Grumpleton
Race Dog
Ok so my post linking through to our ride report on our blog was deleted, Pics Added ;D
Riders:
Antony, Tony, Harold, Grant, Andy and Greg
The day dawned bright and early on Friday the 10 of May, Not a Cloud in the sky and the birds singing, (oops sorry wrong report), let’s start over.
We all met up at Antony’s circle except for Andy who lives at Langebaan Weg so we collected him on the way out, the day was fresh and no wind to contend with , we left through sheep’s paddocks and then on to ‘Ooooh Shit road’ through Kaptain’s Kloof which is a small pass, everyone was in good spirits and were getting into the feel of the ride, A quick pee stop at the top of the pass and then a uneventful ride up the Pikeniers Kloof pass where the boys stretched their legs a bit with a bit of speed up the pass and on to Citrusdal for Lunch.
We all stopped at the Sitrus winkel and coffee shop for lunch and the banter then began, Harold had left his glasses behind so could not read the menu and Antony decided much to everyone’s amusement to park his bike in the garden instead of like the others in the street, Andy rode around a lot looking for a good parking space but decided that the one we had chosen was the best.
We had a great lunch and lots of coffee and Tea for Tony as he does not drink coffee.
From here we headed out the back way towards Ceres over a pass that Antony did not get the name of until we found a interesting looking Dam Wall that the navigator decided we should go look at , I was the first to run up the track with Antony close behind and then the rest of the boys ,I road over a concrete bridge thing and up the road to the dam only to find that the road in fact turned out to be very soft sand, and I got stuck half way up, something about road tyres on the bike, Tony tried to follow and got stuck a little further down the pass, no problems small man , small bike , big men we got his bike unstuck,
after this it was an uneventful ride Down the Gydo pass into Price Alfred’s Hamlet and then on into Ceres where we would stay the night at the Porter House nommer 11 B&B , we were met here by Elsa , a lovely lady but a bit deaf , her and Ant got on very well, we had dinner at the Village Restaurant and B&B, that is run by 2 guys , here they tried to charge us R 10 for walking into the restaurant with two empty beer cans ( something about corkage charge) , rather throw your empties into the bush there to save garbage charges.
Day 2
After a good night sleep at the Porterhouse B&B (we can recommend) and after a hearty breakfast and hugs all round from Elsa and a special one for Elsa`s new best deaf friend Antony we headed to the local Pick and Pay for snacks and food as we would not be near any town today on the way to Sutherland, Andy’s Bike had now developed a Battery problem and was now pushed to get started, this would continue throughout the trip. We refuelled at Prince Alfred’s Hamlet and then up the Gydo pass and onto the road towards the Katbakkies pass, We did get a bit lost on this leg and had to sneak through a pedestrian gate on some commercial fruit farm , No shot gun rounds were heard so all was good, we climbed up the Katbakkies pass over the top and stopped at the deserted building towards the bottom of the pass,
while resting we were passed by a big contingent of BMW riders and two lonely KTM boys, From the rest stop we headed towards the Tankwa Padstal for lunch this place is a bar in the middle of nowhere that is making a roaring trade out of the bikers and the 4X4 crowd and not to mention the local population that arrive on their Donkey carts, here we met the first village Burgermeester (drunk).
After lunch we headed out towards the Ouberg pass and here is where all the action for the trip started, Tony in a moment of concentration failure forgot to straighten out after a 90deg bend and went downhill off the road and landed about 5 m below the road in the ditch,
No damage to Tony and only minor damage to the bike, With Team work we recovered the bike with a very long tow rope and Tony who at this time was still a bit shaky, fell off the bike again as we were about to leave the accident scene, ( the Ouberg pass will in future be referred to as Tony`s Pass),
No further events and we made it to our night stop in Sutherland, first we all went to Fuel up and then on to the White House lodge for the night, Adrian and Joe-Maree were our hosts for the night and were very hospitable hosts, we had a good dinner and a few to many drinks and all went to bed feeling as though we had all done a good days work,, Electric blankets all-round ( a big thumbs up for this small luxury ) as it was going to be cold in the night.
Day 3
With an early start and a fragile head we had a good breakfast sorted the bikes out ( Greg’s temp was reading – 4,5deg, due to the problem with Andy’s bike and because it was so cold we had to pull start his bike, we stopped at the local OK for some snacks for the road, Harold and Andy headed off first, we followed and sped past some BMW riders that were negotiating the road to Sutherland slowly , they must have got a big surprise when these 5 grumpy old men and one Pisha went screaming past creating a dust storm of note and just smiled and waved as they went by.
We topped up with Fuel at Middelpos and topped up with Caffeine as well, ‘Tony had Tea’. from here we headed down the Gannaga Pass and onto Stonehenge where a week before they had had Burn Africa, here Ant had a mad max experience with some of the artwork on exhibition, after lunch we headed out to the old postal route and the fun began, Firstly Tony wanted to see what his speed was like in the 100m breast stroke, and drowned himself but not the bike in the river, he then tried to do a 360 in the sand and fell off ,then Ant had the red mist descend over his eyes and got ‘windgat ‘
and fell off trying to pass Andy and Grant in the soft sand, he got himself trapped under his bike and had to be rescued, After a breather stop we were informed by our Navigator that the part we had just been through was the worst and it only got better from here, ( boy was he wrong) let me explain to you about the old postal route, it is a donkey path that goes up the side of a mountain with very loose stones and some very sharp corners ,we all had scary moment on this road and Harold especially , Harold went off the road and hit a rock disguised as a bush, he went over the handlebars and injured his arm and knocked a hole into the left hand crank case of his bike , and to add insult to injury Tony thought Harold had gone through a gate , closed the gate and followed everyone, leaving Harold on the path on his own, with a damaged bike and a closed gate, Greg and Grant realising that Harold was missing went back to find him, by this time he had recovered his bike opened and closed the gate and was moving again be it with an oil trail following, ( Harold had lost his smile by this time),
We eventually got off this “Short road” and headed down to Wuppertal where once again the red mist descended over Ants eyes and he was riding like a man possessed , he covered us all in dust that we were trying to stay out of , ( humour was now very short), We headed up the old Jeep track that would have been a great ride if it was not for the Setting sun and the dust , but still a great road , we finally arrived at the Cederberg Oasis and were met by Gerrit the proprietor of this little bit of paradise in the middle of nowhere.
The best steak and ribs that most of us have ever had and a great atmosphere, Grant who is 6 foot short had to lend Tony who is 3 foot 3, some clothes as his where all still wet from his 100 m swimming dash in the river, Ant who now was totally exhausted after the red mist had descended was in bed by 8pm and the rest of us disappeared at about 10pm except for Greg and Andy who decided to continue discussing the ways of the world.
Day 4
Up bright and early with everyone smiling , after a great breakfast we headed off towards Algeria over the Uitkyk and Nieuwoudt`s Pass.(Now these two passes are must for anyone that wants to ride a bike in the back country,
we live in the most amazing and beautiful place in the world, and I forgot to take photos of these two passes) where Greg decided to take on a Bee that had got into his crash helmet , unfortunately for Greg the bee won the fight and Greg came out with a swollen and very red ear. From here we headed towards Orange trees and then once again Ant led us up the garden path, much to Harold’s disgust as he was in pain from the previous day’s crash and he was nursing a bike that was bleeding oil. We headed into a 100m of sand that turned out to be about 3 KM of sand, we will have to make sure the navigators GPS is set to kilometres and not nautical miles next time.
From here we headed over some old and familiar roads back to langebaan.
A great ride some fun, some anger, good food, good company, until next time. Now I need to clean my bike.
Riders:
Antony, Tony, Harold, Grant, Andy and Greg
The day dawned bright and early on Friday the 10 of May, Not a Cloud in the sky and the birds singing, (oops sorry wrong report), let’s start over.
We all met up at Antony’s circle except for Andy who lives at Langebaan Weg so we collected him on the way out, the day was fresh and no wind to contend with , we left through sheep’s paddocks and then on to ‘Ooooh Shit road’ through Kaptain’s Kloof which is a small pass, everyone was in good spirits and were getting into the feel of the ride, A quick pee stop at the top of the pass and then a uneventful ride up the Pikeniers Kloof pass where the boys stretched their legs a bit with a bit of speed up the pass and on to Citrusdal for Lunch.
We all stopped at the Sitrus winkel and coffee shop for lunch and the banter then began, Harold had left his glasses behind so could not read the menu and Antony decided much to everyone’s amusement to park his bike in the garden instead of like the others in the street, Andy rode around a lot looking for a good parking space but decided that the one we had chosen was the best.
We had a great lunch and lots of coffee and Tea for Tony as he does not drink coffee.
From here we headed out the back way towards Ceres over a pass that Antony did not get the name of until we found a interesting looking Dam Wall that the navigator decided we should go look at , I was the first to run up the track with Antony close behind and then the rest of the boys ,I road over a concrete bridge thing and up the road to the dam only to find that the road in fact turned out to be very soft sand, and I got stuck half way up, something about road tyres on the bike, Tony tried to follow and got stuck a little further down the pass, no problems small man , small bike , big men we got his bike unstuck,
after this it was an uneventful ride Down the Gydo pass into Price Alfred’s Hamlet and then on into Ceres where we would stay the night at the Porter House nommer 11 B&B , we were met here by Elsa , a lovely lady but a bit deaf , her and Ant got on very well, we had dinner at the Village Restaurant and B&B, that is run by 2 guys , here they tried to charge us R 10 for walking into the restaurant with two empty beer cans ( something about corkage charge) , rather throw your empties into the bush there to save garbage charges.
Day 2
After a good night sleep at the Porterhouse B&B (we can recommend) and after a hearty breakfast and hugs all round from Elsa and a special one for Elsa`s new best deaf friend Antony we headed to the local Pick and Pay for snacks and food as we would not be near any town today on the way to Sutherland, Andy’s Bike had now developed a Battery problem and was now pushed to get started, this would continue throughout the trip. We refuelled at Prince Alfred’s Hamlet and then up the Gydo pass and onto the road towards the Katbakkies pass, We did get a bit lost on this leg and had to sneak through a pedestrian gate on some commercial fruit farm , No shot gun rounds were heard so all was good, we climbed up the Katbakkies pass over the top and stopped at the deserted building towards the bottom of the pass,
while resting we were passed by a big contingent of BMW riders and two lonely KTM boys, From the rest stop we headed towards the Tankwa Padstal for lunch this place is a bar in the middle of nowhere that is making a roaring trade out of the bikers and the 4X4 crowd and not to mention the local population that arrive on their Donkey carts, here we met the first village Burgermeester (drunk).
After lunch we headed out towards the Ouberg pass and here is where all the action for the trip started, Tony in a moment of concentration failure forgot to straighten out after a 90deg bend and went downhill off the road and landed about 5 m below the road in the ditch,
No damage to Tony and only minor damage to the bike, With Team work we recovered the bike with a very long tow rope and Tony who at this time was still a bit shaky, fell off the bike again as we were about to leave the accident scene, ( the Ouberg pass will in future be referred to as Tony`s Pass),
No further events and we made it to our night stop in Sutherland, first we all went to Fuel up and then on to the White House lodge for the night, Adrian and Joe-Maree were our hosts for the night and were very hospitable hosts, we had a good dinner and a few to many drinks and all went to bed feeling as though we had all done a good days work,, Electric blankets all-round ( a big thumbs up for this small luxury ) as it was going to be cold in the night.
Day 3
With an early start and a fragile head we had a good breakfast sorted the bikes out ( Greg’s temp was reading – 4,5deg, due to the problem with Andy’s bike and because it was so cold we had to pull start his bike, we stopped at the local OK for some snacks for the road, Harold and Andy headed off first, we followed and sped past some BMW riders that were negotiating the road to Sutherland slowly , they must have got a big surprise when these 5 grumpy old men and one Pisha went screaming past creating a dust storm of note and just smiled and waved as they went by.
We topped up with Fuel at Middelpos and topped up with Caffeine as well, ‘Tony had Tea’. from here we headed down the Gannaga Pass and onto Stonehenge where a week before they had had Burn Africa, here Ant had a mad max experience with some of the artwork on exhibition, after lunch we headed out to the old postal route and the fun began, Firstly Tony wanted to see what his speed was like in the 100m breast stroke, and drowned himself but not the bike in the river, he then tried to do a 360 in the sand and fell off ,then Ant had the red mist descend over his eyes and got ‘windgat ‘
and fell off trying to pass Andy and Grant in the soft sand, he got himself trapped under his bike and had to be rescued, After a breather stop we were informed by our Navigator that the part we had just been through was the worst and it only got better from here, ( boy was he wrong) let me explain to you about the old postal route, it is a donkey path that goes up the side of a mountain with very loose stones and some very sharp corners ,we all had scary moment on this road and Harold especially , Harold went off the road and hit a rock disguised as a bush, he went over the handlebars and injured his arm and knocked a hole into the left hand crank case of his bike , and to add insult to injury Tony thought Harold had gone through a gate , closed the gate and followed everyone, leaving Harold on the path on his own, with a damaged bike and a closed gate, Greg and Grant realising that Harold was missing went back to find him, by this time he had recovered his bike opened and closed the gate and was moving again be it with an oil trail following, ( Harold had lost his smile by this time),
We eventually got off this “Short road” and headed down to Wuppertal where once again the red mist descended over Ants eyes and he was riding like a man possessed , he covered us all in dust that we were trying to stay out of , ( humour was now very short), We headed up the old Jeep track that would have been a great ride if it was not for the Setting sun and the dust , but still a great road , we finally arrived at the Cederberg Oasis and were met by Gerrit the proprietor of this little bit of paradise in the middle of nowhere.
The best steak and ribs that most of us have ever had and a great atmosphere, Grant who is 6 foot short had to lend Tony who is 3 foot 3, some clothes as his where all still wet from his 100 m swimming dash in the river, Ant who now was totally exhausted after the red mist had descended was in bed by 8pm and the rest of us disappeared at about 10pm except for Greg and Andy who decided to continue discussing the ways of the world.
Day 4
Up bright and early with everyone smiling , after a great breakfast we headed off towards Algeria over the Uitkyk and Nieuwoudt`s Pass.(Now these two passes are must for anyone that wants to ride a bike in the back country,
we live in the most amazing and beautiful place in the world, and I forgot to take photos of these two passes) where Greg decided to take on a Bee that had got into his crash helmet , unfortunately for Greg the bee won the fight and Greg came out with a swollen and very red ear. From here we headed towards Orange trees and then once again Ant led us up the garden path, much to Harold’s disgust as he was in pain from the previous day’s crash and he was nursing a bike that was bleeding oil. We headed into a 100m of sand that turned out to be about 3 KM of sand, we will have to make sure the navigators GPS is set to kilometres and not nautical miles next time.
From here we headed over some old and familiar roads back to langebaan.
A great ride some fun, some anger, good food, good company, until next time. Now I need to clean my bike.
