NevMcGyver
Pack Dog
Well, well... here's my first ever ride report.
Ever since I brought my DRZ home Hando's been bugging me BIG-TIME to go for a ride - but all the weekends have just been way too full so far.
Anyway... we planned to do the necessary this Sunday pm... just as soon as Hando returned from helping Wolweseun out with the cycling race marshalling.
1 O'clock came... and went.
2 O'clock came... and went.
I tried phoning Hando to see if he'd fallen (or fallen asleep) along the road... but no reply.
I was definitely NOT going to miss out on this ride - Hando or no Hando!
My mind was made up... I'd be riding off at 3 whether he arrived or not. My butt was just itching way too much for the saddle! :ricky:
Come 3pm I promptly hopped onto B'rakha - that's her name... means 'Blessing' in Hebrew - punched the starter and thumped away towards Jachtvlakte.
Some would say I was being doff, 'cause I left without first filling the tank. Part of my planning (not miss-planning)... as I was in the process of doing a consumption check, as well as having a lack of paper (or coins for that matter) in my wallet. Shall fill up during the week, hehe.
Anyways... I wasn't really intending going very far. Just wanted to be out, exploring, enjoying.
Much of my mindset for the afternoon was to ride some of the tracks and paths which I had long wondered where they went... the kind that disappear off into who-knows-where from the side of the road so often travelled to work and back home.
With this in mind I hopped onto a cattle track running alongside VW's car shipping yard, and followed that to where it led me into the entrance road of the Jachtvlakte "playing-fields". From here I headed due south, away from the Vlaktes, checking out some other paths. The Vlakte would be investigated later.
I topped out on a small rise, finding some well used tracks... obvious quad-bike play-grounds. Passing these, despite my urge to investigate them in more detail, I headed over the next rise to find the Vlakte spread out before me.
Wow!
So much water!
[
]
I don't know when last I'd seen so much water in the pan. All the tracks and hill-climbs Hando & I had done in my Landy not too long ago, were now inaccessible... unless you wanted to drive through the water to get to them!
I puttered around the northern edge of the pan, greeting the quad riders as I passed. Didn't look too busy, nor too happy!
Turning roughly south-west I laid into the paths... looking for anything new & interesting. You know the attitude... “So where does this one go?”
Doing this I slowly worked my way around the southern side of Kwa-Nobuhle, following some rather rough paths strewn very liberally with plenty fist-sized rocks... the nice rounded type that just luv to redirect your front wheel in alternative directions.
This led me down to some ploughed fields, about ¾ the size of a rugby field, and then up again across grassy sections where the path all but disappeared, showing up again amongst the bushes and aloes. I kept following until the bush opened up onto a donga scarred gentle hillside, where I eventually took a breather. B'rakha was getting a tad too hot, what with all the slow going through the bushes.
And so the two of us cooled off a bit in the gentle breeze that fled across the hillside.
Looking northward it became clear that we were well further out from the 'Hage than I'd expected.
Was I disappointed?
Hell no!
I was enjoying myself... or rather, we were enjoying ourselves!
At this point my phone rang!
Hando!
He'd just arrive home, butt-tired and dirty, and was about to give Gemima a well-earned bath.
We arranged to meet for a cup of coffee a bit later – (a good cup of which is one of Hando's very soft spots!)
Rested & cooled, B'rakha & I got under way again. We inspected a whole bunch of interesting looking paths and semi-roads, all of which led us to an electrified fence. Hmmm... so what's on the other side? Maybe we'll get to find out one day...
Heading off south-east along a wide track beneath a line of power pylons I looked for a familiar road back towards the pan. The idea now was to skirt around the southern edges of the pan to see just how much water there was. This turned out to be an interesting plan, especially as I had to turn around a couple of times where the water lay deep and wide across what was once well used paths. We skirted almost the entire pan, grabbing some ground along a narrow stretch of high ground (only about 4 fingers higher than the surrounding waters), which brought us back again to the northern shores of the pan.
Time to sit quietly again and enjoy the scenery. Then a quick dash up a nice steep incline – just for the fun of it – and then on towards Hando's place.
On the way there I turned onto another path I'd been wanting to follow. Brought us up to the rail line running between Uitenhage & Despatch. I followed this back to the main road, and then up the hill to Hando's.
Arriving there, I found him just finishing Gemima's bath. He still needed to warm her chain before re-lubing it (without getting his thumb into it!), so we took to the roads, heading for the Kruisrivier road. “Let's go see how the river looks” was my plan.
Another one of those lovely quiet spots, where time slips by un-noticed; where it's easy... beautifully easy... to forget that Monday lays only hours away.
We reluctantly pulled ourselves away from the river, got the girls' engines going, and headed back into town.
After juicing up Gemima we headed for my place for some good coffee and chocolate cake.
A good ending to a great ride – short, but great!
Ever since I brought my DRZ home Hando's been bugging me BIG-TIME to go for a ride - but all the weekends have just been way too full so far.
Anyway... we planned to do the necessary this Sunday pm... just as soon as Hando returned from helping Wolweseun out with the cycling race marshalling.
1 O'clock came... and went.
2 O'clock came... and went.
I tried phoning Hando to see if he'd fallen (or fallen asleep
) along the road... but no reply.I was definitely NOT going to miss out on this ride - Hando or no Hando!
My mind was made up... I'd be riding off at 3 whether he arrived or not. My butt was just itching way too much for the saddle! :ricky:
Come 3pm I promptly hopped onto B'rakha - that's her name... means 'Blessing' in Hebrew - punched the starter and thumped away towards Jachtvlakte.
Some would say I was being doff, 'cause I left without first filling the tank. Part of my planning (not miss-planning)... as I was in the process of doing a consumption check, as well as having a lack of paper (or coins for that matter) in my wallet. Shall fill up during the week, hehe.
Anyways... I wasn't really intending going very far. Just wanted to be out, exploring, enjoying.
Much of my mindset for the afternoon was to ride some of the tracks and paths which I had long wondered where they went... the kind that disappear off into who-knows-where from the side of the road so often travelled to work and back home.
With this in mind I hopped onto a cattle track running alongside VW's car shipping yard, and followed that to where it led me into the entrance road of the Jachtvlakte "playing-fields". From here I headed due south, away from the Vlaktes, checking out some other paths. The Vlakte would be investigated later.
I topped out on a small rise, finding some well used tracks... obvious quad-bike play-grounds. Passing these, despite my urge to investigate them in more detail, I headed over the next rise to find the Vlakte spread out before me.
Wow!
So much water!
[
I don't know when last I'd seen so much water in the pan. All the tracks and hill-climbs Hando & I had done in my Landy not too long ago, were now inaccessible... unless you wanted to drive through the water to get to them!
I puttered around the northern edge of the pan, greeting the quad riders as I passed. Didn't look too busy, nor too happy!
Turning roughly south-west I laid into the paths... looking for anything new & interesting. You know the attitude... “So where does this one go?”
Doing this I slowly worked my way around the southern side of Kwa-Nobuhle, following some rather rough paths strewn very liberally with plenty fist-sized rocks... the nice rounded type that just luv to redirect your front wheel in alternative directions.
This led me down to some ploughed fields, about ¾ the size of a rugby field, and then up again across grassy sections where the path all but disappeared, showing up again amongst the bushes and aloes. I kept following until the bush opened up onto a donga scarred gentle hillside, where I eventually took a breather. B'rakha was getting a tad too hot, what with all the slow going through the bushes.
And so the two of us cooled off a bit in the gentle breeze that fled across the hillside.
Looking northward it became clear that we were well further out from the 'Hage than I'd expected.
Was I disappointed?
Hell no!
I was enjoying myself... or rather, we were enjoying ourselves!
At this point my phone rang!
Hando!
He'd just arrive home, butt-tired and dirty, and was about to give Gemima a well-earned bath.
We arranged to meet for a cup of coffee a bit later – (a good cup of which is one of Hando's very soft spots!)
Rested & cooled, B'rakha & I got under way again. We inspected a whole bunch of interesting looking paths and semi-roads, all of which led us to an electrified fence. Hmmm... so what's on the other side? Maybe we'll get to find out one day...
Heading off south-east along a wide track beneath a line of power pylons I looked for a familiar road back towards the pan. The idea now was to skirt around the southern edges of the pan to see just how much water there was. This turned out to be an interesting plan, especially as I had to turn around a couple of times where the water lay deep and wide across what was once well used paths. We skirted almost the entire pan, grabbing some ground along a narrow stretch of high ground (only about 4 fingers higher than the surrounding waters), which brought us back again to the northern shores of the pan.
Time to sit quietly again and enjoy the scenery. Then a quick dash up a nice steep incline – just for the fun of it – and then on towards Hando's place.
On the way there I turned onto another path I'd been wanting to follow. Brought us up to the rail line running between Uitenhage & Despatch. I followed this back to the main road, and then up the hill to Hando's.
Arriving there, I found him just finishing Gemima's bath. He still needed to warm her chain before re-lubing it (without getting his thumb into it!), so we took to the roads, heading for the Kruisrivier road. “Let's go see how the river looks” was my plan.
Another one of those lovely quiet spots, where time slips by un-noticed; where it's easy... beautifully easy... to forget that Monday lays only hours away.
We reluctantly pulled ourselves away from the river, got the girls' engines going, and headed back into town.
After juicing up Gemima we headed for my place for some good coffee and chocolate cake.
A good ending to a great ride – short, but great!
