DirtyHarry
Race Dog
Once a year our Chairman Lorenzo is calling all airhead GS riders to a gathering, somewhere interesting in our beautiful country. This year it was Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape.
A lot of people do organize their trip together, most of them trailer or ship their bikes to a location to reach the destination within a day. It’s all done to save some time as most can’t afford to take off work for a full week.
I on the other hand like the idea to extend the trip to see as many nice places as I can along the way. One of my previous highlights was the trip to Lesotho with my Austrian mate Gerry. The trip we have done two years ago ticked all the boxes. True adventure riding spiced up with some real drama along the way. You can’t make this shit up even if you wanted to. If you didn’t read the story you can find it here: https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=172717.msg3228727#msg3228727
I was looking forward to another interesting ride with Gerry but he was not able to accompany me as his hands were giving him serious trouble. Since the last couple of month he was not able to ride more than one hr before his right hand gets numb. He was obviously out and I could not think of any other takers who might be keen enough for some riding punishment along the way. I can’t blame my mates for not wanting to suffer on their rides.
So my idea of the route to Stutterheim changed from challenging to a more soulful solo exploration. The plan was to take 4 days riding up and at least 3 days riding home again. As little tar as possible and as many mountain passes and scenic routes as possible. No accommodation was pre planned as I don’t like the pressure to reach a certain destination every day. Going with the flow and see what feels good along the way was always my motto. After a stupid bike accident I had in 2015, when I lost the front wheel on a Diesel spill on a tar road close to Ceres, I still had to find my riding Mojo again. The injuries caused by this crash are still hurting and constantly remind me to take it easy.
The first day I wanted to quickly visit some friends on a farm near Montagu and would probably end up close to Carlitzdorp before nightfall. No pictures were taken on the first day as I know this area almost like my back garden. I ended up in a Country Lodge 10km outside of Ladismith as Koedoeskloof was booked out already.
https://postimage.io/app.php
The next day I took a leisurely ride through Matjies River and went up the Swartberg Pass to enjoy the scenery.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/https://certificity.com
https://postimage.io/app.php
Then on to Uniondale and over the Prince Alfred’s Pass to Plettenberg Bay, where I did stay in a Backpackers outside of town. It was a sorry sight to see that Angie’s G Spot was not operational anymore and they were busy packing up. A couple of years of hard work went down the drain because of unattended legalities.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
The next morning I went to Cape Seal and did check out the Plett area a bit. Since cities or towns usually don’t excite me too much I was on my way to Nature’s Valley. After spending 50km on the N2 I wandered off again to Karaedouw on the R 62. For the love of god I can’t stay more than 1 hr on the main routes. It just doesn’t cut it for me. Give me any secondary road with no traffic and I am fine again. By accident I ended up exploring the Formosa Nature Reserve outside of Karaedouw. Hardly used twee spoor roads lead through the bushland and forests. No tickets and entry fees required, just go and enjoy the area.
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/app.php
Then I went to explore small farm roads towards Patensie and did see game on some of the farms. My Safari Light experience of the day.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/app.php
Quite early into my trip and as a testimony of the badly corrugated farm roads, my headlight bracket broke off and I had to keep it into place with a couple of cable ties.
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/
I wanted to follow the small road through the Elandsberg leading towards Uitenhage. The 360 deg views from the top of the mountain are quite stunning. My destination for the day was a Backpacker 8km outside of the Addo Park. The owner John is also an active adventure biker and was admiring my airhead. He was about to head out for trip to the Karoo to get his fix on the endless dirt roads.
https://postimage.io/
Suurberg Pass the next morning was fun and sometimes you can spot game from a distance in the Addo Park.
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/app.php
Small farm roads did lead me through private game reserves towards Adelaide. From there I went over Groenkop to a side entry of the Katberg Pass.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
I really did enjoy the scenic roads and with forests and the deep green hills. As another gift the riding got a bit more interesting as the roads are probably hardly used. Just before the Katberg Pass I came to a gate which was luckily not locked. The sign on the other side did declare it as a non through road which is clearly not correct as I was just coming through from that side. The farmers probably don’t want more traffic than necessary and I sometimes wonder about the legality of these self-declared private roads. As long as the gates stay unlocked I really don’t mind.
https://postimage.io/
Katberg Pass is really quite nice to look at and to ride. I always go back there if I am close to that area.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
Since I wanted to overnight in Hogsback and it was getting late in the day already, I took the direct route from Seymour to Hogsback (Michel's Pass) against the better local advice. The road would not be suitable for my big bike they said. Most of the road was fine but in the steeper sections it got quite technical. As I was riding for the last 8 hrs already, I was getting a bit tired and had no desire to pick up my bike unnecessarily. My bike is not designed for slow technical riding. She’s more a bike for the open gravel roads at speed, built very tall and with the long wheel base it’s not so great when the riding becomes technical.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
I made it up just fine but did break out into a serious sweat during the workout.
I got rewarded with my own cottage with a view at the Terra Caya Backpackers in Hogsback and I was stargazing on my stoep for many hrs before I went to sleep.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
That night I was wondering why my riding usually had the tendency to attract some drama. It’s probably because I always wanted to push my riding limits further every time I went out for a ride. There is a natural limit what you can do with a heavy loaded ADV bike and I did reach that limit on our trip through Lesotho. If you drop your bike more than once a day the riding might be outside of your riding limits. You either break your bike or injure yourself if you push too hard. I have had many offs during the last 5 years and I am slowly finding a new groove for my riding. I am more than happy to ride within my riding limits now without having an utterly boring ride. I focus more on my surrounding than to go at the highest possible speed. This opens up another kind of enjoyment while I am riding. I also stop more often, take pictures or just consciously admire nature where I am. In short I do live more in the moment and without any imaginations how it should be or feel like. As you can see I have found my riding Mojo again.
My shack with a view.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
The next day I went on a very nice 4x4 route outside of Hogsback. Later I wanted to meet Lorenzo and the other guys for lunch to ride the last stretch to Stutterheim together.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
If you are ever in the Hogsback area you should check out the 4x4 trails. Not very technical but it is a lot of fun cruising the mountains and forests in the area.
Part II will be my trip back to the Cape.
A lot of people do organize their trip together, most of them trailer or ship their bikes to a location to reach the destination within a day. It’s all done to save some time as most can’t afford to take off work for a full week.
I on the other hand like the idea to extend the trip to see as many nice places as I can along the way. One of my previous highlights was the trip to Lesotho with my Austrian mate Gerry. The trip we have done two years ago ticked all the boxes. True adventure riding spiced up with some real drama along the way. You can’t make this shit up even if you wanted to. If you didn’t read the story you can find it here: https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=172717.msg3228727#msg3228727
I was looking forward to another interesting ride with Gerry but he was not able to accompany me as his hands were giving him serious trouble. Since the last couple of month he was not able to ride more than one hr before his right hand gets numb. He was obviously out and I could not think of any other takers who might be keen enough for some riding punishment along the way. I can’t blame my mates for not wanting to suffer on their rides.
So my idea of the route to Stutterheim changed from challenging to a more soulful solo exploration. The plan was to take 4 days riding up and at least 3 days riding home again. As little tar as possible and as many mountain passes and scenic routes as possible. No accommodation was pre planned as I don’t like the pressure to reach a certain destination every day. Going with the flow and see what feels good along the way was always my motto. After a stupid bike accident I had in 2015, when I lost the front wheel on a Diesel spill on a tar road close to Ceres, I still had to find my riding Mojo again. The injuries caused by this crash are still hurting and constantly remind me to take it easy.
The first day I wanted to quickly visit some friends on a farm near Montagu and would probably end up close to Carlitzdorp before nightfall. No pictures were taken on the first day as I know this area almost like my back garden. I ended up in a Country Lodge 10km outside of Ladismith as Koedoeskloof was booked out already.
https://postimage.io/app.phpThe next day I took a leisurely ride through Matjies River and went up the Swartberg Pass to enjoy the scenery.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/https://certificity.com
https://postimage.io/app.phpThen on to Uniondale and over the Prince Alfred’s Pass to Plettenberg Bay, where I did stay in a Backpackers outside of town. It was a sorry sight to see that Angie’s G Spot was not operational anymore and they were busy packing up. A couple of years of hard work went down the drain because of unattended legalities.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/The next morning I went to Cape Seal and did check out the Plett area a bit. Since cities or towns usually don’t excite me too much I was on my way to Nature’s Valley. After spending 50km on the N2 I wandered off again to Karaedouw on the R 62. For the love of god I can’t stay more than 1 hr on the main routes. It just doesn’t cut it for me. Give me any secondary road with no traffic and I am fine again. By accident I ended up exploring the Formosa Nature Reserve outside of Karaedouw. Hardly used twee spoor roads lead through the bushland and forests. No tickets and entry fees required, just go and enjoy the area.
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/app.phpThen I went to explore small farm roads towards Patensie and did see game on some of the farms. My Safari Light experience of the day.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/app.phpQuite early into my trip and as a testimony of the badly corrugated farm roads, my headlight bracket broke off and I had to keep it into place with a couple of cable ties.
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/I wanted to follow the small road through the Elandsberg leading towards Uitenhage. The 360 deg views from the top of the mountain are quite stunning. My destination for the day was a Backpacker 8km outside of the Addo Park. The owner John is also an active adventure biker and was admiring my airhead. He was about to head out for trip to the Karoo to get his fix on the endless dirt roads.
https://postimage.io/Suurberg Pass the next morning was fun and sometimes you can spot game from a distance in the Addo Park.
https://postimage.io/app.php
https://postimage.io/app.phpSmall farm roads did lead me through private game reserves towards Adelaide. From there I went over Groenkop to a side entry of the Katberg Pass.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/I really did enjoy the scenic roads and with forests and the deep green hills. As another gift the riding got a bit more interesting as the roads are probably hardly used. Just before the Katberg Pass I came to a gate which was luckily not locked. The sign on the other side did declare it as a non through road which is clearly not correct as I was just coming through from that side. The farmers probably don’t want more traffic than necessary and I sometimes wonder about the legality of these self-declared private roads. As long as the gates stay unlocked I really don’t mind.
https://postimage.io/Katberg Pass is really quite nice to look at and to ride. I always go back there if I am close to that area.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/Since I wanted to overnight in Hogsback and it was getting late in the day already, I took the direct route from Seymour to Hogsback (Michel's Pass) against the better local advice. The road would not be suitable for my big bike they said. Most of the road was fine but in the steeper sections it got quite technical. As I was riding for the last 8 hrs already, I was getting a bit tired and had no desire to pick up my bike unnecessarily. My bike is not designed for slow technical riding. She’s more a bike for the open gravel roads at speed, built very tall and with the long wheel base it’s not so great when the riding becomes technical.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/I made it up just fine but did break out into a serious sweat during the workout.
I got rewarded with my own cottage with a view at the Terra Caya Backpackers in Hogsback and I was stargazing on my stoep for many hrs before I went to sleep.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/That night I was wondering why my riding usually had the tendency to attract some drama. It’s probably because I always wanted to push my riding limits further every time I went out for a ride. There is a natural limit what you can do with a heavy loaded ADV bike and I did reach that limit on our trip through Lesotho. If you drop your bike more than once a day the riding might be outside of your riding limits. You either break your bike or injure yourself if you push too hard. I have had many offs during the last 5 years and I am slowly finding a new groove for my riding. I am more than happy to ride within my riding limits now without having an utterly boring ride. I focus more on my surrounding than to go at the highest possible speed. This opens up another kind of enjoyment while I am riding. I also stop more often, take pictures or just consciously admire nature where I am. In short I do live more in the moment and without any imaginations how it should be or feel like. As you can see I have found my riding Mojo again.
My shack with a view.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/ The next day I went on a very nice 4x4 route outside of Hogsback. Later I wanted to meet Lorenzo and the other guys for lunch to ride the last stretch to Stutterheim together.
https://postimage.io/
https://postimage.io/If you are ever in the Hogsback area you should check out the 4x4 trails. Not very technical but it is a lot of fun cruising the mountains and forests in the area.
Part II will be my trip back to the Cape.
