Mud monster in the Karoo?

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SuperDave

Race Dog
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
654
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Location
Centurion
Bike
BMW F650GS / Dakar
What do they say?  Better late than never!  So here it is…


Planned trip :  Karoo trip and then up the West Coast.
Actual trip :  Karoo trip and back to Gauteng...reasons will be revealed.
Time frame :  14 December to whenever....
Reason :

I’ve always been a fan of the Karoo...started when I was very young and my folks used to go caravanning at Swartvlei(Sedgefield).  At first the Karoo was just a hot boring place to get thru but later on in life I actually longed to go explore the Karoo for the quietness and desolation it promised, I was not to be disappointed.... :mwink:
Also, I wanted to experience a true solo trip where you tag along all your stuff all of the time and nobody else to talk to except strangers in small town bars!  :thumleft:

Prologue:

Writing a RR is harder than I thought it would be...!
Something about re-living the experience and kapping a bit of a depro because now you’re actually writing about it at work in office time...!

Anyways, I’ll give it a shot!

As with all trips I like my bike washed and packed the evening before I go.  Ordered my center stand from BikeGear and got it the day before I left...close call...! 
What an absolute bitch to get that thing on...!  :angry4:

But alas, I was ready...now I needed some beers to get me sleepy...Didn’t work...
Because of all the excitement I didn’t sleep well until an hour or so before my intended departure time of 05:00...


Day 1:  Centurion/Prieska (N12/R369/R357)

Tuesday 14 December, it was overcast and looked rainy...eventually got away at 05:30 after a lekker warm cup of coffee.  Was to nervous for my usual Weet-Bix...
I was all psyched-up and had somewhere to go and the little bit of rain around Joburg didn’t bother me at all...except when my crotch got wet but this was to be the first day of many wet crotch days...

Nothing much happened(except awfull cross winds) until Kimberley when  I stopped to go and check out the “Groot gat” and had a couple of beers.
I’ve never paid to check out a hole but the R20 was worth it...after all, it is a moer of a big hole!  :eek:

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So after the beers it was about 13:30 and I was lus for some gravel and I had some time. So instead of going tar to Prieska I remembered that Boer suggested I go past Hopeville and turn right on a 100 kilo gravel road that comes out just before Prieska on the tar.

Off I went....and about 40 clicks out of Kimberley I ran into this...notice the light blue parts in the middle of the pic...

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So I donned my rain jacket, I left the trousers at home cause I didn’t really expect any mayor rains...luckily I packed the jacket!!!!

And man, did it come down...buckets and buckets...wet, sopping wet crotch and soaking squishing boots....
At one stage lightning slapped the ground probably 300 odd meters to the side of the road and I nearly kakked myself! 
As you can see there is a lot of nothing around so I was the fastest and highest moving point in the area...great target practice for Thor!

Does anyone know of anyone on a bike being hit by lightning?!?!?

Got to Hopeville and it stopped raining.  There was hope!
Had to setlle my nerves with a cold one so a bottle store had to do.  There aint much in this little place.  Wonder what kind of Hope it gave back whenever?

So there I went again...looking forward to my first of many gravel and hoping the rain will stay away...notice the “slippery when wet” sign! 

Not too be...about 3 kilometers further the gates of heaven opened again and Thor was having fun with me again! 

I tried to go on but my speed dropped to something like 30 to 40 km/h....
Reason for this was all the water and mud on the road and the fact that I was trying to make myself as small as possible on the bike, not standing because I’m allready the highest point around! 

Hiding behind the visor...almost like:  “If I can’t see Thor, he can’t see me....”    :peepwall:

Then I couldn’t take it anymore...the rain was just to hard, the road became a river, the cross winds moved me around to much and Thor could see me very good....

I stopped and hid behind the bike for about 10 minutes until the worst was over...

Some pics after the fact...this was the first kind of mud I got to know in the Karoo. 
I, very originally, dubbed it white mud...it was a sandy consistency with bigger than sand kind of klippies in it...not that slippery.

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The first +/- 8 km’s took me round about 30 minutes at this point so I was wondering what else I would get on the remaining 92 km’s!!

And then my luck turned for the better!  After about 30 km’s the rain stopped completely and the rest of the gravel road was just wet enough to not make any dust....not that dust was a problem as there were nobody on this road.  O0

But hell, what a lekker 62 km’s that was!  I got into the groove of things and soon was going along at 120km/h...the gravel was that good!
I had to slow myself down a bit to 100 to be on the safe side as I sometimes forget I’m alone and the roads are deserted.

Highway:

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Arrived in Prieska at about 17:30 with a cellphone that didn’t work anymore because I had it in my pocket and forgot about it... :BangHead:

Church:

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The people there advised me against sleeping at Die Bos camping site, apparently not very cosher since the new management.... :nono:

Rode around a bit and eventually someone pointed me to a place I can sleep, Old Waterworks guest house.  Nothing spectacular but a nice clean place with a little kitchen, 2 double beds and a TV.  Cost was R200 for the night, no breakfast.
Very friendly and helpfull people!

View from the yard of guest house:

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Went for a couple of drinks at River View Lodge while the wind was pumping and retired happy, a bit drunk and tired to my double bed....

Distance travelled: 
683 km’s tar
100 km’s mud/river/gravel

Bits and pieces: 
It’s better to ride in the river than aiming for the “middel mannetjie”!  The river has sort
of washed away the soft mud sand that the “middel mannetjie” is made of! 
Downside is your luggage WILL get wet...mine was soaked and I re-packed everything into black bags the next day, lesson learned!  :thumleft:





 
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