My first solo trip

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frikkiwitz

frikkiwitz

Pack Dog
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Joined
Apr 15, 2023
Messages
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Location
Ruimsig
Bike
BMW (all models)
Day 1 - Hitting the road eventually

So the plan was to pull away at 06:00 this morning, but thanks to all the rain in Ruimsig, I decided to wait it out a bit. Ended up only leaving just after 09:00—in the rain, of course. Not exactly the ideal start to my first solo trip, but hey, at least I finally got going.

The Tenere 700 was fully loaded for the first time, which made for an interesting ride. The first 100 km were wet, but after that, things smoothed out on the N1—until just past Kroonstad, where the wind kicked in. Proper headwinds made things tough. Given the delays and the weather, I scrapped my planned gravel route from Bloemfontein to Gariep and stuck to tar instead.

Had a little moment of smugness realizing how much less fuel the GSA needs compared to the Tenere. The Tenere had to make three fuel stops, while the GSA would’ve only started getting thirsty later in the day. About 100 km from Gariep, the wind was so brutal that my fuel consumption tanked to 11 km/l. Fun times.

Tonight is my one and only night in “luxury”—a bed & breakfast. From tomorrow, it’s all camping, all solo, for the first time ever. Looking forward to it!

Let’s see what Day 2 brings.
Gariep - Merweville

View attachment IMG_3398.jpegView attachment IMG_3381.jpeg
 
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Lekker, looking forward to riding along.

As an aside, do you commute on John Vorster over Beyers Naude with the T7?

Just wondering if I have spotted you in traffic before. I normally turn right onto Beyers in the mornings, and have spotted a T7 there a couple of times.
 
Grootseun said:
Lekker, looking forward to riding along.

As an aside, do you commute on John Vorster over Beyers Naude with the T7?

Just wondering if I have spotted you in traffic before. I normally turn right onto Beyers in the mornings, and have spotted a T7 there a couple of times.
Click to expand...
Nope probably. I go from Ruimsig to Lanseria. I do use the T7 when I go to meetings anywhere 15secs away from my route. So might’ve been then but not regularly.
 
Day 2 – Sand, Water, and Endless Nothingness

Started the day in Gariep, filled up, and hit the road—well, more like the sand road from Colesberg to De Aar. It was a beautiful stretch, proper open-country riding, and I made good time. Once in De Aar, I topped up the tank again and set off towards Victoria West.

That’s when things got interesting. The road ahead was covered in pools of water, some over 50 meters long. Clearly, they’ve had a lot of rain recently. Being solo, I wasn’t keen on testing my luck, so I turned back and rerouted via tar to Victoria West instead.

Filling up in Victoria West, what stood out wasn’t the ride, but the town itself—poverty is really evident there. From there, I continued towards Fraserburg, but I quickly realized that planned time and actual time are two very different things. Even without issues, my route was way too ambitious.

At Beaufort West, I picked up the gravel again towards Fraserburg, but it became clear that I was running out of time. Eventually, after more than 100 km of dirt, I found myself in a landscape that can only be described as the definition of nothingness. If you ever need to show someone what absolute emptiness looks like, this is the road you take.

With the clock against me, I rerouted to get to Merweville, but my GPS had other plans and spat me out at Three Sisters instead. From there, it was all tar to Merweville.

For those who don’t know, the Afrikaans series Die Boekklub was filmed here and based on the town, which is probably why I’ve got a bit of a fascination with the place—I’ve watched that series three or four times.

That wraps up Day 2—just over 700 km, with around 300 km on gravel and 400 km on tar. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

Day 3 - Merweville - Mosselbaai

View attachment IMG_3420.jpeg
 
T7 is 11km per liter. Wow never knew they were that heavy on fuel. Even in a strong headwind
Thank you for the RR
 
Last year I did a trip from Pretoria to Knysna via dirt. There and back was 5,000ks. But I found that more than 400ks on dirt for a single day becomes a challenge. I wasn't trying to see how quickly I could get from a to z but rather to enjoy the ride and the scenery. Averaged about 60k/h. But hey, enjoy and keep posting. Nice read.
 
frikkiwitz said:
Day 2 – Sand, Water, and Endless Nothingness

Started the day in Gariep, filled up, and hit the road—well, more like the sand road from Colesberg to De Aar. It was a beautiful stretch, proper open-country riding, and I made good time. Once in De Aar, I topped up the tank again and set off towards Victoria West.

That’s when things got interesting. The road ahead was covered in pools of water, some over 50 meters long. Clearly, they’ve had a lot of rain recently. Being solo, I wasn’t keen on testing my luck, so I turned back and rerouted via tar to Victoria West instead.

Filling up in Victoria West, what stood out wasn’t the ride, but the town itself—poverty is really evident there. From there, I continued towards Fraserburg, but I quickly realized that planned time and actual time are two very different things. Even without issues, my route was way too ambitious.

At Beaufort West, I picked up the gravel again towards Fraserburg, but it became clear that I was running out of time. Eventually, after more than 100 km of dirt, I found myself in a landscape that can only be described as the definition of nothingness. If you ever need to show someone what absolute emptiness looks like, this is the road you take.

With the clock against me, I rerouted to get to Merweville, but my GPS had other plans and spat me out at Three Sisters instead. From there, it was all tar to Merweville.

For those who don’t know, the Afrikaans series Die Boekklub was filmed here and based on the town, which is probably why I’ve got a bit of a fascination with the place—I’ve watched that series three or four times.

That wraps up Day 2—just over 700 km, with around 300 km on gravel and 400 km on tar. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

Day 3 - Merweville - Mosselbaai

View attachment 940804
Click to expand...
That combo of tar & dirt will kill me. For me a day would be either 400 km tar or 300 km dirt. That's it. So by my standards, well done.
 
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