C
Camelman
Guest
The sky is nice and blue I thought. My left leg was pinned under the bike, which was lying on its side leaking
petrol through the overflow cap onto my left leg. F@%& I thought. Now I’m screwed.
Day 1:
Woke up at 04:45, tried to sleep. Failed. Stood up and went to plot on the GPS. Got at Richwood
at 05:30, then coffee, and talked crap with Andy (XT660R).
Others arrived. N[]va, Mountainboy, WayneH, H. Leave via Occudale. Jerry cans kept going loose.
Twice. Got it fixed at the end of the day. Working 100%. Breakfast at Ceres. Filled up with fuel.
Then off to Op-die-berg. Hit the gravel at 09:00. Twisting via Cederberge to Cerberg Oasis.
WayneH and Mountainboy misses the only bar in 100km, Cederberg Oasis, eish!
Gerrit meets us with outstretched hand, as always. You know where the fridge is he says, help
yourselves. We storm for the fridge and get a beer or cold drink each. Chill on the grass for 45
minutes, and then start the last stretch to Wuppertal. Road is sandy and rutted. Heavy luggage
makes for difficult handling in sand.
The afternoon is spent drifting in the dam, drinking beer and talking crap.
The evening is spent talking bikes and planning trips.
Day 2:
Wake up at 04:30. Lie and wait for the dawn to break. Dawn breaks. Time to stand up. I build
myself a mug of coffee. Hear Andy moving. Build a breakfast. Oats-so-easy. Causes the song to
start in my head. "Oats so easy its fun to make" Eish. Andy's up, so is Mountainboy. N[]va
shows his face, then dives back into his sleeping bag. Slowly the others awake. No sign of Henk as
yet. Almost finished. Its 06:00. Andy shouts at Henk. Henk shouts back. Its time to move.
Everybody leaves there stuff, except for me and Mountainboy. He's day is ending at Porterville and
mine somewhere North of our current location.
We depart, and head towards Clanwilliam, then right towards Calvinia, and left on the old tea route
towards Nieuwoudtville. It’s a beautiful road. I trail the others. My bikes heavy. I'm in no rush. I
sing in my helmet. "I was born to love you, from Queen". I love this. Whish my wife was with me.
We meet when we have to open and close gates. I tell Henk to ride. No need to wait for me.
Pretend I'm not here. Skip the buddy system. I'm on holiday. I want to see the view, not only the
road.
The road twists and turns. Sometimes it’s sandy, with views of valleys and ridges. What an
awesome road, I think.
Eventually we reach Nieuwoudtville. We refuel, and then split up. Awesome old bikes in the
window. At last, I'm alone. 10 km out of Nieuwoudtville I find a waterfall. Must be awesome when
the river flows, now it only trickles.
I take a pic, and then move on. Turn-off onto the R355. Its
nice. Can go fast. Its 11:30. I'm tired. Need to rest. Find a tree at a farmer’s gate. Stop, lie under the
tree.
Soon joined by farm worker, Eric Kettledas. Then the farmer rocks up, we chat. He invites me
around for when the flower season starts. We swap phone numbers and email addresses. I ride.
70 km later I enter Kliprand. Nothing going on there. Everything is closed. I make a u-turn. Missed the
turn -off to the R358. Find it. The road is now little more than a jeep-track. Nice. Speeds down to
60 in 5th gear. GPS says go left. No road. So go straight. Eventually road and GPS meet. I'm happy
again. Its 15:00. I’m tired, but it’s till 35km to the N7. I have opened and closed 6 gates. It's tiring.
Stop, find hard spot for kick-stand, dismount, open gate, mount ride through, hard spot, dismount,
close gate.
Damn. It sucks. Eventually I hit the N7. Still 20km to go to Garies. Enter Garies, find
caravan park. To couples from Gauteng already there. I find a tree and stop. This is it. I'm not going
anywhere for the remainder of the day. Unpack, put up the tent. Will have curry brenyani something
in a tin. Its food, I’m hungry. Yum-yum. Quick coffee then hit the showers, wash the clothes I wore
for the day. Chill in the tent. Tired. Going to finish writing. Mini-me is at 50% must last four more
days.
petrol through the overflow cap onto my left leg. F@%& I thought. Now I’m screwed.
Day 1:
Woke up at 04:45, tried to sleep. Failed. Stood up and went to plot on the GPS. Got at Richwood
at 05:30, then coffee, and talked crap with Andy (XT660R).
Others arrived. N[]va, Mountainboy, WayneH, H. Leave via Occudale. Jerry cans kept going loose.
Twice. Got it fixed at the end of the day. Working 100%. Breakfast at Ceres. Filled up with fuel.
Then off to Op-die-berg. Hit the gravel at 09:00. Twisting via Cederberge to Cerberg Oasis.
WayneH and Mountainboy misses the only bar in 100km, Cederberg Oasis, eish!
Gerrit meets us with outstretched hand, as always. You know where the fridge is he says, help
yourselves. We storm for the fridge and get a beer or cold drink each. Chill on the grass for 45
minutes, and then start the last stretch to Wuppertal. Road is sandy and rutted. Heavy luggage
makes for difficult handling in sand.
The afternoon is spent drifting in the dam, drinking beer and talking crap.
The evening is spent talking bikes and planning trips.
Day 2:
Wake up at 04:30. Lie and wait for the dawn to break. Dawn breaks. Time to stand up. I build
myself a mug of coffee. Hear Andy moving. Build a breakfast. Oats-so-easy. Causes the song to
start in my head. "Oats so easy its fun to make" Eish. Andy's up, so is Mountainboy. N[]va
shows his face, then dives back into his sleeping bag. Slowly the others awake. No sign of Henk as
yet. Almost finished. Its 06:00. Andy shouts at Henk. Henk shouts back. Its time to move.
Everybody leaves there stuff, except for me and Mountainboy. He's day is ending at Porterville and
mine somewhere North of our current location.
We depart, and head towards Clanwilliam, then right towards Calvinia, and left on the old tea route
towards Nieuwoudtville. It’s a beautiful road. I trail the others. My bikes heavy. I'm in no rush. I
sing in my helmet. "I was born to love you, from Queen". I love this. Whish my wife was with me.
We meet when we have to open and close gates. I tell Henk to ride. No need to wait for me.
Pretend I'm not here. Skip the buddy system. I'm on holiday. I want to see the view, not only the
road.
The road twists and turns. Sometimes it’s sandy, with views of valleys and ridges. What an
awesome road, I think.
Eventually we reach Nieuwoudtville. We refuel, and then split up. Awesome old bikes in the
window. At last, I'm alone. 10 km out of Nieuwoudtville I find a waterfall. Must be awesome when
the river flows, now it only trickles.
I take a pic, and then move on. Turn-off onto the R355. Its
nice. Can go fast. Its 11:30. I'm tired. Need to rest. Find a tree at a farmer’s gate. Stop, lie under the
tree.
Soon joined by farm worker, Eric Kettledas. Then the farmer rocks up, we chat. He invites me
around for when the flower season starts. We swap phone numbers and email addresses. I ride.
70 km later I enter Kliprand. Nothing going on there. Everything is closed. I make a u-turn. Missed the
turn -off to the R358. Find it. The road is now little more than a jeep-track. Nice. Speeds down to
60 in 5th gear. GPS says go left. No road. So go straight. Eventually road and GPS meet. I'm happy
again. Its 15:00. I’m tired, but it’s till 35km to the N7. I have opened and closed 6 gates. It's tiring.
Stop, find hard spot for kick-stand, dismount, open gate, mount ride through, hard spot, dismount,
close gate.
Damn. It sucks. Eventually I hit the N7. Still 20km to go to Garies. Enter Garies, find
caravan park. To couples from Gauteng already there. I find a tree and stop. This is it. I'm not going
anywhere for the remainder of the day. Unpack, put up the tent. Will have curry brenyani something
in a tin. Its food, I’m hungry. Yum-yum. Quick coffee then hit the showers, wash the clothes I wore
for the day. Chill in the tent. Tired. Going to finish writing. Mini-me is at 50% must last four more
days.
