a few brick structures and the rest were corrugated iron and matjieshuise. This has all changed. Now all the houses are brick, there are signs of prosperity everywhere; the town is clean and well-provided with a shop and even a bottle-store. There were some kids riding Chinese quads and an old XT250 about the town. There is definitely money in Eksteenfontein these days. We asked about the track which leads to the back of Bakkrans Cave from the south and were directed to a relative in Lekkersing.
The motorcyclists are curiously small in Lekkersing.
While obviously not as prosperous as Eksteenfontein, and blighted by the unsightly quartzite mines on its doorstep, Lekkersing is clean and very friendly. The people welcomed us and willingly gave us directions. The old, disused track took us north from the town over the forgotten and deserted hilly country for about 15 km until it completely disappeared. We eventually found a lekker, fairly technical track to the west which brought us down the kloof immediately south of Bakkrans.
The riding today must rate as some of the best of my life. When you get out there and ride like this your head clears itself of a lot of the stuff that spoils your life. Mind you, I think Andy’s was cleared a bit too much, “You know”, he said, “Sometimes you pick up a pretty stone, and then you find another one, and then you throw that one away, and then you lose that one, and then you’ve got fuckall.” “Yes,” we nodded in agreement. :
Riding. Andy660R
Camelman
There were a million muggies and pesky flies in camp. Andy660R found a novel means of escape.
Camelman and Andy660R reviewing the evidence.
Monday morning we packed up and headed for Port Nolloth for fuel and breakfast on the waterfront on the most perfectly still and beautiful morning one could imagine. About 30 km from Port Nolloth there is the Wolfberg road. In the 1960’s this was a good alternative road to Port Nolloth from Springbok. Not any more! The road is now little used, and had descended into a seriously sandy tester of a road. There are stretches of sand that run for kilometres. It’s always nerve-wracking to be following a single tyre-track in the sand at 80 kph, wide-eyed, throttle open and cheeks clenched. Dave had a small tumble when he tapped off for a corner and Andy660R fell a couple of times trying to get back up to planing speed after stopping for Dave. No damages. The Spektakel-Kleinzee road was a welcome sight. Spektakel Pass is a sweeping grand new tar road replacing the old, tight and challenging gravel pass. It was still a pleasure to ride.
Packed up to go.
Breakfast in Port Nolloth.
It had been my plan to keep to the gravel all down along the escarpment to the west of the N7, but judging from our low speed on this road and the reports of further serious sand to the south we decided to head up to Springbok and cross over the N7 to the R355 down to Kliprand and on to Loeriesfontein. It’s a long gravel stretch. For a while I thought it was even longer than the Ceres-Calvinia stretch, but then I realised that Kliprand and a couple of turn-offs lie between.
The road passes Vaalputs and Garing nuclear waste facilities, as well as some military type installations. It seems that this area is regarded as a forgotten backwater. I just hope they treat it well. On the map the road looks incredibly boring, but on the ground it was truly beautiful. Wide open spaces with beautiful colours give way to the jumbled Namaqualand koppies. Further on the Karoo spaces open up between flat-topped hills. Altogether this long road was an unexpected pleasure. Stayed the night at Loeriesfontein Bar and Guesthouse. Good, basic and reasonable. Recommended.
Our accomodation front and rear.
Tuesday morning we headed down to Nieuwoudtville (when did it lose the ‘s’ in the middle?), past the kokerboom forests and the waterfall. Then we headed southeast on Camelman’s excellent navigation through the most incredible scenery to Uitspankraal. No-one ever mentions the amazing pass climbing down to the Doring river from the east. This is truly great, with a huge canyon and tremendous scenery. Usually one only hears about the difficulties of crossing the river itself. Today the river was dry, so the crossing only involved bumping over the river cobbles while trying to get traction in the sand between.
The road to Uitspankraal.
On the edge of the canyon.
The crossing.
The Biedouw valley is great - great road and scenery, just lots of gates. We pushed on to Wupperthal. The road is particularly bad at the moment. Here, taking in the delights of Wupperthal, we met Diesel & Dust, out on a ride from Clanwilliam. Nice to meet you – I’m sure we’ll meet again, soon. Then we tacked the road up to Eselbank. Half way up we overtook two families in bakkies dragging their caravans up the hill! Bloody hell!
Dave had a big one at the top when he hit the very loose, deep sand at a great speed. He broke a fence with his Dakkie, and sadly bust the beak of his bike off. He jumped back on the bike and pushed on like a real trooper. Unfortunately he dropped it at the next sand patch, this time trapping his ankle and banging it up a bit. Now he had to ride with a bit more care and completed the ride without further incident. Gerrit was as welcoming as ever at Cederberg Oasis (https://www.cederbergoasis.co.za/) where we enjoyed his hospitality.
My favourite spot on the Eselbank road, on top of the watershed.
Two XTs with the brilliant Mitas C02 tyres each with over 2000 km and very little wear.
Dangerous Dave. Does this look like a fellow with a broken ankle?
Andy660R is kicking Dave's ankle just to make sure.
[Stop press - Dave just told me the X-ray shows a cracked bone in his left ankle - and he did the rest of the ride like that! Eish, that must have been sore, but not one complaint!]
The beautiful road took us south to Ceres. Here the petrol attendant remarked (in the Queen’s English, nogal) about my dirty bike, “It’s all about the adventure, isn’t it?”
The corners of Bain’s Kloof are almost hypnotising in the gathering gloom of early evening and to the tired and happy mind. We got separated in Wellington. Later Dave and I pulled over under a brightly lit forecourt. The other 2 came along the road not 5 meters from where we were standing waving, but they had home in their eyes and didn’t see us, and were lost in the traffic lights and bustle of Durbanville.
Thanks to Genevieve Dewar and Brian Stewart and their crew, Nadia, Mark, Julianne and Jared for putting up with us. Thanks Andy660R and Camelman for being the indefatigable stalwarts that you are. Thanks Dave, heal well, soon.
My friend Dave asked me to ride with him to the Richtersveld to visit some colleagues excavating an archaeological deposit in a cave there. Some of you know Dave as the chap who suffered a deep vein thrombosis last year, caused by relatively minor bruising suffered in a fall on a WD ride. He's back on his Dakar and rapidly getting his mojo back. One thing led to another and Andy660R and the indefatigable Camelman on his spoggerige Ténéré came along too.
I packed the previous night and parked the bike inside.
We set off on Thursday morning in a slight drizzle under lowering clouds. Met up at Swartland One-Stop at 6am. We soon escaped the weather and by Citrusdal the skies cleared to a perfect day. Took the gravel along the Olifants to Clanwilliam where we turned inland. It's sad to have to ride Pakhuis on tar now but I suppose the Agter-Pakhuis people are enjoying it. Down to Doringbos, Botterkloof Pass and across to Niewoudville. Had a quick look at the crazy bike collection while filling the bikes.
Stone farm cottages south of Nieuwoudville.
From here we took the Grasberg road up toward Paardekraal farm which lies at the head of narrow tongue of mountain that extends over the Knersvlakte. Here there is a pass which plummets down by more than 500m to the vlaktes below. Putting a name to this pass is not easy. It crosses the Perdekraal and Die Hel cadastral boundaries, and seems to be called various names, mostly involving “Hel”, Helskloof, Helspad, Hel se pad etc etc. If this is not a WD first perhaps there is someone who might know more about this really spectacular little pass? The surface is quite good, although it is obviously not used much. The road all but peters out at the bottom, with a choice of various tracks to follow. We ended up finding a tiny track which took us across to the Sishen-Saldanha line where we turned north along the service road, which we followed to the R355 crossing.
At the top of the pass.
Just south of Kliprand we turned west again and took a beautiful secondary road which wound its way through beautiful Namaqualand scenery to the N7 just south of Garies. Camped in the municipal campsite for the night. Guys, this is not the best campsite there is, but it’s one of the cheapest – in fact, it’s free. There’s a number to phone and a fellow is supposed to collect your money. The number mostly doesn’t connect, and if it does, he doesn’t pitch. There were other folk there and they also tried to pay, but to no avail.
Friday morning we took the gravel up to Springbok. There was a freezing gale from north which made climbing Studer’s Pass extra exciting. On past Liliefontein, nearly 1000m above Garies, with a spectacular view stretching 70km to the Atlantic. The road winds in and out of little Namaqualand valleys between huge exfoliated domes of gneiss and presents one beautiful vista after another. This is another gem of a road.
Next we took the Spektakel road and then turned north to Nababeep where Andy was briefly stationed in his Air Force days and where I grew up. Nababeep used to be a thriving copper mining town. The mines closed, the sulphurous, pungent smoke from the smelter has stopped, and the town has slumped into a depressed and depressing state. I don’t know how the people are managing there. The roads and services are collapsing, shops have closed, and yet the town seems full of people.
Filled up in Steinkopf and headed down the tar to the Lekkersing turn-off and up to our camp at Bakkrans Caves, also known as Spitzkloof. The road was entertaining, as was trying to arrive at the campsite in the sand without losing composure in front of our hosts!
Our campsite.
The excavation. Sorting is painstaking work.
Here covered because of the wind.
The Spitzkloof/Bakkrans Caves.
On Saturday Andy660R and Camelman went off on a hectic ride up to Eksteenfontein over a 4X4 route along the Wildeperderant mountains. Dave and I helped a bit with the excavation.
Sunday saw Dave once again helping with the excavation and Camelman, Andy660R and I headed north, hoping to find a track around the east of Ploegberg to the back of Kuboes. My navigation sucked and I missed the important turn-off. Nevertheless we had the most amazing ride up a blind valley to a deserted and isolated ‘veepos’ miles and miles from anywhere and separated from our destination by a range of mountains. I can’t imagine that many adventure bikers have made it up this valley. Sometimes the unintended road can bring unexpected pleasures. I didn’t care that we didn’t get to Kuboes and feel good that that road can be saved for next time.
Along the way I noticed a large Middle Stone Age open site, littered with artefacts.
Eksteenfontein.
The business centre.
Then we popped through to Eksteenfontein where we picked up fuel and refreshments. Like many small places fuel is available if you know who to ask. In this case it is a local who sells the different varieties of fuel at R60 for units of 5 litres. When you need fuel the cost is secondary, I suppose. The last time I was in Eksteenfontein was a great many years ago. At that time there were a few brick structures and the rest were corrugated iron and matjieshuise. This has all changed. Now all the houses are brick, there are signs of prosperity everywhere; the town is clean and well-provided with a shop and even a bottle-store. There were some kids riding Chinese quads and an old XT250 about the town. There is definitely money in Eksteenfontein these days. We asked about the track which leads to the back of Bakkrans Cave from the south and were directed to a relative in Lekkersing.
The motorcyclists are curiously small in Lekkersing.
While obviously not as prosperous as Eksteenfontein, and blighted by the unsightly quartzite mines on its doorstep, Lekkersing is clean and very friendly. The people welcomed us and willingly gave us directions. The old, disused track took us north from the town over the forgotten and deserted hilly country for about 15 km until it completely disappeared. We eventually found a lekker, fairly technical track to the west which brought us down the kloof immediately south of Bakkrans.
The riding today must rate as some of the best of my life. When you get out there and ride like this your head clears itself of a lot of the stuff that spoils your life. Mind you, I think Andy’s was cleared a bit too much, “You know”, he said, “Sometimes you pick up a pretty stone, and then you find another one, and then you throw that one away, and then you lose that one, and then you’ve got fuckall.” “Yes,” we nodded in agreement. :
Riding. Andy660R
Camelman
There were a million muggies and pesky flies in camp. Andy660R found a novel means of escape.
Camelman and Andy660R reviewing the evidence.
Monday morning we packed up and headed for Port Nolloth for fuel and breakfast on the waterfront on the most perfectly still and beautiful morning one could imagine. About 30 km from Port Nolloth there is the Wolfberg road. In the 1960’s this was a good alternative road to Port Nolloth from Springbok. Not any more! The road is now little used, and had descended into a seriously sandy tester of a road. There are stretches of sand that run for kilometres. It’s always nerve-wracking to be following a single tyre-track in the sand at 80 kph, wide-eyed, throttle open and cheeks clenched. Dave had a small tumble when he tapped off for a corner and Andy660R fell a couple of times trying to get back up to planing speed after stopping for Dave. No damages. The Spektakel-Kleinzee road was a welcome sight. Spektakel Pass is a sweeping grand new tar road replacing the old, tight and challenging gravel pass. It was still a pleasure to ride.
Packed up to go.
Breakfast in Port Nolloth.
It had been my plan to keep to the gravel all down along the escarpment to the west of the N7, but judging from our low speed on this road and the reports of further serious sand to the south we decided to head up to Springbok and cross over the N7 to the R355 down to Kliprand and on to Loeriesfontein. It’s a long gravel stretch. For a while I thought it was even longer than the Ceres-Calvinia stretch, but then I realised that Kliprand and a couple of turn-offs lie between.
The road passes Vaalputs and Garing nuclear waste facilities, as well as some military type installations. It seems that this area is regarded as a forgotten backwater. I just hope they treat it well. On the map the road looks incredibly boring, but on the ground it was truly beautiful. Wide open spaces with beautiful colours give way to the jumbled Namaqualand koppies. Further on the Karoo spaces open up between flat-topped hills. Altogether this long road was an unexpected pleasure. Stayed the night at Loeriesfontein Bar and Guesthouse. Good, basic and reasonable. Recommended.
Our accomodation front and rear.
Tuesday morning we headed down to Nieuwoudtville (when did it lose the ‘s’ in the middle?), past the kokerboom forests and the waterfall. Then we headed southeast on Camelman’s excellent navigation through the most incredible scenery to Uitspankraal. No-one ever mentions the amazing pass climbing down to the Doring river from the east. This is truly great, with a huge canyon and tremendous scenery. Usually one only hears about the difficulties of crossing the river itself. Today the river was dry, so the crossing only involved bumping over the river cobbles while trying to get traction in the sand between.
The road to Uitspankraal.
On the edge of the canyon.
The crossing.
The Biedouw valley is great - great road and scenery, just lots of gates. We pushed on to Wupperthal. The road is particularly bad at the moment. Here, taking in the delights of Wupperthal, we met Diesel & Dust, out on a ride from Clanwilliam. Nice to meet you – I’m sure we’ll meet again, soon. Then we tacked the road up to Eselbank. Half way up we overtook two families in bakkies dragging their caravans up the hill! Bloody hell!
Dave had a big one at the top when he hit the very loose, deep sand at a great speed. He broke a fence with his Dakkie, and sadly bust the beak of his bike off. He jumped back on the bike and pushed on like a real trooper. Unfortunately he dropped it at the next sand patch, this time trapping his ankle and banging it up a bit. Now he had to ride with a bit more care and completed the ride without further incident. Gerrit was as welcoming as ever at Cederberg Oasis (https://www.cederbergoasis.co.za/) where we enjoyed his hospitality.
My favourite spot on the Eselbank road, on top of the watershed.
Two XTs with the brilliant Mitas C02 tyres each with over 2000 km and very little wear.
Dangerous Dave. Does this look like a fellow with a broken ankle?
Andy660R is kicking Dave's ankle just to make sure.
[Stop press - Dave just told me the X-ray shows a cracked bone in his left ankle - and he did the rest of the ride like that! Eish, that must have been sore, but not one complaint!]
The beautiful road took us south to Ceres. Here the petrol attendant remarked (in the Queen’s English, nogal) about my dirty bike, “It’s all about the adventure, isn’t it?”
The corners of Bain’s Kloof are almost hypnotising in the gathering gloom of early evening and to the tired and happy mind. We got separated in Wellington. Later Dave and I pulled over under a brightly lit forecourt. The other 2 came along the road not 5 meters from where we were standing waving, but they had home in their eyes and didn’t see us, and were lost in the traffic lights and bustle of Durbanville.
Thanks to Genevieve Dewar and Brian Stewart and their crew, Nadia, Mark, Julianne and Jared for putting up with us. Thanks Andy660R and Camelman for being the indefatigable stalwarts that you are. Thanks Dave, heal well, soon.
