tok-tokkie
Race Dog
EDIT: Can someone please fix the pictures. I thought I knew how to do it but obviously I don't. And explain what I should have done please.
Trip to Nieuwoudtville.
My first day outing on the Dakar was Uiltjie?s trip which was much appreciated. Now for something a bit longer. My wife is a member of the Vernacular Architecture Society; they are measuring some stone ruins in Oorlogskloof just outside Niewoudville so it seemed a good opportunity for a run without a load on the bike (I am still organizing panniers and stuff). I did not pay proper attention to the plans and was expecting to go up on Saturday & return on Sunday. On Thursday I found that I was expected to go up on Friday, help with the measuring etc on Saturday & Sunday and return on Monday. Being retired that presented little problem except I had ordered a Zumo which was coming by courier on Friday. Well I was being optimistic thinking I would get the Zumo sorted out on Friday anyway and I don?t like doing things in a rush anymore.
Friday I went up the N7 to Citrusdal then swopped over to the dirt road up to Clanwilliam.
Over Pakhuis Pass stopping to have a look at Louis Leipoldt?s grave which I thought was very appropriate, a understated sympathetic tomb to match the man. The vista of the series of mountain ranges running through the Kouebokkeveld makes me love living in this land
Riding through the vlaktes between Pakhuis and Botterkloof passes brought back the wonderful sense of freedom I remember so well when I got my first proper bike and was free to go wherever I chose; now I felt free to go where I choose on the back roads of this country; a feeling of liberation & joy. Just what I wanted when I bought a DS bike. I was a very happy biker just then. Up Botterkloof and then there is a shortcut to Niuwoudtville (not the road through Moedverloor ? what a name ? as that has 33 gates but the next one which has none) so you don?t have to go to Calvinia.
We stayed at Die Lande farm where there is Die Blikhuis. This is the sort of building that the Vernacs are all about. Vernacular is what we talk amongst ourselves ? what is written here on Wild Dogs is an excellent example of vernacular language; which is somewhat different from proper (correct) written language. Vernacular architecture is the buildings that we build for ourselves (as against having designed by an architect or buying from a spec builder). The Blikhuis has been used as a skaap kraal & a hoenderhok over the years but has now been beautifully restored and fitted with period furniture inside including fridge & stove from early in the last century. Through my wife?s interest in these sorts of buildings (and they are also keen on Victorian townhouses and fishermen?s cottages and also prestigious ?Cape Dutch? farmsteads) I have come to really appreciate houses like the Blikhuis and be aware of how they are disappearing & we are culturally the poorer for this loss. They form part of what my wife refers to as the Cultural Landscape.
Went out to the Kokerboom forest on Sunday afternoon
. Monday I returned via Botterkloof but then turned for Wuppertal. The Doring river was completely dry.
I had never been to Wuppertal before and was very pleased to see that it is still a functioning community. By that I mean the allotments are still being worked and the houses are still all occupied and unaltered (thatch roofs instead of tin as at Eselbank). Gamkaskloof used to be actively worked smallholdings from one end to the other but when the road was built the young people left and it all collapsed and has reverted to thorn bush ? I have seen a wonderful slide show of how it used to be. It was that which I was thinking about when I looked at the vegetable patches in Wuppertal.
Up out the other side to Eselbank and on to Oppi Berg and down to Ceres, over Baine?s Kloof and home by sunset.
.
. I had a VFR before this bike but this little Dakar is a much better fit ? I like the comfortable upright riding position. I like to run at about 2/3 redline revs which is +/-120 on the Dakar as against 180/200 on the VFR so the Dakar gives me a nice leisurely ride and also opens up much more interesting territory. I had never thought about this sort of biking until very recently and I am enjoying it tremendously. I missed the Zeevenwacht beginners training course because I am not on the mailing list, when I found out about it through Mad Dogs it was fully booked. I did this trip sitting down & squirming through the sandy bits. Sorry I missed the introductory course but I was finding out things my own way ? hope I have not ingrained any bad habits.
Trip to Nieuwoudtville.
My first day outing on the Dakar was Uiltjie?s trip which was much appreciated. Now for something a bit longer. My wife is a member of the Vernacular Architecture Society; they are measuring some stone ruins in Oorlogskloof just outside Niewoudville so it seemed a good opportunity for a run without a load on the bike (I am still organizing panniers and stuff). I did not pay proper attention to the plans and was expecting to go up on Saturday & return on Sunday. On Thursday I found that I was expected to go up on Friday, help with the measuring etc on Saturday & Sunday and return on Monday. Being retired that presented little problem except I had ordered a Zumo which was coming by courier on Friday. Well I was being optimistic thinking I would get the Zumo sorted out on Friday anyway and I don?t like doing things in a rush anymore.
Friday I went up the N7 to Citrusdal then swopped over to the dirt road up to Clanwilliam.
Over Pakhuis Pass stopping to have a look at Louis Leipoldt?s grave which I thought was very appropriate, a understated sympathetic tomb to match the man. The vista of the series of mountain ranges running through the Kouebokkeveld makes me love living in this land
Riding through the vlaktes between Pakhuis and Botterkloof passes brought back the wonderful sense of freedom I remember so well when I got my first proper bike and was free to go wherever I chose; now I felt free to go where I choose on the back roads of this country; a feeling of liberation & joy. Just what I wanted when I bought a DS bike. I was a very happy biker just then. Up Botterkloof and then there is a shortcut to Niuwoudtville (not the road through Moedverloor ? what a name ? as that has 33 gates but the next one which has none) so you don?t have to go to Calvinia.
We stayed at Die Lande farm where there is Die Blikhuis. This is the sort of building that the Vernacs are all about. Vernacular is what we talk amongst ourselves ? what is written here on Wild Dogs is an excellent example of vernacular language; which is somewhat different from proper (correct) written language. Vernacular architecture is the buildings that we build for ourselves (as against having designed by an architect or buying from a spec builder). The Blikhuis has been used as a skaap kraal & a hoenderhok over the years but has now been beautifully restored and fitted with period furniture inside including fridge & stove from early in the last century. Through my wife?s interest in these sorts of buildings (and they are also keen on Victorian townhouses and fishermen?s cottages and also prestigious ?Cape Dutch? farmsteads) I have come to really appreciate houses like the Blikhuis and be aware of how they are disappearing & we are culturally the poorer for this loss. They form part of what my wife refers to as the Cultural Landscape.
Went out to the Kokerboom forest on Sunday afternoon
. Monday I returned via Botterkloof but then turned for Wuppertal. The Doring river was completely dry.
I had never been to Wuppertal before and was very pleased to see that it is still a functioning community. By that I mean the allotments are still being worked and the houses are still all occupied and unaltered (thatch roofs instead of tin as at Eselbank). Gamkaskloof used to be actively worked smallholdings from one end to the other but when the road was built the young people left and it all collapsed and has reverted to thorn bush ? I have seen a wonderful slide show of how it used to be. It was that which I was thinking about when I looked at the vegetable patches in Wuppertal.
Up out the other side to Eselbank and on to Oppi Berg and down to Ceres, over Baine?s Kloof and home by sunset.
.
. I had a VFR before this bike but this little Dakar is a much better fit ? I like the comfortable upright riding position. I like to run at about 2/3 redline revs which is +/-120 on the Dakar as against 180/200 on the VFR so the Dakar gives me a nice leisurely ride and also opens up much more interesting territory. I had never thought about this sort of biking until very recently and I am enjoying it tremendously. I missed the Zeevenwacht beginners training course because I am not on the mailing list, when I found out about it through Mad Dogs it was fully booked. I did this trip sitting down & squirming through the sandy bits. Sorry I missed the introductory course but I was finding out things my own way ? hope I have not ingrained any bad habits.
