The planned accommodation:
24th & 25th Dec – Baberspan
28th -30th Dec – Nieu-Bethesda
31st Dec – Hanover for WildDog New Year party
1st Jan – travel home
The Bikes:
2 x KLR650 (mine and mothers)
1x KLE500
1x Honda XR250
The Plan:
Dave and I riding bikes, our first trip together, Cavegirl and Leondude on their fishing holiday in the bakkie trailering additional bikes.
Had our little Christmas evening at home on the evening of the 23rd so as not to have to take too many presents with – space being a priority for beers.
Woke up bright and early on the 24th, packed the bakkie and the bikes and rearing to go at 10:15am. First stop Shell for fuel – and they do not have any fuel. Ok, so go across the road to the Total and fill up. Now we are ready to hit the road at 10:45. Not knowing quite where we are going, decide it’s a good idea to follow the bakkie, this turned out to be a good idea as 10km from the Sasol garage on the N14, Cavegirl (mom) discovers she has left the car keys for granddads car in her pocket. Dave swaps with mom, who then has to ride all the way back home to drop off the keys and then all the way to Baberspan on her KLE.
So now I’m on my bike, following Dave and Leon in the bakkie, this is cool, I’m finally getting to ride my bike long distance :woohoo: By the time we reached Koster, my arse was hurting as well as muscles I never knew I had. We stop in Koster to get some coffee and I nearly saw my arse when turning around on one of the side roads.
Ok, so we push on to Baberspan, only 3 stop and go’s on the way, not too bad 10 minute wait max. By the 3rd Stop and go, Dave swapped and took over riding the bike. I had just had enough of the buffeting and sore arse!
Get to Baberspan, now the only person who knows where we are staying is Cavegirl. So we stop at the first gate and NO BIKES ALLOWED. Oh shit, I hope this is not the place? We speak to the guard, whom didn’t seem to have a cooking clue about anything. Tells us that there is camping at the hotel down the road, but no fishing there – well that can’t be where we are staying. Anyway we head off to the hotel, maybe we can at least leave the bikes there. Haha, the hotel is where we are booked and yes they allow bikes and fishing. Get booked in and get camp sorted before mom catches up with us.
Christmas day we unloaded the KLR and the 250 and all took a morning ride into Delareyville as I needed oil and we all needed water as none of us could handle the taste of Baberspans water. Found some good gravel roads, nothing technical. Had to be at the hotel by 12pm for Christmas lunch and what a treat it was, though this is about the only good thing I have to say about the place.
26th we leave Baberspan and this couldn’t have been any sooner, the facilities here were some of the worst I have experienced at any camping site. We have decided to head to Jacobsdal and look for accommodation there. Sharron and Leon in the bakkie, Dave and I on the KLE and KLR heading for dirt. We planned to meet in Schweizer-Reneke then in Christiana and whoever got to Jacobsdal first will find accommodation.
Now this is where my fun really begins. I’m finally on dirt roads, got the bike loaded (well clothes and tools) and feeling like I’m touring B) The dirt roads are great, feeling comfortable at 80km, though Dave on the KLE (with road tires) isn’t comfy much over 60km, so we take it slow and enjoy it. About 20km away from our meeting point in Schweizer-Reneke, we come across this river in the road – ok, ok, it was just a puddle, but it was wide enough to be a river
hmy:
I sat there for about 2 minutes contemplating how the hell I was going to cross this mud and if I was gonna drop the bike. Well can’t sit there all day, so I decide I’m going to go on the left as there is a tire track there and a bank on the left I can use to help paddle the bike through with or at least break the fall. Half way through it I honestly thought I was stuck, I was full on the throttle and mud flying out the back tyre, but she took traction and started moving forward. Slowly got through my first mud bath without dropping my baby! Boy was I chuffed with myself. Now for Dave to come through on the KLE with them tyres – I thought I would go and see if he might need a push, but he seemed to have no worries at all. I think the long spider legs help a lot, but I’m still not sure those were mud stains on his trousers.
Finally we get to SW, but as we took so long with our mud experience, Sharron and Leon had headed off to Christiana. We grabbed a pie from Spar in Schweizer-Reneke and headed off to meet them in Christiana for a coffee, then off to Jacobsdal, eta 2pm(ish), so I would have time to check over my bike
Got into Jacobsdal and after having to drive through the informal settlement and nearly into what looked like a riot, decided this place was not were we wanted to stay. Met up with Sharron and Leon and we decided to head off to Koffiefontein – the GPS said there were lots of accommodation there. Got to Koffiefontein and none of the accommodation had secure parking for the bakkie and monster trailer Ok, so we’ll head to Vanderkloof dam, at least you can fish there too.
Finally arrived at Vanderkloof at about 5:30pm, by now Dave and I are completely knackered and just want to eat and sleep. We spent the 26th and 27th. I tended to my baby – made mom go to the shop and by car wash to clean the mud from my tires to check my spokes and rims. I also promptly got told off for doing this. Also found that the spacers I put on my exhaust were not working and my exhaust was still rubbing on my back tyre, so sent mom to the shops again to get some washers a longer bolt. Now I discovered the flashy cover on the pipe was going to catch a pipe, so sent mom to the shop for something to cut this down with.
After fiddling and putting my baby back together, Dave and I went to join Leon and Sharron for a spot of fishing. Discovered that I’m a better rider than I am a fisherwomen.
28th rolled round and time to head to Nieu-Bethesda. Dave has decided he’s not too keen to do more dirt after our mud experience, so it’s mom and I on the bikes (me on my baby and her on the KLE). Again, had some fantastic roads with great scenery, saw tortoise, buck, squirrels and I was aiming for every puddle I could find , until I found a biggish one and nearly came off
Stopped for a break and a snack and Dave starts looking my bike over like a good husband, what’s this? Oh looks like you might have a leak from the radiator, bit of green in this water. Mom and I are like, no it must be from the pebbles I went through. Leon and Dave, both very cautions tell me to keep an eye on my temperature and we’ll see what it’s like when we hit Colesburg.
Back on the bikes and off we go. Hit the T-Junction and I ask mom if we should wait for the boys? Nah, they have a GPS, they will catch us up in Colesburg. Ok, keep going then, temperature gauge hasn’t moved at all, lekker. Gosh did we then hit some ruts next and I thought my fairings were going to come off, well my number plate nearly did.
All fixed and back on the bike for more dirt! It wasn’t long though and then we hit some tar. Should we wait for the boys now? Nah, let’s keep going till Colesburg. Now I’m checking this temperature gauge and I’m listening to my bike for any funny noises, but nothing so I’m puttering along this road till we come up to the T- Junction to Colesburg.
Ok, now what, I’m really struggling to change the gears, so pull over and to my horror discover my left boot and the left side of my engine, covered in green stuff!! Eish, decide to wait for the boys as us girls don’t know what to do or how far we are now from Colesburg.
The boys arrive and both agree the bike should not be ridden so we unload moms KLR and load mine onto the trailer. All I can say is I am SOOOO glad to have had a trailer now.
Now I’m on the KLE and mom on her KLR. We refuel in Colesburg and hit the tar down to Nieu-Bethesda, stopping to put rain suits on as the black horizon is looking as if we are going to hit it. And we weren’t the only ones, a bloke on his KTM pulled up beside us and also started to kit up. We then had about 3 minutes riding in the rain, almost didn’t seem worth kitting up for it.
We get to the turn off for Nieu-Bethesda and YAY it’s a dirt road with lots of twisty’s, not many puddles though. Now I’m happily riding in front, occasionally checking to see mom still behind me, when suddenly she’s not. I stop and wait a bit, a small bakkie comes past and still no mom?? Ok, going to turn round and head back in case something’s wrong when I see the yellow headlight come over the hill. Right, onwards we go, as I come over the next hill, there’s the little white bakkie on the side of the road and the driver is out with his camera pointing it at us, smile and wave as we go by
Get to Nieu-Bethesda and such a peaceful little dorp, but no shops, not even a petrol station. We get booked in, get camp set up and bikes off the trailer. Right, now time to strip my bike and take a look at what’s wrong. With some help from Leondude, we get the radiator off and start checking it. None of us can find where this hole is? Will take it into Silverton on Graaff-Reinet in the morning to see what/ if anything can be done. The plastics are now off so I had to give her a little wash and TLC :kiss:
Next day we all go in the bakkie to Graaff-Reinet. First thing is breakfast in the Camdeboo National Park, then off to check out the town. We find Silverton Radiators, they are closed, but the owner still took a look and tested the radiator for me, we now find the 2cm crack down one of the fins Ok, so that’s now my KLR retired for the rest of the trip. Drained the fuel from her tank and put this in the other bikes.
Following day Sharron and Leon head off before the birds have woken to go fish at Graaf-Renet. Dave and I wake up at a reasonable time, have some breakfast and then go with the 250 to do a bit of dirt training for Dave, until Sharron and Leon returned from fishing. We all then went and did the tourist thing in town and had dinner, Lilley Flower Soup and the best dam lamb I have ever eaten.
Nieu-Bethesda to Hanover, Dave is now more confident on the 250 after a few reminders of his training, so Leondude on the KLR, Dave on the 250 and me on the KLE hit the dirt for about 120km to Hanover. The roads were great, a mixture of hills and twisty’s, gravel highway and pebbles and water crossings, what fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the KLE even with its road tires and pegs, began to wonder if I bought myself the wrong bike
Stopped for a break and some photos and saw my first Sun Spider. Just as we were getting back on the bikes, Dave shouts out in pain and discovers a monster tick on his leg. We tried to burn the sucker off with a cigarette, but it wasn’t budging, so Dave asks Leon to remove it and took a piece of Dave’s leg with it.
Followed the road through what seemed to be the middle of someone’s farm and I see this sheep come haring across the lawn on the right, squeeze through the fence and dash across the road in front of me. Just glad I was paying attention and missed the sheep. Further down the road we saw two blue cranes towering above the grass, such majestic looking birds.
The ride though was over all too quickly as we came into Hanover for our final night of 2011. The owner of the hotel was so welcoming and had a lovely spot to reverse the bakkie and trailer to keep save for the night, only problem was that none of us have that much experience at reversing such a long trailer, but the hotel manager was there to the rescue and reversed the trailer like a pro.
Enjoyed a wonderful evening with some dogs from different corners of South Africa to celebrate the end of 2011, followed by a great breakfast.
Things I learnt on this trip:
1 - Oil, Oil, Oil – always check the oil and carry a spare bottle of oil.
2 - How to cross mud and water crossings safely, not sure I’m quite ready for a river yet though.
3 - Invest in a better radiator guard, if the radiator goes, it could mean the end of a trip (or a lengthy delay).
4 - Every time I repack my panniers, I get better at it
5 - Take more Pictures!!!
6 - Guys & girls in the Northern and Eastern Cape have some of the best dirt roads in their back yards! – Not at all jealous
24th & 25th Dec – Baberspan
28th -30th Dec – Nieu-Bethesda
31st Dec – Hanover for WildDog New Year party
1st Jan – travel home
The Bikes:
2 x KLR650 (mine and mothers)
1x KLE500
1x Honda XR250
The Plan:
Dave and I riding bikes, our first trip together, Cavegirl and Leondude on their fishing holiday in the bakkie trailering additional bikes.
Had our little Christmas evening at home on the evening of the 23rd so as not to have to take too many presents with – space being a priority for beers.
Woke up bright and early on the 24th, packed the bakkie and the bikes and rearing to go at 10:15am. First stop Shell for fuel – and they do not have any fuel. Ok, so go across the road to the Total and fill up. Now we are ready to hit the road at 10:45. Not knowing quite where we are going, decide it’s a good idea to follow the bakkie, this turned out to be a good idea as 10km from the Sasol garage on the N14, Cavegirl (mom) discovers she has left the car keys for granddads car in her pocket. Dave swaps with mom, who then has to ride all the way back home to drop off the keys and then all the way to Baberspan on her KLE.
So now I’m on my bike, following Dave and Leon in the bakkie, this is cool, I’m finally getting to ride my bike long distance :woohoo: By the time we reached Koster, my arse was hurting as well as muscles I never knew I had. We stop in Koster to get some coffee and I nearly saw my arse when turning around on one of the side roads.
Ok, so we push on to Baberspan, only 3 stop and go’s on the way, not too bad 10 minute wait max. By the 3rd Stop and go, Dave swapped and took over riding the bike. I had just had enough of the buffeting and sore arse!
Get to Baberspan, now the only person who knows where we are staying is Cavegirl. So we stop at the first gate and NO BIKES ALLOWED. Oh shit, I hope this is not the place? We speak to the guard, whom didn’t seem to have a cooking clue about anything. Tells us that there is camping at the hotel down the road, but no fishing there – well that can’t be where we are staying. Anyway we head off to the hotel, maybe we can at least leave the bikes there. Haha, the hotel is where we are booked and yes they allow bikes and fishing. Get booked in and get camp sorted before mom catches up with us.
Christmas day we unloaded the KLR and the 250 and all took a morning ride into Delareyville as I needed oil and we all needed water as none of us could handle the taste of Baberspans water. Found some good gravel roads, nothing technical. Had to be at the hotel by 12pm for Christmas lunch and what a treat it was, though this is about the only good thing I have to say about the place.
26th we leave Baberspan and this couldn’t have been any sooner, the facilities here were some of the worst I have experienced at any camping site. We have decided to head to Jacobsdal and look for accommodation there. Sharron and Leon in the bakkie, Dave and I on the KLE and KLR heading for dirt. We planned to meet in Schweizer-Reneke then in Christiana and whoever got to Jacobsdal first will find accommodation.
Now this is where my fun really begins. I’m finally on dirt roads, got the bike loaded (well clothes and tools) and feeling like I’m touring B) The dirt roads are great, feeling comfortable at 80km, though Dave on the KLE (with road tires) isn’t comfy much over 60km, so we take it slow and enjoy it. About 20km away from our meeting point in Schweizer-Reneke, we come across this river in the road – ok, ok, it was just a puddle, but it was wide enough to be a river
hmy:
I sat there for about 2 minutes contemplating how the hell I was going to cross this mud and if I was gonna drop the bike. Well can’t sit there all day, so I decide I’m going to go on the left as there is a tire track there and a bank on the left I can use to help paddle the bike through with or at least break the fall. Half way through it I honestly thought I was stuck, I was full on the throttle and mud flying out the back tyre, but she took traction and started moving forward. Slowly got through my first mud bath without dropping my baby! Boy was I chuffed with myself. Now for Dave to come through on the KLE with them tyres – I thought I would go and see if he might need a push, but he seemed to have no worries at all. I think the long spider legs help a lot, but I’m still not sure those were mud stains on his trousers.
Finally we get to SW, but as we took so long with our mud experience, Sharron and Leon had headed off to Christiana. We grabbed a pie from Spar in Schweizer-Reneke and headed off to meet them in Christiana for a coffee, then off to Jacobsdal, eta 2pm(ish), so I would have time to check over my bike
Got into Jacobsdal and after having to drive through the informal settlement and nearly into what looked like a riot, decided this place was not were we wanted to stay. Met up with Sharron and Leon and we decided to head off to Koffiefontein – the GPS said there were lots of accommodation there. Got to Koffiefontein and none of the accommodation had secure parking for the bakkie and monster trailer
Ok, so we’ll head to Vanderkloof dam, at least you can fish there too.Finally arrived at Vanderkloof at about 5:30pm, by now Dave and I are completely knackered and just want to eat and sleep. We spent the 26th and 27th. I tended to my baby – made mom go to the shop and by car wash to clean the mud from my tires to check my spokes and rims. I also promptly got told off for doing this. Also found that the spacers I put on my exhaust were not working and my exhaust was still rubbing on my back tyre, so sent mom to the shops again to get some washers a longer bolt. Now I discovered the flashy cover on the pipe was going to catch a pipe, so sent mom to the shop for something to cut this down with.
After fiddling and putting my baby back together, Dave and I went to join Leon and Sharron for a spot of fishing. Discovered that I’m a better rider than I am a fisherwomen.
28th rolled round and time to head to Nieu-Bethesda. Dave has decided he’s not too keen to do more dirt after our mud experience, so it’s mom and I on the bikes (me on my baby and her on the KLE). Again, had some fantastic roads with great scenery, saw tortoise, buck, squirrels and I was aiming for every puddle I could find
, until I found a biggish one and nearly came off
Stopped for a break and a snack and Dave starts looking my bike over like a good husband, what’s this? Oh looks like you might have a leak from the radiator, bit of green in this water. Mom and I are like, no it must be from the pebbles I went through. Leon and Dave, both very cautions tell me to keep an eye on my temperature and we’ll see what it’s like when we hit Colesburg.
Back on the bikes and off we go. Hit the T-Junction and I ask mom if we should wait for the boys? Nah, they have a GPS, they will catch us up in Colesburg. Ok, keep going then, temperature gauge hasn’t moved at all, lekker. Gosh did we then hit some ruts next and I thought my fairings were going to come off, well my number plate nearly did.
All fixed and back on the bike for more dirt! It wasn’t long though and then we hit some tar. Should we wait for the boys now? Nah, let’s keep going till Colesburg. Now I’m checking this temperature gauge and I’m listening to my bike for any funny noises, but nothing so I’m puttering along this road till we come up to the T- Junction to Colesburg.
Ok, now what, I’m really struggling to change the gears, so pull over and to my horror discover my left boot and the left side of my engine, covered in green stuff!!
Eish, decide to wait for the boys as us girls don’t know what to do or how far we are now from Colesburg.
The boys arrive and both agree the bike should not be ridden so we unload moms KLR and load mine onto the trailer. All I can say is I am SOOOO glad to have had a trailer now.
Now I’m on the KLE and mom on her KLR. We refuel in Colesburg and hit the tar down to Nieu-Bethesda, stopping to put rain suits on as the black horizon is looking as if we are going to hit it. And we weren’t the only ones, a bloke on his KTM pulled up beside us and also started to kit up. We then had about 3 minutes riding in the rain, almost didn’t seem worth kitting up for it.
We get to the turn off for Nieu-Bethesda and YAY it’s a dirt road with lots of twisty’s, not many puddles though. Now I’m happily riding in front, occasionally checking to see mom still behind me, when suddenly she’s not. I stop and wait a bit, a small bakkie comes past and still no mom?? Ok, going to turn round and head back in case something’s wrong when I see the yellow headlight come over the hill. Right, onwards we go, as I come over the next hill, there’s the little white bakkie on the side of the road and the driver is out with his camera pointing it at us, smile and wave as we go by
Get to Nieu-Bethesda and such a peaceful little dorp, but no shops, not even a petrol station. We get booked in, get camp set up and bikes off the trailer. Right, now time to strip my bike and take a look at what’s wrong. With some help from Leondude, we get the radiator off and start checking it. None of us can find where this hole is? Will take it into Silverton on Graaff-Reinet in the morning to see what/ if anything can be done. The plastics are now off so I had to give her a little wash and TLC :kiss:
Next day we all go in the bakkie to Graaff-Reinet. First thing is breakfast in the Camdeboo National Park, then off to check out the town. We find Silverton Radiators, they are closed, but the owner still took a look and tested the radiator for me, we now find the 2cm crack down one of the fins
Ok, so that’s now my KLR retired for the rest of the trip. Drained the fuel from her tank and put this in the other bikes.
Following day Sharron and Leon head off before the birds have woken to go fish at Graaf-Renet. Dave and I wake up at a reasonable time, have some breakfast and then go with the 250 to do a bit of dirt training for Dave, until Sharron and Leon returned from fishing. We all then went and did the tourist thing in town and had dinner, Lilley Flower Soup and the best dam lamb I have ever eaten.
Nieu-Bethesda to Hanover, Dave is now more confident on the 250 after a few reminders of his training, so Leondude on the KLR, Dave on the 250 and me on the KLE hit the dirt for about 120km to Hanover. The roads were great, a mixture of hills and twisty’s, gravel highway and pebbles and water crossings, what fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the KLE even with its road tires and pegs, began to wonder if I bought myself the wrong bike
Stopped for a break and some photos and saw my first Sun Spider. Just as we were getting back on the bikes, Dave shouts out in pain and discovers a monster tick on his leg. We tried to burn the sucker off with a cigarette, but it wasn’t budging, so Dave asks Leon to remove it and took a piece of Dave’s leg with it.
Followed the road through what seemed to be the middle of someone’s farm and I see this sheep come haring across the lawn on the right, squeeze through the fence and dash across the road in front of me. Just glad I was paying attention and missed the sheep. Further down the road we saw two blue cranes towering above the grass, such majestic looking birds.
The ride though was over all too quickly as we came into Hanover for our final night of 2011. The owner of the hotel was so welcoming and had a lovely spot to reverse the bakkie and trailer to keep save for the night, only problem was that none of us have that much experience at reversing such a long trailer, but the hotel manager was there to the rescue and reversed the trailer like a pro.
Enjoyed a wonderful evening with some dogs from different corners of South Africa to celebrate the end of 2011, followed by a great breakfast.
Things I learnt on this trip:
1 - Oil, Oil, Oil – always check the oil and carry a spare bottle of oil.
2 - How to cross mud and water crossings safely, not sure I’m quite ready for a river yet though.
3 - Invest in a better radiator guard, if the radiator goes, it could mean the end of a trip (or a lengthy delay).
4 - Every time I repack my panniers, I get better at it
5 - Take more Pictures!!!
6 - Guys & girls in the Northern and Eastern Cape have some of the best dirt roads in their back yards! – Not at all jealous
