Ceres to Sutherland

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baleka

Pack Dog
Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Messages
83
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14
Location
Gordons Bay
Bike
Suzuki DL 650 V-Strom
https://www.facebook.com/deon.goosen is where you'll find the trip report with fullsize pics!
Roadtrip to Ceres & Sutherland over 20-22 Aug
Wihann ( my son & passenger) Mark Hasson, Steve Bennell. Stompie  Bruce & I
Kawasaki KLR650, BMW650 Dakar, BMW1150, 2x KTM990 Adventures

We started off from Stompie’s pub in Beach rd, Strand, by about 15:30 on Friday afternoon and headed for Ceres.
We bought some meat for the evening’s braai and some snacks for the road on Saturday.
We headed for the OPPIEBERG guesthouse in Op Die Berg town, 45km outside Ceres.

Elzaan,our host, has a nice 3 bedroomed establishment which doubles as a restaurant as well. She supplied us with the braai necessities as well like thongs, wood, spices etc and we had a great time of eating, spinning stories about things like bikes, army days, girls, road trips and the likes. A nice way to get to know each other.

By 00:30 we were off to bed. It so happened that Mark & Steve were roomies .
Needless to say, Mark sought refuge in the diningroom an hour before the kitchenstaff woke him. Steve snores seriously and those that know him, avoids him. Nê Reon?
Look at Mark’s face.



Dawn was a wet affair but it cleared just after a great breakfast which lasted us to Sutherland with lots of snacks still left in our bags.

We paid our R 250 each for Acc & breakfast and set off to fill our bikes with petrol at the local Agrimark-the only filling station untill Sutherland-216km’s further.

We took another 30km detour by visiting Kagga Kamma Game reserve and camp. This was a challenging road with it’s loose gravel and deep sand.
We really had tense moments and Mark dropped his bike. Fortunately, he broke only an indicator light and the hand protector.
I had a passenger but an experienced one. We both stood up as we hit the sand, which helped to control the bike. Wihann has 11 years of biking experience in his 13 yrs of life. I must admit that he tended to sleep through many of his early lessons and had to be tied to me by means of a scarf those days.
The rest of the road was uneventfull and we averaged 100-120km\h. Ouberg pass was challenging with it’s poor condition and we all thank God for no punctures. The road from Ouberg was potholed and the bikes took severe punishment. I lost a numberplate,tyre levers & bolts along that stretch. Things just break off. Mark’s bike snapped a bolt on the subframe and he wasn’t loaded even, compared to my luggage and pillion.
We encounterd some antelope and raptors, but no snakes or other reptiles.








This was lunchbreak on route!

We arrived & filled up in Sutherland at the only garage, by about 15:00.
Now this was a good move cos the owner only opens up after church on Sundays and this Sunday was a nagmaal service which could drag on till about 11:00!
The Sutherland hotel was full of people-journalism students from Stellenbosch, nagmaal goers and the locals who packs in for a dop & rugby on TV. Poor Bokke\WP.
The good meals helped to sooth our tired bodies and aching souls afterwards. Stompie tackled the tripe pot and was very pleased with it. I rather don’t like my food to stare back at me and chose the crumbed chicken scnitchels & Chips.

We were all in bed quite early and Steve had himself a double bed for the night, for obvious reasons!
Mark chose to use the singlebed in our room rather than sharing with Steve.
And we all had a good night’s rest. Everybody had reasons for not sleeping well the Friday night-I was too excited, Mark had Steve as a roomie, Stompie and Bruce?
Sunday morning was wet and cold and we could see snowflakes dropping down but Koos gave us the garage to park our bikes in.
We had an excellent breakfast and paid R 320 for acc & breakfast to our host , Koos du Plessis ?
We parted ways just below Verlaten pass, with Steve,Stompie & Bruce, who wanted to ride more dirtroads and mud.

They took shortcut towards Ceres while Mark & I headed for the N1 at Matjiesfontein. We wanted more coffeebreaks and didn’t fancy the possible muddy pools on the dirtroads, of which there were very little, Steve said later. They made good speeds and we arrived home at about the same time-15:30.
Great fun was had by all and we thank God for a safe & sound trip!

I invite everyone to add comments or pose questions!



 
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