DAY 2: Starting to unravel
Google Maps route
We were all up before 7am on a calm, clear morning, at a frosty 6 degrees.
Similar to day 1, we had a long day planned. Google Maps said it would take 6 hours; excluding lunch, fuel or scenery-viewing stops. I had been worried about these long times, as it gave very little lee-way for “life,” i.e. other stuff that happens while you are carefully planning your life. The long hours in the saddle don’t bother me. I haven’t had lower-back aches in a while. I am getting bike fit!
Despite the early rise, we only got away just before 9am.
Why, oh why do people keep saying that summer is the riding season? The Western Cape is a dull brown in summer. I have been riding almost every weekend in winter (and now in early spring) and it is stunning. Sure, you get the odd drenching and the temperatures can get bloody freezing, but everything is amazingly green.
This may be the
Moordkuil Pass, but I stand under correction. It may just be a random road we did before the pass itself.
Thanksgiving anyone?
The next pass was
Dagbreek Pass/Blesbok Road. It has some very sharp corners. At the corner just before the one where the below picture was taken, I executed a power-slide against my will. I do not have the skill-set to do this voluntarily, but you will be amazed what you can do involuntarily if the alternative is an exploration of ungravelled mountain slope.
You are almost guaranteed to see game on or shortly after this pass, as the road runs next to a private game farm.
Zebras! Both the hoofed and motorcycle variety.
We stopped at a petrol station in George for fuel and nibbles. This would be the last fuel-stop for a while, as we did not plan to ride right in to Knysna. I don’t know what made me do it, but I decided to do a pre-trip inspection for kicks and giggles; checking the tyres of all the bikes. I have basically never done this before.
Huh? Why couldn’t I see all the knobbles at the base of my back tyre? It looks a bit flat. I stepped on the tyre’s side-wall and it was very definitely squishy. Oh dear. I put my bike on its centre stand and had a decent look at the tyre. It didn’t take long to find the large nail jammed in my tyre. Bugger! My first flat! Lance had had his first flat just last week (also in suburbia). We have both been riding for 2 years. Obviously Murphy was doing the rounds (we really should have taken this hint).
Lance and Gerhard quickly Googled the nearest tyre-fixing spot (the wonders of modern phones – mine doesn’t even have a colour screen…). It seemed that my puncture wasn’t a fast flat. We pumped up my tyre at the garage and headed off in search of our chosen destination, Wheels. We ended up getting slightly lost. We spotted a BMW dealer. They said they would not be able to help us within the next half hour, but they directed us to Wheels. I’m glad we ended up going to Wheels, as they were able to help us immediately. They would also probably be (much) cheaper. My bike is not used to being touched by a BMW dealer anyway. It may just give it a heart attack.
We were incredibly lucky that I had noticed the puncture in George and at a petrol station. It made it easier for everyone. This was to be the last “easy fix” on our route.
Lesson 02: Do your pre-trip inspections.
We headed off again after my bike was doctored. At a T-junction, I got left behind by the others, as I did not hit a traffic gap they did. When I headed off, I remembered seeing some bikers turn right further ahead. Hence, I turned right. I rode quite far before deciding that the others could not have come in this direction. Meanwhile, they had been worried that I had been flattened by the traffic and were only too glad to not find me anywhere (rather than find bits of me on the road). When I did eventually join up with them, Ilse said I would be given a “straf-dop” tonight for making her worry. She would get me back in spades on the following day.
We followed the Seven Passes route. The route name is a bit of a misnomer, as there are actually 8 passes. The first 3 are tar:
Swartrivier,
Kaaimansgat and
Silver River.
The remainder are gravel:
Touw River/Duiwelskop,
Hoogekraal,
Karatara,
Homtini Gorge/Goukamma River and
Phantom.
Gerhard had too much speed on one corner. This resulted in some off-road exploring (not meaning gravel, just plain off-road). Unfortunately Lance just caught the tail-end of this escapade, i.e. Gerhard rerouting back.
If you could write a novel about the Seven Passes route it would be called “50 Shades of Green.” That’s what it is: a lot of shade and a lot of green.
But beware, this novel dark, masochistic side: locals in speeding vehicles that do not always keep to their side of the road. Hug your side of the road unless you want to be part of a who-dun-it murder thriller.
These roads are beautiful, but if you are used to the Tankwa Karoo, it seems to be a rather hemmed-in, tame beauty. It feels like civilisation, or at least the next sedan vehicle, is just a corner away.
I enjoyed the following passes,
Gouna and
Kom-se-Pad, much more. They seemed quieter (maybe it was the time of day?) and they had the most eye-candy when it comes to “forest and views” scenery.
Gouna Pass
You must stop at the sharp corner with the dead trees. The view is fantastic. The guys weren’t too good with their GoPro angles. I could not create a snapshot that did the view justice. Therefore, if you want to see it, go there!
It’s a damn sharp and steep corner that must be taken with extreme caution, especially if you are descending; unless of course you’ve always dreamt about flying?
We met up with a father and sons (2) crowd on this corner. Obviously they also stopped to admire the view. Ilse asked them whether they would like to swap one of their bikes (ranging from 80 to 250 cc) for her big one. They politely declined. They looked like they were having buckets of fun.
We were chasing time at this point, thanks to the puncture episode and me getting lost, which cost us about 2 hours. It was 5:30pm and we had hoped to do the entire
Prince Alfred’s Pass (70km) and head to
Eagle Falls via Uniondale; a route that would take at least another 2 hours. We resigned ourselves to eventually riding in the dark.
Kom-se-Pad
Gerhard stopped me to tell me that my luggage was looking a bit loose. I had forgotten to strap it down after our stop at the Gouna corner. One of the straps had been lost; the other was still clinging on for dear life. Luckily I had two spare straps, so I even had a “spare spare.” During a previous ride (still to be committed to the Interweb), I had a spare strap for Lance when he fell, busting his soft-luggage straps.
Lesson 03: You can never have too many spare straps.
Do not even try to avoid the potholes. For every one you swerve to avoid, you will hit two. Example picture below.
Prince Alfred’s Pass
We reached
Angie’s G Spot sometime past 6pm. Ilse decided to head a petition to overnight right there. The rest of us did not need much convincing. We were tired, it was late and we had always wanted to stay at Angie’s G Spot anyway. It would mean we would have to shorten some of tomorrow’s route. If we could only know what “short-cut” Lance had in store for us…
We found a patch of grass
Lance and I have stopped for lunch at Angie’s G Spot before. It is a fascinating place; from the glass-wall kitchen (since there is no electricity other than that provided by solar or a generator – natural light is important) to the bus-room (the original home of the owner was a bus, around which the current house is built). You must have a chat with the owners (Harold and Angie) and have them show you around the place. Their stories are as interesting as the buildings.
As promised/threatened by Ilse earlier in the day, I would have my “straf-dop.” Harold has a unique offering in his bar: a “proes straat pretoria dop.” Oh… my… word…
The face says it all
Your bill labels it sweetly as a “puss dop.”
The strange gadgets never end. Ilse got to try out some strange device that’s name I have now forgotten. It is basically used to whack snuff into your nose. Your nose rests on a metal “spike” with a lip, so the metal bar doesn’t actually hit your nose. Ilse was sneezing up a storm thereafter.
The food was very yummy home-made fare, but on the pricey side as they have to import the ingredients all the way from Plett (Uniondale is too expensive). The pork curry was delish.
There had been light drizzle in the evening, but not enough to dampen our spirits. It even meant we got to see some wildlife!
