IRISH
Race Dog
- Joined
- May 22, 2009
- Messages
- 853
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- WARKWORTH, NEW ZEALAND
- Bike
- Honda TransAlp XL700V
The less said about road-bikers revving their expensive bikes to the rev-limiters the better but we went to the QT rally because Butch and his team ALLWAYS put on a good show for the dual-sporters. As we arrived we were given Printed and laminated maps of the green route and red route and that is how the weekend began.
Because of the influences of Mr J&B, Kally and I opted for the green route on the Saturday while The Wild Wizards, Barry and others were feeling a little tougher and took to the red. Kally and I had done Katberg before and we were very pleased as the green route was stunningly beautiful and quite challenging in parts.
The QT Ulysses guys are known for their excellent organizational skills and they are a hard act to follow. We had been through the farmlands east of Whittlesea and arrived at the PICNIC SPOT. Two young girls came up to us and presented us with engraved aluminium plates for our side-stands. Further into the forest and there were blankets on the ground, a bush toilet erected and some of the QT wives making hamburgers and chips on gas-fired cookers. Beers and cold-drinks were freely available from the caravan deep-freeze on the back of the back-up bakkie. Did I mention that these guys can organise! We even received embroidered buffs.We will definitely support them again. Thanks Butch and your team.
We waited an hour-and -a-half for the red riders to arrive, full of testoterone, adrenaline and mud. Some had fallen and one character on a yellow 650 GS was renamed the
Yellow Submarine for his efforts in a mud hole. The veld is green after the rains, the Klipplaat Dam ( Waterdown ) is overflowing and QT and its surrounds look mighty fine.
Barry ( non WD but he has featured in many of our RRs ) won a trophy for the oldest bullet at 62 to complete the Red Route and the Wild Wizards got prize as the only pillion couple to complete even though the route was NOT recommended as pillion-friendly.
Some of us went on to the Cathcart Country Expo held on a farm at the top of the Nico Malan Pass. The usual fare was to be had and we watched Cathcart farming community's finest ladies strutting their stuff in the sunshine.
The following day we waited for JMOL. Fisarend David and Basil ( not sure if they are WD ) to join us for an exploration of some unridden roads. They had an early start from EL and KWT. We headed out towards Whittlesea and then turned off to Tylden, once a pretty little town on the banks of the Swart Kei which was flowing stronly. I had my eye on the rapids at the bridge and I am sure JMOL & Bike did as well as they used to be paddlers of the Fish River Canoe Marathon.
From there we did some interesting riding through farms owned largely by the Brown family of the region as well as a railway service road. We happened upon a little missionary village called Goshen Mission. JMOL cannot pass a church without taking photos and this one built in 1845 was no exception. It struck me that even though this community was extremely poor, their religion had instilled some discipline into the inhabitants, probably why religion was invented, and the village looked neat, clean and tidy. The rows of houses looked ordered and there was a sense of purpose there. I just wish I had the resources to take some scaffold, labourers and materials along one weekend to repair their ancient church which is crumbling. If it was in a more visible town it would have been a national monument.
Then we went to Cathcart to partake of the famous pies, something I would regret later as I ended up on a drip and antibiotics. From Cathcart we took the road to Ferndale but Kally our navigator who has acquired a new GPS has become intoxicated with the beguiling sweet sexy female voice of Jenny and actually believed her when she directed us on a track that was sure to get us to Thomas River. Well it was spectacular to say the least, following the kloof of the Thorn River. The road was actually the access to farmer Arnold's farm and soon after the farmhouse it petered out into a goat track. We soon reached a point where heavy metal was not appropriate and Kally resorted to democracy which saw us battling to turn large motor cycles on a rocky and narrow mountain side.
Then a moment which makes these trips special happened. Three young teenage girls on fine horses came down to where we were. The lead lady turned out to be a relative of Dave's and the obligatory photos were taken. For me this was special for another reason. My wife and I have been contemplating emigration for all the negative push factors that make up the South African landscape. Yet here were 3 young girls riding in spectacular surroundings on good horses without any threat in the world. But in the past 2 weeks at least 2 cyclists have been mugged, robbed or hi-jacked while out training in EL. So little pockets of paradise still exist in RSA.
Once Kally lost faith in sweet-talking Jenny, I took the lead from the Bacela turn-off to the top of Fort Cuninghame. From there it was tar to EL and KWT
Thanks guys for a very good day of riding and to Jenny for showing us the way to a bit of paradise.
Photos were taken by Kally and JMOL.
Whittelsea in the distance
The green & red route diverge
Because of the influences of Mr J&B, Kally and I opted for the green route on the Saturday while The Wild Wizards, Barry and others were feeling a little tougher and took to the red. Kally and I had done Katberg before and we were very pleased as the green route was stunningly beautiful and quite challenging in parts.
The QT Ulysses guys are known for their excellent organizational skills and they are a hard act to follow. We had been through the farmlands east of Whittlesea and arrived at the PICNIC SPOT. Two young girls came up to us and presented us with engraved aluminium plates for our side-stands. Further into the forest and there were blankets on the ground, a bush toilet erected and some of the QT wives making hamburgers and chips on gas-fired cookers. Beers and cold-drinks were freely available from the caravan deep-freeze on the back of the back-up bakkie. Did I mention that these guys can organise! We even received embroidered buffs.We will definitely support them again. Thanks Butch and your team.
We waited an hour-and -a-half for the red riders to arrive, full of testoterone, adrenaline and mud. Some had fallen and one character on a yellow 650 GS was renamed the
Yellow Submarine for his efforts in a mud hole. The veld is green after the rains, the Klipplaat Dam ( Waterdown ) is overflowing and QT and its surrounds look mighty fine.
Barry ( non WD but he has featured in many of our RRs ) won a trophy for the oldest bullet at 62 to complete the Red Route and the Wild Wizards got prize as the only pillion couple to complete even though the route was NOT recommended as pillion-friendly.
Some of us went on to the Cathcart Country Expo held on a farm at the top of the Nico Malan Pass. The usual fare was to be had and we watched Cathcart farming community's finest ladies strutting their stuff in the sunshine.
The following day we waited for JMOL. Fisarend David and Basil ( not sure if they are WD ) to join us for an exploration of some unridden roads. They had an early start from EL and KWT. We headed out towards Whittlesea and then turned off to Tylden, once a pretty little town on the banks of the Swart Kei which was flowing stronly. I had my eye on the rapids at the bridge and I am sure JMOL & Bike did as well as they used to be paddlers of the Fish River Canoe Marathon.
From there we did some interesting riding through farms owned largely by the Brown family of the region as well as a railway service road. We happened upon a little missionary village called Goshen Mission. JMOL cannot pass a church without taking photos and this one built in 1845 was no exception. It struck me that even though this community was extremely poor, their religion had instilled some discipline into the inhabitants, probably why religion was invented, and the village looked neat, clean and tidy. The rows of houses looked ordered and there was a sense of purpose there. I just wish I had the resources to take some scaffold, labourers and materials along one weekend to repair their ancient church which is crumbling. If it was in a more visible town it would have been a national monument.
Then we went to Cathcart to partake of the famous pies, something I would regret later as I ended up on a drip and antibiotics. From Cathcart we took the road to Ferndale but Kally our navigator who has acquired a new GPS has become intoxicated with the beguiling sweet sexy female voice of Jenny and actually believed her when she directed us on a track that was sure to get us to Thomas River. Well it was spectacular to say the least, following the kloof of the Thorn River. The road was actually the access to farmer Arnold's farm and soon after the farmhouse it petered out into a goat track. We soon reached a point where heavy metal was not appropriate and Kally resorted to democracy which saw us battling to turn large motor cycles on a rocky and narrow mountain side.
Then a moment which makes these trips special happened. Three young teenage girls on fine horses came down to where we were. The lead lady turned out to be a relative of Dave's and the obligatory photos were taken. For me this was special for another reason. My wife and I have been contemplating emigration for all the negative push factors that make up the South African landscape. Yet here were 3 young girls riding in spectacular surroundings on good horses without any threat in the world. But in the past 2 weeks at least 2 cyclists have been mugged, robbed or hi-jacked while out training in EL. So little pockets of paradise still exist in RSA.
Once Kally lost faith in sweet-talking Jenny, I took the lead from the Bacela turn-off to the top of Fort Cuninghame. From there it was tar to EL and KWT
Thanks guys for a very good day of riding and to Jenny for showing us the way to a bit of paradise.
Photos were taken by Kally and JMOL.
Whittelsea in the distance
The green & red route diverge
