droffarc
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2006
- Messages
- 1,370
- Reaction score
- 117
- Location
- Cape Toon - TransAlp XL650V 2004
- Bike
- Honda NC750X
I left on Friday morning at 8am via Franschoek, over the pass to Villiersdorp and the N2. Stopped at Riversonderend for the cup of coffee (had a voucher) and then on to Mosselbay on the N2. Refilled at Swellendam because I found that, with the road bikes passing me I was tempted to keep up and often found that I was still in fourth gear and the revs were high ? consequently a higher fuel consumption.
On arrival I registered at about 12 noon and took a ride through the campsite to look for a good place for my tent. I met up with Johan of Leather Forever who told me that the other side site had already been opened. I also popped in at the Think Bike table and met with Bucc and Sylvia. I pitched my tent on a spot where I thought it would be relatively quiet, and went off in search of lunch at the local Spar after which I went for a walk through the campsites to look for old friends and found a few. One of whom told me that he and a companion did the gravel road via Greyton and encountered a good downpour and on the insistence of the friend turned around and retreated to the tar. He also showed my on the map an excellent ride that I should do.
I attended the ceremony in the big tent but there were so many people there I stood outside and waited for the strippers. The pics I took were no good ? see the 2006 Buffalo rally thread under ride reports on the TB forum for more about the on site stuff.
After the mass ride I headed out towards George, located the 7 passes road and enjoyed every minute.
At Knysna I took the Prins Alfred?s pass with the intention of locating the Plettenberg bay turnoff and going there. The road surface of the Prince Alfred?s was badly potholed and mostly wet but not too bad.
Somehow I missed the turnoff and was halfway up the mountain when the rain started. I stopped at the uitkyk point to don my wets, watching the lightning flashes up ahead and decided that I should return if I wanted to attend the prizegiving ? always hopeful even though I knew I would not win a damn thing. Again from Knysna I took the Phantom pass and returned to George
and so to Mosselbay arriving just in time for the prizegiving ? and as guaranteed ? won zip!.
The next morning I took a slightly muddy gravel road to Groot Brak, seeing some bucks
and antelope on the way. I visited the Wolwedans dam but was unable to go in so I ended up at the Jonkersberg forestry station on a very muddy and slippery road.
At one stage I began to wonder if this road led to another town or just into the forest so I eventually found a collection of houses and went to ask. I was told that the road just went up the mountain so I decided to turn around
and retrace my way to the national road and the campsite. By now I was quite tired having had very little sleep from the previous few nights and the noise of bikes riding up and down in the campsite right next to my tent, and the guys over revving their bikes and shouting at odd times like one guy shouted ?Word wakker ? dit raak al hoe kakker? when it started raining in the early morning.
The plan was to go to Plettenberg bay and try to find the missing road into the forest from there. While packing up I was pulling up tent pegs and the last one was a bugger ? it would not come out. I used some other pegs for leverage but it would not budge. I hooked my left hand inner index finger (second from the thumb) around it and pulled! There was a sharp sound like when you crack your knuckles, and a sharp pain from that finger where it joins the palm and suddenly I was cringing with pain. I eventually got the peg out but my finger was now throbbing. It was quite difficult packing the tent into its bag and once I was on the road it was extremely painfull to use the clutch. By the time I had filled up with fuel I decided that, as much as I wanted to go on, it would not be feasible so reluctantly I headed for the N2 and Home because I would not need to use the clutch as mutch.
The ride was beautiful, averaging 140km/h all the way to Riversonderend for another of those vile free coffees. I then decided to do the gravel to Greyton and see how it went
? it went so well that I did the road from Genadendal to Helderstroom trunk and the gravel bit to the Theewaterskloof dam and back on tar to Francshoek where instead of ducking through the town I opted for the Robertsvlei road.
I joined the N1 at the Butterfly world and immediately was aware of the WIND.
On arrival I registered at about 12 noon and took a ride through the campsite to look for a good place for my tent. I met up with Johan of Leather Forever who told me that the other side site had already been opened. I also popped in at the Think Bike table and met with Bucc and Sylvia. I pitched my tent on a spot where I thought it would be relatively quiet, and went off in search of lunch at the local Spar after which I went for a walk through the campsites to look for old friends and found a few. One of whom told me that he and a companion did the gravel road via Greyton and encountered a good downpour and on the insistence of the friend turned around and retreated to the tar. He also showed my on the map an excellent ride that I should do.
I attended the ceremony in the big tent but there were so many people there I stood outside and waited for the strippers. The pics I took were no good ? see the 2006 Buffalo rally thread under ride reports on the TB forum for more about the on site stuff.
After the mass ride I headed out towards George, located the 7 passes road and enjoyed every minute.
At Knysna I took the Prins Alfred?s pass with the intention of locating the Plettenberg bay turnoff and going there. The road surface of the Prince Alfred?s was badly potholed and mostly wet but not too bad.
Somehow I missed the turnoff and was halfway up the mountain when the rain started. I stopped at the uitkyk point to don my wets, watching the lightning flashes up ahead and decided that I should return if I wanted to attend the prizegiving ? always hopeful even though I knew I would not win a damn thing. Again from Knysna I took the Phantom pass and returned to George
and so to Mosselbay arriving just in time for the prizegiving ? and as guaranteed ? won zip!.
The next morning I took a slightly muddy gravel road to Groot Brak, seeing some bucks
and antelope on the way. I visited the Wolwedans dam but was unable to go in so I ended up at the Jonkersberg forestry station on a very muddy and slippery road.
At one stage I began to wonder if this road led to another town or just into the forest so I eventually found a collection of houses and went to ask. I was told that the road just went up the mountain so I decided to turn around
and retrace my way to the national road and the campsite. By now I was quite tired having had very little sleep from the previous few nights and the noise of bikes riding up and down in the campsite right next to my tent, and the guys over revving their bikes and shouting at odd times like one guy shouted ?Word wakker ? dit raak al hoe kakker? when it started raining in the early morning.
The plan was to go to Plettenberg bay and try to find the missing road into the forest from there. While packing up I was pulling up tent pegs and the last one was a bugger ? it would not come out. I used some other pegs for leverage but it would not budge. I hooked my left hand inner index finger (second from the thumb) around it and pulled! There was a sharp sound like when you crack your knuckles, and a sharp pain from that finger where it joins the palm and suddenly I was cringing with pain. I eventually got the peg out but my finger was now throbbing. It was quite difficult packing the tent into its bag and once I was on the road it was extremely painfull to use the clutch. By the time I had filled up with fuel I decided that, as much as I wanted to go on, it would not be feasible so reluctantly I headed for the N2 and Home because I would not need to use the clutch as mutch.
The ride was beautiful, averaging 140km/h all the way to Riversonderend for another of those vile free coffees. I then decided to do the gravel to Greyton and see how it went
? it went so well that I did the road from Genadendal to Helderstroom trunk and the gravel bit to the Theewaterskloof dam and back on tar to Francshoek where instead of ducking through the town I opted for the Robertsvlei road.
I joined the N1 at the Butterfly world and immediately was aware of the WIND.
