14 Days of FREEzzDOM

[Jay]

Let me start off thanking everybody for posting their rides  :thumleft: I love reading them and the picks are awesome. Now I have to apologize because I have done 12000 km without posting  :deal: and every time I see somebody putting in the effort to post a good riding report I feel very guilty  eepwall:  

So without too much babble here goes  :ricky:

TRIP OVERVIEW:
Pretoria to Pretoria via Eastern Free State, Eastern Cape, Western cape, Northern cape and the dirt highways of the Karoo.
14 Days - 4880 km
For this trip I got the new Garmin Zumo 660 and a set of Sena SMH10’s Bluetooth headsets.  All I can say is both products work very well and I can recommend it for sure… Thanks Runner for stocking these units at a very good price and your after sales support is amazing.  I will do business with you again any day!!

The only thing I have to get now is a better camera…  : sorry some of the pics are not WD standards  :-[

SOME TEAZERS

DAY 1:
As usual the trip started late, leaving only at 15:00 from Pretoria and still having to drop off a vehicle in Germiston.  I was about to ditch the trip and rather leave the following morning, but the better half persuaded me that we could at least push threw to Vrede and stay with her mom who is a housemother at the children’s home in Vrede ( if anybody want more information about helping the children’s home please just PM me)
The plan was actually to travel to Fouriesburg and stay with our friends on their farm but due to time constrains we had to settle for Vrede.  Arriving in darkness we were met by the Free State winter with temperature dropping to a freezing two degrees.

DAY 2:
The next morning we woke to a beautiful Eastern Free State chilly morning.  

It is a short hop to Fouriesburg so we only left at around 10:00, nothing much to report on the road to Fouriesburg except this little sweet spot serving great food next to the church in Warden owned by an interesting and hospitable hostess.

Church in Warden

Arriving at Fouriesburg we had to make an obvious stop at the Windmill Pub and Grill owned by Nelis Roos , there we had a quick refreshment and chat before setting of towards the farm.

Our spirits were lifted when we finally hit the dirt road leading to our friends farm, way to soon the dirt ended at the back door of their farmhouse where we enjoyed a lovely evening with good friends.

I never get tired of the beauty in this area.

 

[Loneman]

Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Mark Hardy]

Subscribed  :thumleft:

 

[mischiefjay]

Nice photos and nice ride.  :ricky:

 

[Jay]

DAY 3:
We left the tranquility of the farm life behind the next morning, nothing beats starting the motor and rolling straight out on the dirt not just any dirt, but Eastern Free State dirt there is something about these dirt roads meandering threw these rocky hills that just seems to pinch the heart.

Have a look at how funny nature can be…. This hill is aptly called “tepel kop”

Today we are heading of to East London (Slummies) to visit my parents.  It was quite a distance to travel with the ice warning flickering on the dash of the beast reminding us about what we are getting ourselves into on this trip, the only thing keeping us from freezing our nurries off was the fact that the scenery of the Maluti route overpowered the cold.  Our first pit stop was just outside Clocolan, a lekker little place and a must stop for an excellent breakkie, the place is right next to the road, the Cabin farm stall and deli.

After warming our bones and baking like dassies in the sun we headed of direction Rouxville, nothing much to report and the road was quit boring, here are some random pics.  

Arriving in Aliwal North for the usual Dom Pedro at the restaurant next to the bridge.  If you ever in this area do yourself a favour stop here for a Nachtmuzik Dom Pedro, while savoring every little drop I had a call from my dad.  The news unfortunately was not good it was raining in East London, rephrase, bucketing down as my dad put it.  We decided to set of immediately and hope for the best… All was going well and by the time we hit Queenstown we did not see any of this rain, but then alas 80km before East London the rain monster let loose it’s fury.

On top of this we had to endure the mist and the darkness slowly stalking us as well, we pushed threw finally arriving at East London, two very wet, cold and tired looking drowned rats. A quick hot shower, milo and loads of shooter later the rain monster was quickly a thing of the past.

That night we got a call from the children’s home in Vrede just to tell us we missed 4cm of snow that was falling… brrrrrrrr

 

[Piston Pete]

:drif:

 

[hayleyscomet]

Looks lekker Bud

:thumleft:

 

[Jay]

DAY 4 & 5

Stayed in east London waiting for a gap in the weather to leave that did not come, until the next day, well sort off by 12:00 we decided to take a gamble and head off down the coast direction PE also a boring day on the black stuff but we kept ourselves entertained by out riding the rain every time we stopped for a break the rain caught up, then we would jump on the beast and put rubber down to outrun it again.  By the time we got out of PE the rain monster got bored and stopped playing with us, the rest of the day turned out beautifully.

Random picks.

Seeing that the day turned in our favor we decided to do the Van Stadens pass a good little ride as always.  From here we headed to J-Bay looking for a place to lay down our heads.

DAY 6

After some good rest we pointed the front wheel into the direction of George, the ride today would be mostly on the black stuff, but wow it was worth every kilometer with lots off activities that kept us well entertained. First stop after breakfast was at Tsitsikama falls adventures for some zip lining.  :drif:

Meet the zippers;
Maggie the mad zipper  :mwink:

and Harry hardcore.

It was great fun and I would like to do it again soon.  After zipping across the river a couple of times we hopped on the scoot, to zip of to see Bloukrans pass. Every where the signs indicated that the pass was still closed, seeing we were so lucky with the weather today we decided to try our luck with the pass and as it turned out we found a place to pas threw the barriers and had ourselves a very beautiful scenic ride with surprises around every turn.
It is obvious the road is not in use with the rock fall debris, fallen trees and it is clear the forest is reclaiming its ownership. When we arrived at the bottom there was a work crew painting lines on the road which I found very strange, as the pass is obviously not in use with in further enquiries for why they are doing this, they informed me the other side from the bridge to the N2 was already repaired and the pass will be opened again to the public in the near future.  Very good news I think.

After the spoils of the Bloukrans pass we headed of to the worlds highest bungy bridge.  But we both decided to opt out and decided to hang around on the bike rather on a rubber string.

Next we headed of to ride a little pass which I have attempted to ride on numerous occasions but every time it seems to be closed. The Grootrivier pass down to Natures valley turned out to be worth the wait.
Getting back on the mandain N2 we decide to sleep over in Plettenberg bay, where later that night in our hotel room I found nature’s valley again.  >

DAY 7

The aim of the day is to hop the mountain, but first we had to visit the Knysna elephant sanctuary.

Here you can actually hire a room to sleep with the elephants, sit on a deck and watch them all night if you are so inclined

After this big adventure we turned to the wild side and went to the wolf sanctuary, saw some wild dogs there but they were not very talkative.  They just snarled at me.

Went to Knysna heads after which we had lunch at the restaurant below.

Already late morning I was keen to start hitting the dirt, and started just outside Sedgefield retracing my childhood roots and visited what use to be my Grandfathers farm.  It was a fantastic little ride all along the vleie into Wilderness where we went up to see the old train bridge and the Map of Africa.

From the map of Africa we decided to ride the old George Knysna route which never fails to inspire.

Now it was what we have been waiting for, for so many kilometers Montagu pass.  This must be one of my favorite passes and I enjoy riding it immensely.

After the awesome Montagu we were on a super dirt highway called Paardekraal to De Rust.  We managed to get to De Rust at super sonic speed, it started raining 10 km before De Rust, but after Montagu and Paardekraal we did not even notice the rain.

 

[Mark Hardy]

So glad I subscribed ... lekker RR and pics  :thumleft:

More please

 

[DD650]

Very nice RR. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Oom Foe-rie]

Another good looking RR .....................  :thumleft:

 

[Carrots]

Bliksem......my favourite ry plekke waar julle meestal was.  :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[Brandt]

:happy1:

 

[Walkaway]

Thanks for posting. :thumleft:

 

[Grondpad]

:drif:

 

[gsjoe]

Lekker Jay, so where's the rest, stop taking those extended smoke breaks and type. Great trip thanx for sharing

 

[IDR]

Sheesh - munching up the miles are what GSAs are best at huh? Missing the Buell yet? ;D

Great so far - subscribed :thumleft:

 

[Jay]

Thanks all for the kind words…  :thumleft:

I am getting there sorry for the delay  : will do my best to get some more done this evening

 

[Jay]

Sheesh - munching up the miles are what GSAs are best at huh? Missing the Buell yet? ;D

Great so far - subscribed :thumleft:

Hmmm I do miss the Buell, had some good rides on it  :ricky:

Just cannot see parting from the GSA though  atch:

 

[GEE-SH]

Great Report!!!!

WRT the Bloukrans Pass - it wil not be opened very soon.  The bloukrans river is the line between Western and Eastern Cape.  The Western Cape Provincial government set funds available for the repair on their side, but unfortunately, the Eastern Cape is still doing their best to find the funds to start with the structural repairs on their side.

PS: You can be lucky one of the "policing officers" working on the WC side did not write down your registration number as the pass is closed with numerous notices and locked gates.  You could have found yourself in deep deep trouble as a couple of bikers a few weeks have found out.

The geological faces of the pass is VERY unstable - to such an extent that even the sounds of an exhaust backfiring will cause a landslide.  Do not ride the pass although it appears to be a great ride, it might just as well be your last.