Cool Breeze
Pack Dog
The planning of this trip started a few weeks ago when Francois (FrancoisJ on the forum) told me that he is going to ride to Stellenbosch on his bike from Pretoria over 4 days – and the Baviaanskloof was part of his route. I knew I just had to join up with him before he enters the kloof – always wanted to do Baviaans on my bike and us “valies” don’t often get the chance to do this.
We are in Jongensfontein for the December holidays and I brought the bike on the bakkie from Pretoria. I phoned Herman (My sister's husband - Rokie on the forum – they are from Somerset West and they are also in Jongens every December with the rest of the fam) and told him about the Baviaans idea and he was there like a bear.
The arrangement with Francois was to meet up with him at Patensie and to enter the Baviaans from that side riding towards Uniondale. Francois will then go to his wife’s family in Herolds Bay and me and Herman will head back to Jongensfontein.
The Route: (892km)
Day 1 - 16 December 2010 we leave from Jongensfontein at about 13h00 – decided to try and reach St Francis and then camp somewhere next to the sea. The ride started out pretty good (except for me losing a bag with tyre levers, spare tubes, rim protectors and a small pump –still don’t know how that got off the bike…) we took the gravel stretch from Stilbaai to Gourits, tar stretch past Vleesbaai and joined the N2 close to Mossel Bay. We stopped at the Engen for a wimpy burger for lunch. By now it was raining. We left the Engen in the rain and as we continued on the N2 the rain became more intense. We decided to leave the N2 at Kleinbrak and take backroads towards George. As we took the off-ramp, Herman realised he had a flat rear. By now the rain was bucketing down and we were WET. We pulled over at a small coffee shop. It luckily had a “stoep” under roof where we parked the bikes to change the tube. (Luckily he also packed his tyre levers and pump!) The changing of the wheel took up quite a bit of time and we knew that St Francis was maybe a bit optimistic to reach before dark.
Back on the bikes (and in the RAIN) we headed past George airport and decided to join the N2 again to make up some lost time. When we finally reached Knysna it was still bucketing and we were losing daylight at a rapid pace now. We decided to push on to Plettenberg Bay. This was probably the coldest and most wet stretch of riding I have done in my life! My feet were under water in my boots! And yes, we did not have rain jackets and being a public holiday we were not going to buy them on this cold and wet day. We finally reached Plett and stopped at the Shell. Rokie’s first words to me being – “Ek slaap defnitief vanaand in ‘n huis” and I fully understood where he was coming from! Call us softies if you want, but we were not equipped or clothed to sleep in our tents that night. Mist all around and rain rain RAIN! Coffee and burgers at Steers after trying to dry out our kit in the bathroom (those hand dryers help!). We made a few calls and a friend of mine said we were welcome to sleep in their house – his brother was already there and they had a room available for us for the night! What a blessing!! We were hoping for an “Afdak” / garage under which we could pitch our tents, but this was the jackpot! I owe that tjommie of mine BIGtime! Before we left, Rokie asked for a mop, we could not leave the Steers in that condition after flooding the floor with our wet jackets and boots.
So, this was the end to day 1.
Lesson 1: always budget for extra time on long rides, don’t just assume that things will run smooth all the way.
Lesson 2: RAIN JACKET!!!!,
Lesson 3: Tie down your luggage properly.
We were 200km’s away from Patensie and we were doing the Kloof the next day, so we knew we had to leave early the next morning to meet Francois on time the next morning in Patensie. (I really hope he will also give us a ride report of his 4 days of which most was solo!)
Day 2 – 17 December 2010.Rokie’s rear flat again. Luckily only a slow puncture so we decided to fix it in Patensie – we were going to be there before Francois, so we would have some time to get the wheel fixed. We were hoping for a dry start to the day, but no luck. RAIN RAIN and MORE RAIN! So by the end of the first 5kms we were soaked once again. We decided to stick to the N2, lots of Km’s to cover to get to Patensie. We stopped at Tsitsikama to check the pressure on Rokie’s rear – the puncture was slow enough to reach Patensie. Back on the N2 and in the rain for quite another stretch and finally we reach Patensie. We found a nice tyre repair shop and in no time Rokie’s rear was patched and good to go. Breakfast time and Francois was taking longer than planned because of hectic road conditions – the mud was so bad at one stage that he had to take off his front mud guard otherwise he was going nowhere… Tell us more about this in your RR Fran!
Fran’s timing was good and we enjoyed a nice breakfast and coffee. By this time Fran had a lot of km’s behind him and Rokie and myself had a long morning in the rain but we were all excited about the +/- 200km ahead of us through the Baviaans. By this time I realised my phone had enough of the wet weather (even though it was packed away in a bag with a rain cover over it) and I only managed to get it going again when we were back home in Jongensfontein 2 days later.
A quick stop for petrol and after that a stop at the local hardware store where we finally got hold of rain jackets!
Not too far from Patensie we get onto the gravel road which will take us through the Baviaans. Wet and muddy, but GREAT FUN. This is where one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve done so far started. Even though the roads were wet at first, it was in good condition. Unfortunately there aren’t too many photos of the first part of the ride through the Kloof – too wet and cameras were packed away properly to keep them dry… I can’t talk for the other 2, but my smile certainly got bigger and bigger as we made our way through the Kloof. Fantastic scenery, awesome roads and good company – what more do you want!
At some stages the roads were quite slippery and muddy and it was hard work to keep the bikes upright, but we all managed to get through the Baviaans without incident. What I especially like about the Baviaans is that it is a long ride, not a quick 50 or 80km of nice and exciting gravel, but 200km of it! We made a stop at one of the gates where you have to present your permit and Fran made the day even better when he took out his biltong and gave me and Rokie each a proper piece! Man, I’ll never forget how good that tasted – we were quite tired and hungry by this time.
Later on the roads were dry and the sight of blue skies was a welcome relief – I still had enough water in my boots for a decent cup of coffee though… They should put drain plugs at the bottom of boots… just a thought. These dry roads and longer straights meant faster riding which was also good.
Eventually we got to the split where you can either go to Willowmore or Uniondale and took the left towards Uniondale. More dry straights and good riding – what a pleasure!
When we finally got to the N9, Rokie’s front tyre decided to go for the hat trick – flat. We were not far from Uniondale and Rokie was a pro slow puncture rider by this time. In town Fran and myself stopped for petrol and after that went looking for something to eat while Rokie went to the local tyre guys. 2 Interesting and very helpful guys assisted him and after a while he hooked up with us in the parking in front of the OK where we had a quick pie and coke. We realised that we were probably going to run out of daylight again and decided to get going – N9 all the way to George from where Fran will go to Herolds and Rokie and myself another Hour and a half or so to Jongensfontein. On Potjiesberg Pass we hit very thick mist and had to slow down quite a bit. Fran in front (already lost from sight in the mist), myself in the middle and Rokie behind me. I kept an eye on Rokie in my rear view mirror and saw that he pulled over. I also pulled over – his front flat again! The patch didn’t hold, probably because of the slime in the tube… He phoned the guys in Uniondale – they said that there is a guy in town who has the right size tube for him if the patch doesn’t do the job. They were kind enough to bring the tube to us and to assist in changing the tube there next to the road in the mist. By now my GPS said that our ETA in Jongensfontein is 22h00.
When we got going again, we were still in thick mist for a few km’s and when we finally got out of it it was dark. We continued a few more km’s in the dark and decided to pull over and camp next to the road – not very fond of riding in the dark. We took a left on a gravel road to get away from the main road and camped right there next to the gravel road. It was so good to take off the wet boots!
It was a long day and it was not long before we were both asleep. We did not have food with us, so no time was wasted on preparing meals or making fires.
Day 3 – 18 December 2010: We got up before 5h00 the next morning, packed up and headed for George – Rokie forgot to fill up in Uniondale with the tyre fixing and all and he was now testing the range on the Dakar’s tank. He luckily made it to George, not bad considering the last time he filled up was in Patensie! Outeniqua Pass was awesome in the early hours of the morning!
From George it was back towards Mossel Bay from where we again took the gravel road from Gourits to Stilbaai – this was the road where I lost the tyre levers and tubes etc and we kept an eye out for the bag in the road – no luck.
Rain and flat tyres – I guess it is part of adventure biking. I’ll gladly deal with it for the awesome time we got in return! Thanks Rokie and Francois, this was a fantastic trip that I will never forget!
We are in Jongensfontein for the December holidays and I brought the bike on the bakkie from Pretoria. I phoned Herman (My sister's husband - Rokie on the forum – they are from Somerset West and they are also in Jongens every December with the rest of the fam) and told him about the Baviaans idea and he was there like a bear.
The arrangement with Francois was to meet up with him at Patensie and to enter the Baviaans from that side riding towards Uniondale. Francois will then go to his wife’s family in Herolds Bay and me and Herman will head back to Jongensfontein.
The Route: (892km)
Day 1 - 16 December 2010 we leave from Jongensfontein at about 13h00 – decided to try and reach St Francis and then camp somewhere next to the sea. The ride started out pretty good (except for me losing a bag with tyre levers, spare tubes, rim protectors and a small pump –still don’t know how that got off the bike…) we took the gravel stretch from Stilbaai to Gourits, tar stretch past Vleesbaai and joined the N2 close to Mossel Bay. We stopped at the Engen for a wimpy burger for lunch. By now it was raining. We left the Engen in the rain and as we continued on the N2 the rain became more intense. We decided to leave the N2 at Kleinbrak and take backroads towards George. As we took the off-ramp, Herman realised he had a flat rear. By now the rain was bucketing down and we were WET. We pulled over at a small coffee shop. It luckily had a “stoep” under roof where we parked the bikes to change the tube. (Luckily he also packed his tyre levers and pump!) The changing of the wheel took up quite a bit of time and we knew that St Francis was maybe a bit optimistic to reach before dark.
Back on the bikes (and in the RAIN) we headed past George airport and decided to join the N2 again to make up some lost time. When we finally reached Knysna it was still bucketing and we were losing daylight at a rapid pace now. We decided to push on to Plettenberg Bay. This was probably the coldest and most wet stretch of riding I have done in my life! My feet were under water in my boots! And yes, we did not have rain jackets and being a public holiday we were not going to buy them on this cold and wet day. We finally reached Plett and stopped at the Shell. Rokie’s first words to me being – “Ek slaap defnitief vanaand in ‘n huis” and I fully understood where he was coming from! Call us softies if you want, but we were not equipped or clothed to sleep in our tents that night. Mist all around and rain rain RAIN! Coffee and burgers at Steers after trying to dry out our kit in the bathroom (those hand dryers help!). We made a few calls and a friend of mine said we were welcome to sleep in their house – his brother was already there and they had a room available for us for the night! What a blessing!! We were hoping for an “Afdak” / garage under which we could pitch our tents, but this was the jackpot! I owe that tjommie of mine BIGtime! Before we left, Rokie asked for a mop, we could not leave the Steers in that condition after flooding the floor with our wet jackets and boots.
So, this was the end to day 1.
Lesson 1: always budget for extra time on long rides, don’t just assume that things will run smooth all the way.
Lesson 2: RAIN JACKET!!!!,
Lesson 3: Tie down your luggage properly.
We were 200km’s away from Patensie and we were doing the Kloof the next day, so we knew we had to leave early the next morning to meet Francois on time the next morning in Patensie. (I really hope he will also give us a ride report of his 4 days of which most was solo!)
Day 2 – 17 December 2010.Rokie’s rear flat again. Luckily only a slow puncture so we decided to fix it in Patensie – we were going to be there before Francois, so we would have some time to get the wheel fixed. We were hoping for a dry start to the day, but no luck. RAIN RAIN and MORE RAIN! So by the end of the first 5kms we were soaked once again. We decided to stick to the N2, lots of Km’s to cover to get to Patensie. We stopped at Tsitsikama to check the pressure on Rokie’s rear – the puncture was slow enough to reach Patensie. Back on the N2 and in the rain for quite another stretch and finally we reach Patensie. We found a nice tyre repair shop and in no time Rokie’s rear was patched and good to go. Breakfast time and Francois was taking longer than planned because of hectic road conditions – the mud was so bad at one stage that he had to take off his front mud guard otherwise he was going nowhere… Tell us more about this in your RR Fran!
Fran’s timing was good and we enjoyed a nice breakfast and coffee. By this time Fran had a lot of km’s behind him and Rokie and myself had a long morning in the rain but we were all excited about the +/- 200km ahead of us through the Baviaans. By this time I realised my phone had enough of the wet weather (even though it was packed away in a bag with a rain cover over it) and I only managed to get it going again when we were back home in Jongensfontein 2 days later.
A quick stop for petrol and after that a stop at the local hardware store where we finally got hold of rain jackets!
Not too far from Patensie we get onto the gravel road which will take us through the Baviaans. Wet and muddy, but GREAT FUN. This is where one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve done so far started. Even though the roads were wet at first, it was in good condition. Unfortunately there aren’t too many photos of the first part of the ride through the Kloof – too wet and cameras were packed away properly to keep them dry… I can’t talk for the other 2, but my smile certainly got bigger and bigger as we made our way through the Kloof. Fantastic scenery, awesome roads and good company – what more do you want!
At some stages the roads were quite slippery and muddy and it was hard work to keep the bikes upright, but we all managed to get through the Baviaans without incident. What I especially like about the Baviaans is that it is a long ride, not a quick 50 or 80km of nice and exciting gravel, but 200km of it! We made a stop at one of the gates where you have to present your permit and Fran made the day even better when he took out his biltong and gave me and Rokie each a proper piece! Man, I’ll never forget how good that tasted – we were quite tired and hungry by this time.
Later on the roads were dry and the sight of blue skies was a welcome relief – I still had enough water in my boots for a decent cup of coffee though… They should put drain plugs at the bottom of boots… just a thought. These dry roads and longer straights meant faster riding which was also good.
Eventually we got to the split where you can either go to Willowmore or Uniondale and took the left towards Uniondale. More dry straights and good riding – what a pleasure!
When we finally got to the N9, Rokie’s front tyre decided to go for the hat trick – flat. We were not far from Uniondale and Rokie was a pro slow puncture rider by this time. In town Fran and myself stopped for petrol and after that went looking for something to eat while Rokie went to the local tyre guys. 2 Interesting and very helpful guys assisted him and after a while he hooked up with us in the parking in front of the OK where we had a quick pie and coke. We realised that we were probably going to run out of daylight again and decided to get going – N9 all the way to George from where Fran will go to Herolds and Rokie and myself another Hour and a half or so to Jongensfontein. On Potjiesberg Pass we hit very thick mist and had to slow down quite a bit. Fran in front (already lost from sight in the mist), myself in the middle and Rokie behind me. I kept an eye on Rokie in my rear view mirror and saw that he pulled over. I also pulled over – his front flat again! The patch didn’t hold, probably because of the slime in the tube… He phoned the guys in Uniondale – they said that there is a guy in town who has the right size tube for him if the patch doesn’t do the job. They were kind enough to bring the tube to us and to assist in changing the tube there next to the road in the mist. By now my GPS said that our ETA in Jongensfontein is 22h00.
When we got going again, we were still in thick mist for a few km’s and when we finally got out of it it was dark. We continued a few more km’s in the dark and decided to pull over and camp next to the road – not very fond of riding in the dark. We took a left on a gravel road to get away from the main road and camped right there next to the gravel road. It was so good to take off the wet boots!
It was a long day and it was not long before we were both asleep. We did not have food with us, so no time was wasted on preparing meals or making fires.
Day 3 – 18 December 2010: We got up before 5h00 the next morning, packed up and headed for George – Rokie forgot to fill up in Uniondale with the tyre fixing and all and he was now testing the range on the Dakar’s tank. He luckily made it to George, not bad considering the last time he filled up was in Patensie! Outeniqua Pass was awesome in the early hours of the morning!
From George it was back towards Mossel Bay from where we again took the gravel road from Gourits to Stilbaai – this was the road where I lost the tyre levers and tubes etc and we kept an eye out for the bag in the road – no luck.
Rain and flat tyres – I guess it is part of adventure biking. I’ll gladly deal with it for the awesome time we got in return! Thanks Rokie and Francois, this was a fantastic trip that I will never forget!
