Hello All
This is my first post although I have been lurking for a long time and have met some of you at Krieges.
By Louis (BMW 1200 GS Adventure) and Ari (Kawasaki KLR 650).
This trip report is a bit late but better late than never.
My friends Louis and Spike and I went off to the Buffalo Rally in Mosselbaai on the weekend of the 19-21 March 2010. Unfortunately Spike had to go back to Cape Town, so on the Sunday, Louis and I rode over the Seven Passes to Knysna, coming out at the final pass, the Phantom Pass. For those of you have not done the Seven Passes, they are very much worth doing for both the scenic beauty as well as the ride. The route is mostly gravel, ranging from good quality farm roads, to fairly rutted with lots of potholes. A few small patches of sand here and there. Nothing too technical however. Between passes, there are a few kilometres of tar. The Phantom pass emerges onto the N2 where you turn off towards Belvedere. I don’t recall all the names of the other passes, I’m afraid.
We refuelled in Knysna and after a short cool drink break, rode over the Prince Alfred Pass (R339) to Uniondale. This pass starts out quite gently but as you proceed down towards Bain’s Pillar, a monument to Thomas Bain, the going gets a little more rough but scenically more spectacular, with steep wooded slopes on all sides. From there the road rises to a maximum 1000 meter elevation (according to Mapsource) before descending again into the Klein Karroo. By this time the road has become a more challenging Jeep track, with many ruts and loose boulders. One needs to be a little more careful.(Since this was written, the pass has been graded and smoothed out a is less of a challenge.) The R339 eventually hits the R62 where normally you can just cross over and ride straight into Uniondale, but on this occasion, we were forced to turn left and get on the N9 because of road works. We then arrived in Uniondale from the opposite end. In Uniondale we met our friends Nick and Ingrid who were driving a 4X4 bakkie and who were going to accompany us the rest of the way. We stayed overnight with a relative of Ingrid's in Uniondale then left the next day for Baviaanskloof.
Baviaanskloof runs east west; one of series of parallel valleys running from the coastal plain westwards. We wanted to enter from the eastern side; the Patensie side, so we rode northwards towards Willowmore on the N9 and then headed east via the next valley, the Grootrivier. To get there, we turned right (east) on the R332, which is the official designation of the road that goes through Baviaanskloof, but instead of going on, we turned left on an unnamed road (GPS S33 23 05.2 E23 32 34.6) which took us into the next valley—and a very interesting ride. Interesting as in the proverbial Chinese curse, may you live in interesting times. At first we were able to cruise at a good speed—90 to 100 km/h—along good quality farm roads. The Baviaanskloof mountain range was to our right. Eventually the road ran into a T-junction (GPS S33 27 53.3 E24 21 20.9) where we turned right. About 4 clicks further on, we turned right again—where things started getting interesting.
At first we descended, the road changing from rutted farm road to torturous jeep track with lots of loose stuff the size of tennis balls. Speaking for myself, I was on my pegs 80% of the time. But if that was interesting, it got more interesting still as we ascended a ridge where the track almost disappeared. As we clambered up, we had to negotiate several hairpins while scrambling over rocks jutting out of the ground, some higher than the average kerb, while at the same time watching out for the loose boulders waiting in ambush. Somewhere near the top of the ridge, we came across a sign that said, "No Conventional Vehicles Beyond This Point." No kidding? It would have been quite a feat for a normal car to have gotten that far. Soon afterwards, the track started to descend down towards the Grootrivier Poort. The river was now visible far below. Going down was interesting too. At one point we had to bump our way down a series of natural steps where the strata of the geological formation jutted out. The approach to one drif was so steep, that Nick said all he could see through the bakkie’s windscreen was the ground. The exit was just as steep going out and at that point I experienced a bone jarring bump that not even my legs could absorb as the KLR’s suspension bottomed out. By that time I had been in first gear for about an hour; at least it felt at least it felt that way.
We spent the night in the poort next to the river (GPS S33 34 46.9 E24 39 59.4) then crossed the Grootrivier and rode out the next day. That was no picnic either but after the previous day's conditions it was relatively easy. Although not without incident. Louis and I both managed to put our bikes down at the same spot, several minutes apart. It wasn’t even a particularly hairy bit of track; just a rutted upward slope with loose grit. I think we were getting too relaxed and let our concentration slip. We rode to Patensie then entered the Baviaanskloof at Komdomo. Although parts of Baviaans was fairly hard going, the ride through Grootrivier Poort was the standard by which to measure all other ride conditions. The drifs were all low so there were no serious water crossings. But little did we know what lay ahead. We met some chaps on 1200 GS’s who had been riding from Jo’burg via Durban and were headed to Cape Town. They mentioned our meeting on the Wild Dogs Forum: https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=47662.0
Inside the Baviaanskloof nature reserve, we camped for a total of 3 nights. The first night we spent at Bruintjieskraal and the following 2 nights at Rooihoek. The morning after our first night at Bruinjieskraal, Louis and I had to ride back into Patensie for more provision. We found that we were running out of red wine. Can’t have that. At Rooihoek, Nick, who is a radio amateur, strung out a long wire antenna and chatted to all his buddies out in the ether. We hiked and ballasbakked and generally relaxed. We had one or two close encounters with the wildlife. The first morning some vervet monkeys filched our breakfast. There were also baboons on the prowl. Then we rode out and back to Uniondale. But not without incident.
On the way out, we stopped for tea at Vero's Restaurant. It's located at the beginning of the Nuwekloof Pass (GPS S33 30 36.7 E23 46 53.0). While there, the skies opened and torrential rain came down for about an hour. We were nice and cosy inside, having tea and roosterkoek with konfyt and cheese, but we still had to go through the pass with all it's drifs. It crossed our minds that the drifs were probably filling up rapidly. Once the rain slowed down to a spitting drizzle we hit the road again. The first few drifs we encountered were running swiftly but we were able to ford them fairly easily but then we came across a raging torrent about 50 meters wide(GPS S33 31 10.3 E23 40 43.4); not even the bakkie could get through. We waited there for almost 2 hours, along with two guys from PE in a Telkom bakkie. Finally the Telkom guys decided the water had dropped enough to chance it and they ventured forth. After they made it through safely and other vehicles started arriving from the opposite end, our bakkie went through and then, fearing another threatening cloudburst, Louis and I threw caution to the wind and entered the raging torrent. As they say in Afrikaans, dit het broekskeur gegaan. The water was running so swiftly that, unless you kept your eyes on the opposite bank, you could easily succumb to the illusion that you are going sideways. One has to keep a nice steady pace, in low gear, or you could easily find yourself going diagonally and off the drif, into the rocks. Another interesting experience. We crossed at least 3 other stretches of wild water but none quite as hairy as the first. In one, the drif did not go across the river but along the road in a S bend which ran between two sheer cliffs. We were forced to ride along the river for about 60 meters; dodging logs and boulders and trying not to fall off in the mud and sand that had been swept onto the concrete. I think I'm ready for the Dakar Rally now.
By early evening we were back in Uniondale, where we refuelled. The raging water had delayed us and we rode in the dark along the N9 to turn left onto the Montague Pass and the tiny settlement of Herold. We spent the night with a friend of Ingrid's, who has a small holding up there. He is restoring a old inn, called North Station, which used to be a farmhouse in which Pauline Smith once stayed for a time. The next morning, after a pleasant breakfast at North Station, we rode down the Montague Pass and then hit the tar to Oudtshoorn via the Outeniqua Pass. Louis and I split there. The bakkie we had left behind to make their own way back to Cape Town. My bike had developed a bit of a overheating problem, so I stayed on the R62, then Worcester, the tunnel and the N1.
A great trip.
This is my first post although I have been lurking for a long time and have met some of you at Krieges.
By Louis (BMW 1200 GS Adventure) and Ari (Kawasaki KLR 650).
This trip report is a bit late but better late than never.
My friends Louis and Spike and I went off to the Buffalo Rally in Mosselbaai on the weekend of the 19-21 March 2010. Unfortunately Spike had to go back to Cape Town, so on the Sunday, Louis and I rode over the Seven Passes to Knysna, coming out at the final pass, the Phantom Pass. For those of you have not done the Seven Passes, they are very much worth doing for both the scenic beauty as well as the ride. The route is mostly gravel, ranging from good quality farm roads, to fairly rutted with lots of potholes. A few small patches of sand here and there. Nothing too technical however. Between passes, there are a few kilometres of tar. The Phantom pass emerges onto the N2 where you turn off towards Belvedere. I don’t recall all the names of the other passes, I’m afraid.
We refuelled in Knysna and after a short cool drink break, rode over the Prince Alfred Pass (R339) to Uniondale. This pass starts out quite gently but as you proceed down towards Bain’s Pillar, a monument to Thomas Bain, the going gets a little more rough but scenically more spectacular, with steep wooded slopes on all sides. From there the road rises to a maximum 1000 meter elevation (according to Mapsource) before descending again into the Klein Karroo. By this time the road has become a more challenging Jeep track, with many ruts and loose boulders. One needs to be a little more careful.(Since this was written, the pass has been graded and smoothed out a is less of a challenge.) The R339 eventually hits the R62 where normally you can just cross over and ride straight into Uniondale, but on this occasion, we were forced to turn left and get on the N9 because of road works. We then arrived in Uniondale from the opposite end. In Uniondale we met our friends Nick and Ingrid who were driving a 4X4 bakkie and who were going to accompany us the rest of the way. We stayed overnight with a relative of Ingrid's in Uniondale then left the next day for Baviaanskloof.
Baviaanskloof runs east west; one of series of parallel valleys running from the coastal plain westwards. We wanted to enter from the eastern side; the Patensie side, so we rode northwards towards Willowmore on the N9 and then headed east via the next valley, the Grootrivier. To get there, we turned right (east) on the R332, which is the official designation of the road that goes through Baviaanskloof, but instead of going on, we turned left on an unnamed road (GPS S33 23 05.2 E23 32 34.6) which took us into the next valley—and a very interesting ride. Interesting as in the proverbial Chinese curse, may you live in interesting times. At first we were able to cruise at a good speed—90 to 100 km/h—along good quality farm roads. The Baviaanskloof mountain range was to our right. Eventually the road ran into a T-junction (GPS S33 27 53.3 E24 21 20.9) where we turned right. About 4 clicks further on, we turned right again—where things started getting interesting.
At first we descended, the road changing from rutted farm road to torturous jeep track with lots of loose stuff the size of tennis balls. Speaking for myself, I was on my pegs 80% of the time. But if that was interesting, it got more interesting still as we ascended a ridge where the track almost disappeared. As we clambered up, we had to negotiate several hairpins while scrambling over rocks jutting out of the ground, some higher than the average kerb, while at the same time watching out for the loose boulders waiting in ambush. Somewhere near the top of the ridge, we came across a sign that said, "No Conventional Vehicles Beyond This Point." No kidding? It would have been quite a feat for a normal car to have gotten that far. Soon afterwards, the track started to descend down towards the Grootrivier Poort. The river was now visible far below. Going down was interesting too. At one point we had to bump our way down a series of natural steps where the strata of the geological formation jutted out. The approach to one drif was so steep, that Nick said all he could see through the bakkie’s windscreen was the ground. The exit was just as steep going out and at that point I experienced a bone jarring bump that not even my legs could absorb as the KLR’s suspension bottomed out. By that time I had been in first gear for about an hour; at least it felt at least it felt that way.
We spent the night in the poort next to the river (GPS S33 34 46.9 E24 39 59.4) then crossed the Grootrivier and rode out the next day. That was no picnic either but after the previous day's conditions it was relatively easy. Although not without incident. Louis and I both managed to put our bikes down at the same spot, several minutes apart. It wasn’t even a particularly hairy bit of track; just a rutted upward slope with loose grit. I think we were getting too relaxed and let our concentration slip. We rode to Patensie then entered the Baviaanskloof at Komdomo. Although parts of Baviaans was fairly hard going, the ride through Grootrivier Poort was the standard by which to measure all other ride conditions. The drifs were all low so there were no serious water crossings. But little did we know what lay ahead. We met some chaps on 1200 GS’s who had been riding from Jo’burg via Durban and were headed to Cape Town. They mentioned our meeting on the Wild Dogs Forum: https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=47662.0
Inside the Baviaanskloof nature reserve, we camped for a total of 3 nights. The first night we spent at Bruintjieskraal and the following 2 nights at Rooihoek. The morning after our first night at Bruinjieskraal, Louis and I had to ride back into Patensie for more provision. We found that we were running out of red wine. Can’t have that. At Rooihoek, Nick, who is a radio amateur, strung out a long wire antenna and chatted to all his buddies out in the ether. We hiked and ballasbakked and generally relaxed. We had one or two close encounters with the wildlife. The first morning some vervet monkeys filched our breakfast. There were also baboons on the prowl. Then we rode out and back to Uniondale. But not without incident.
On the way out, we stopped for tea at Vero's Restaurant. It's located at the beginning of the Nuwekloof Pass (GPS S33 30 36.7 E23 46 53.0). While there, the skies opened and torrential rain came down for about an hour. We were nice and cosy inside, having tea and roosterkoek with konfyt and cheese, but we still had to go through the pass with all it's drifs. It crossed our minds that the drifs were probably filling up rapidly. Once the rain slowed down to a spitting drizzle we hit the road again. The first few drifs we encountered were running swiftly but we were able to ford them fairly easily but then we came across a raging torrent about 50 meters wide(GPS S33 31 10.3 E23 40 43.4); not even the bakkie could get through. We waited there for almost 2 hours, along with two guys from PE in a Telkom bakkie. Finally the Telkom guys decided the water had dropped enough to chance it and they ventured forth. After they made it through safely and other vehicles started arriving from the opposite end, our bakkie went through and then, fearing another threatening cloudburst, Louis and I threw caution to the wind and entered the raging torrent. As they say in Afrikaans, dit het broekskeur gegaan. The water was running so swiftly that, unless you kept your eyes on the opposite bank, you could easily succumb to the illusion that you are going sideways. One has to keep a nice steady pace, in low gear, or you could easily find yourself going diagonally and off the drif, into the rocks. Another interesting experience. We crossed at least 3 other stretches of wild water but none quite as hairy as the first. In one, the drif did not go across the river but along the road in a S bend which ran between two sheer cliffs. We were forced to ride along the river for about 60 meters; dodging logs and boulders and trying not to fall off in the mud and sand that had been swept onto the concrete. I think I'm ready for the Dakar Rally now.
By early evening we were back in Uniondale, where we refuelled. The raging water had delayed us and we rode in the dark along the N9 to turn left onto the Montague Pass and the tiny settlement of Herold. We spent the night with a friend of Ingrid's, who has a small holding up there. He is restoring a old inn, called North Station, which used to be a farmhouse in which Pauline Smith once stayed for a time. The next morning, after a pleasant breakfast at North Station, we rode down the Montague Pass and then hit the tar to Oudtshoorn via the Outeniqua Pass. Louis and I split there. The bakkie we had left behind to make their own way back to Cape Town. My bike had developed a bit of a overheating problem, so I stayed on the R62, then Worcester, the tunnel and the N1.
A great trip.
