NoelineT
Puppy
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2010
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 0
- Bike
- BMW F650GS / Dakar
Don’t you just love that feeling when you ride out of town knowing most everybody else on the road is going to work and you’re off to another adventure. I meet Stephan and Renette at the N1 One Stop and we’re off. I have to admit between two 1200GS’s my little Dakar feels quite underpowered, but they’re good sports and don’t leave me behind. Next we pick up Riaan, then the others near Barrydale. Our first stop is for brunch at the Country Pumpkin. Mark goes speeding past, the memo never made it to him, but Ruth gallantly heads off after him and returns triumphant a little while later.
Onward to George via the stunning Attekwas kloof. Great roads and scenery and some rougher terrain luck, a km of plowed road. After pointing out to the roadworks foreman that we’re off-road bikes, they couldn’t keep us standing around for long and the journey continued. Stopping for a break at the river, we had our first casualties - despite his best efforts, Stephan’s glove was unfortunately lost to the rapids but Renette managed a daring rescue of her cap.
Hard earth, loose gravel, marbles, water damage to the roads, we got it all. Ruth’s bike started overheating but the leak looked slight so we kept riding with more frequent stops. A little behind schedule by now we made it to the rest stop at Halstroom by 5. Refueled, both the bikes and us, the last hours journey to George started. Unfortunately, just outside of George, Ruth’s bike called it quits and none of our attempts at roadside mechanics could get it up and running again. Luckily we had our own Roadside Assistance
Thanks Cassie!
Day 2 started early and we headed out of George towards Uniondale taking the beautiful Montague Pass and then the Nuwekloof Pass to Baviaans. After the obligatory stop at the entrance for the “Yay, we’re going to do Baviaans and here’s the proof” photo, the real reason for this trip started. Being a little apprehensive after Renette and Riaan’s talk about how bad the conditions might be and how technical the route is, I was happy it started off quite mild. Going through the mountains we all separated a bit, as happens. As such I was riding alone when I met my first water crossing. Ever. Now, I know sand - stand up, chin up and open up - how different could water be? It felt like hitting a wall. My feet ended up by my top-box, my chest landed on the well padded tank-bag and my hand stayed on the throttle, luckily. My bike pretty much did the rest of the journey through the water by itself, with me as a useless passenger. Safely on the other-side I stop and wait for whomever is behind me to catch up, they do and I promptly have a sidestand incident. Typical!
Baviaans from there is wet, but not as wet as we had feared/hoped. I’m a quick study, so no more feet-up-in-the-air incidents either. Once again we had a great variety of terrain and by our lunch-stop a nap was in order.
Leaving Baviaans the rangers warn us the last bridge might be flooded when we get there but we decide to push on anyway, how bad could it be?!? :ricky:
At 5 we reach the river - it’s a great brown torrent. Walking in a couple of meters it starts dragging you off you feet and we stop for the afternoon, hoping it recedes so we can cross before dark. By 8 it had only dropped 2 stones so we decided to camp next to the river for the night. Luckily there was a camp area right there and the owner was only too happy for us to stay over.
From 11pm to 6am the level of the river had not dropped by even so much as half a stone so we decided to turn back and hope we make the next fuel station before any of our bikes run out. Even though we’d done the same route just the day before, it felt like a completely new route we were riding, it was stunning. Then we hit out next stop in the journey, another flooded river.
After about an hour and watching a few bakkies successfully, and one donkey cart unsuccessfully, make the crossing it was decided to push-ride the bikes across one at a time. Loading all our gear on the bakkies headed our direction, the trip went on again chop-chop. We all made it to the petrol station, sort of, and a breath of relief was heard.
Lunch and a thuderstorm later in Willowmore, it's decided to scrap our plans to sleep over in Die Hell that night. Saying goodbye to Bie, we ride to the welcome thought of Warmwaterberg Resort and the heated pools. Great trip, great route and great company!
ps. I might have gotten some names wrong and passes mixed up - just let me know and I will update!
Onward to George via the stunning Attekwas kloof. Great roads and scenery and some rougher terrain luck, a km of plowed road. After pointing out to the roadworks foreman that we’re off-road bikes, they couldn’t keep us standing around for long and the journey continued. Stopping for a break at the river, we had our first casualties - despite his best efforts, Stephan’s glove was unfortunately lost to the rapids but Renette managed a daring rescue of her cap.
Hard earth, loose gravel, marbles, water damage to the roads, we got it all. Ruth’s bike started overheating but the leak looked slight so we kept riding with more frequent stops. A little behind schedule by now we made it to the rest stop at Halstroom by 5. Refueled, both the bikes and us, the last hours journey to George started. Unfortunately, just outside of George, Ruth’s bike called it quits and none of our attempts at roadside mechanics could get it up and running again. Luckily we had our own Roadside Assistance
Thanks Cassie!
Day 2 started early and we headed out of George towards Uniondale taking the beautiful Montague Pass and then the Nuwekloof Pass to Baviaans. After the obligatory stop at the entrance for the “Yay, we’re going to do Baviaans and here’s the proof” photo, the real reason for this trip started. Being a little apprehensive after Renette and Riaan’s talk about how bad the conditions might be and how technical the route is, I was happy it started off quite mild. Going through the mountains we all separated a bit, as happens. As such I was riding alone when I met my first water crossing. Ever. Now, I know sand - stand up, chin up and open up - how different could water be? It felt like hitting a wall. My feet ended up by my top-box, my chest landed on the well padded tank-bag and my hand stayed on the throttle, luckily. My bike pretty much did the rest of the journey through the water by itself, with me as a useless passenger. Safely on the other-side I stop and wait for whomever is behind me to catch up, they do and I promptly have a sidestand incident. Typical!
Baviaans from there is wet, but not as wet as we had feared/hoped. I’m a quick study, so no more feet-up-in-the-air incidents either. Once again we had a great variety of terrain and by our lunch-stop a nap was in order.
Leaving Baviaans the rangers warn us the last bridge might be flooded when we get there but we decide to push on anyway, how bad could it be?!? :ricky:
At 5 we reach the river - it’s a great brown torrent. Walking in a couple of meters it starts dragging you off you feet and we stop for the afternoon, hoping it recedes so we can cross before dark. By 8 it had only dropped 2 stones so we decided to camp next to the river for the night. Luckily there was a camp area right there and the owner was only too happy for us to stay over.
From 11pm to 6am the level of the river had not dropped by even so much as half a stone so we decided to turn back and hope we make the next fuel station before any of our bikes run out. Even though we’d done the same route just the day before, it felt like a completely new route we were riding, it was stunning. Then we hit out next stop in the journey, another flooded river.
After about an hour and watching a few bakkies successfully, and one donkey cart unsuccessfully, make the crossing it was decided to push-ride the bikes across one at a time. Loading all our gear on the bakkies headed our direction, the trip went on again chop-chop. We all made it to the petrol station, sort of, and a breath of relief was heard.
Lunch and a thuderstorm later in Willowmore, it's decided to scrap our plans to sleep over in Die Hell that night. Saying goodbye to Bie, we ride to the welcome thought of Warmwaterberg Resort and the heated pools. Great trip, great route and great company!
ps. I might have gotten some names wrong and passes mixed up - just let me know and I will update!
