DirtyHarry
Race Dog
Day 11 Prince Alfred – Laingsburg – Barrydale – Montague – Worcester – Cape Town
Here we are in the nice town of Prince Alfred with the beautiful little shops and houses. And it is evident this morning with the dark clouds, we gonna see some rain on the last day of our trip.
Then we had a quick walk through town to have a look at interesting decorated shops and old houses along the main road.
Because of the weather we did a little change on the route planning. We wanted to go to the N1 and straight back to Cape Town.
We said good bye to my new pillion or should I say driver?
After half an hour riding along the N1 with all the traffic and heading into a gale force NW wind, we both decided that this kind of riding will spoil our trip if we carry on like this. We would rather go off the N1 and take more time for our last stage.
We crossed on a dirt road towards Ladysmith and out-navigated a few showers right in our vicinity.
A quick stop at Ronnies place where we met two bikers from Joburg. They have actually loaded their bikes on a train and started their trip in Cape Town to leisurely cruise back to Joburg in two weeks. Sounds like a chilled and relaxing trip.
Driving along the R 62 is very enjoyable. We actually never drove it all the way, not even in our cage.
And closer we came to the cold front – the wind was hauling.
In Worcester the rain finally hit us but from there it is only a 1hr drive home, so we didn’t bother too much. Out came my sailing jacket for Claudi which was way too big for her. I put on my R 99 oily from Builders Warehouse which actually worked quite well.
After going over Du Toitskloof Pass in heavy mist and rain we made it home safely.
We have covered 5050km in 11 days, which makes an average of 460km per day. That doesn’t sound much but we sat on the bike at least 7 hrs every day. More then 50% we have traveled on dirt roads, most of them were in pretty good condition.
We both started the trip as absolute DS rookies and learnt a lot along the way.
Our bike has got a few dents and scratches and so de we from our 4 offs along the way, but luckily nothing serious happened.
I would like to thank all the Wilddogs for the inspiration we have received from other ride reports on this forum.
This is the reason why I have posted our own report. It should inspire other rookie riders to head out and experience our beautiful country while we can. More and more roads will be paved in the future and some adventure opportunities will be lost in the process. Sani Pass is only one example. So hurry up, it’s worth it.
With my little riding experience I have been overwhelmed with the heavy weight of our bike in real off road conditions and I am not talking about normal dirt roads, this can be done with almost any bike. It's about the more technical sections, than I have sometimes wished my wife could be on her own set of wheels.
Other than that riding 2 up is a great experience and a lot of fun. It definitely strengthened my kidney area.
We are heavily bitten by the DS bug and planning our next trip already.
Thanks for reading and please excuse my somewhat improvised writing style. English is not my native tongue.
Here we are in the nice town of Prince Alfred with the beautiful little shops and houses. And it is evident this morning with the dark clouds, we gonna see some rain on the last day of our trip.
Then we had a quick walk through town to have a look at interesting decorated shops and old houses along the main road.
Because of the weather we did a little change on the route planning. We wanted to go to the N1 and straight back to Cape Town.
We said good bye to my new pillion or should I say driver?
After half an hour riding along the N1 with all the traffic and heading into a gale force NW wind, we both decided that this kind of riding will spoil our trip if we carry on like this. We would rather go off the N1 and take more time for our last stage.
We crossed on a dirt road towards Ladysmith and out-navigated a few showers right in our vicinity.
A quick stop at Ronnies place where we met two bikers from Joburg. They have actually loaded their bikes on a train and started their trip in Cape Town to leisurely cruise back to Joburg in two weeks. Sounds like a chilled and relaxing trip.
Driving along the R 62 is very enjoyable. We actually never drove it all the way, not even in our cage.
And closer we came to the cold front – the wind was hauling.
In Worcester the rain finally hit us but from there it is only a 1hr drive home, so we didn’t bother too much. Out came my sailing jacket for Claudi which was way too big for her. I put on my R 99 oily from Builders Warehouse which actually worked quite well.
After going over Du Toitskloof Pass in heavy mist and rain we made it home safely.
We have covered 5050km in 11 days, which makes an average of 460km per day. That doesn’t sound much but we sat on the bike at least 7 hrs every day. More then 50% we have traveled on dirt roads, most of them were in pretty good condition.
We both started the trip as absolute DS rookies and learnt a lot along the way.
Our bike has got a few dents and scratches and so de we from our 4 offs along the way, but luckily nothing serious happened.
I would like to thank all the Wilddogs for the inspiration we have received from other ride reports on this forum.
This is the reason why I have posted our own report. It should inspire other rookie riders to head out and experience our beautiful country while we can. More and more roads will be paved in the future and some adventure opportunities will be lost in the process. Sani Pass is only one example. So hurry up, it’s worth it.
With my little riding experience I have been overwhelmed with the heavy weight of our bike in real off road conditions and I am not talking about normal dirt roads, this can be done with almost any bike. It's about the more technical sections, than I have sometimes wished my wife could be on her own set of wheels.
Other than that riding 2 up is a great experience and a lot of fun. It definitely strengthened my kidney area.
We are heavily bitten by the DS bug and planning our next trip already.
Thanks for reading and please excuse my somewhat improvised writing style. English is not my native tongue.
