Baviaanskloof and Surrounds 6-9 Nov 2017

[Stephenoraw]

Three of us set out on a long-awaited trip to Baviaans and surrounds last week. Here is a short ride report.

The route:

Day 1. A loop out from Willowmore towards Steytlerville through the Grootrivier Berge, then heading south and east towards Grootrivierpoort and the Antoniesberg Pass, finishing in Patensie
Day 2: From Patensie on gravbel roads to Storms River before heading back to Jeffrey's Bay
Day 3: From Jeffreys to Zandvlakte in the Kloof
Day 4: a very short day from Zandvlakte to Willowmore, leaving us time to do whatever else we felt like going back to look at , or to take a detour, which we eventually did, deciding that Angie's G-Spot needed to be visited.

The riders:

Chris: Yamaha XT660Z Tenere. Chris is a Cape Town commuter biker who had bought the Ten to do some adventure riding as well. He missed our Tankwa trip last year due to being forced to go and drink Beer in Denmark. We still haven't forgiven him. This would be his first big off-road trip.

Pete: GS 800. Pete has been riding super-bikes for years before dipping his toe into the off-road stuff on our Tankwa trip last year. He's also CT based, but far enough out of town that Stellenbosch is a viable detour on his way into Cape Town..

Me: Steve: Honda CRF 250 Rally. The Gautenger of the group decided to experiment and go small capacity for this trip. He also then decided to push the boat out by not arranging his life well enough to actually go and run in the bike beforehand. So he started the trip on a bike he'd never ridden off-road, or with luggage, and with only 156kms on the clock... :

The excitement before the trip was pretty high.

Day 1: Day 1 started with a pleasant breakfast at the Willow Historical House in Willowmore, a definite recommendation, before we headed out north east towards the Grootrivier Berge and Steytlerville. The route was designed to run parallel and north of the R 329. We started off very easy, we had no idea how good Chris was off-road (very good actually), but the real reason was for me to get used to how the Rally felt on the dirt. We built up a little speed, but kept the ride calm as we worked our way east towards the R337.  The roads were dry and dusty but good and the ride was pretty uneventful, even as we headed down the Medenpoort and up Kampferspoort before a quick blast on the tarred R329 past all the flags painted on the rocks into the immaculate town of Steytlerville. (The flags on the poles in the main road are all the local family crests - I fully recommend reading Chris Marais and Julienne Du Toit's "Karoo" series of books for a bit of local info).

An (admittedly early) cold Windhoek (& only 1) was consumed at the Royal Hotel. Consumed with the enjoyment that only someone who has ridden through a dusty Karoo can understand.

We then headed out south for about 20kms before turning right off the main gravel road and heading towards what we suspected would be the best riding of the day, Antoniesberg Pass and Grootrivierspoort.

The riding here was excellent, we knew by now that the variable weather reports we had seen before the trip had been accurate in only one respect, cool weather, with none of the predicted rain. As much as we wished the rain on the area, it was drier than we could have imagined, we were a little selfish in appreciating the perfect conditions underfoot (undertyre?) as we rode and dipped and twisted our way east towards the poort, with the Baviaans Berge over our right shoulders.

The road got down to business soon enough, with the descent towards the poort, a very dry poort for us.

It then got interesting. We found out later through Guy of Dual Sport Motorcycle Clinic (More about him in the next episode) that the Antoniesberg Pass is in pretty good nick right now, with none of the erosion dongas he had experienced in the past. We found the route challenging enough as relative noobs, with loose rocks sand needing us to keep a balance between momentum and control. Chris and Pete, on the bigger bikes, found the conditions trickier than I did, but I'm not sure of it was the power of the bigger bikes or their tyre choice (or both). We worked our way up that amazing pass with some challenges, but a lot of fun, including a kudu that jumped out in front of Pete, from nowhere!

The pass had one last little goodbye for us before we reached the plateau that runs towards the Telkom tower. Of all the loose and rocky sections, there was one last piece of 200m that would change our trip somewhat. Pete on the GS800 had gotten up first, with a little help from his friends, before Chris had a go on the Ten. A rock jumped out at him halfway up, with the result that three spokes said "koebaai" on his front wheel, leaving it looking more like a pretzel than was ideal. The Rally, much to the irritation of my riding buddies, smoked that section. Breezed up. Vindication! (At this point I'd like to note that my buddies had decided that the smell of the Honda was a result of it burning up it's oil - baby oil apparently...)

After removing the broken spokes and checking to see if the wheel was ride-able, we headed off to the Telkom tower, before the descent to Patensie, a lovely piece of road.

The green of the Gamtoos valley after the harsh dryness of the Karoo was quite a mind-bend.

We eventually settled into the Ripple Hill Hotel in Patensie after a day of varied riding feeling well pleased with ourselves. The last order of business before getting outside of some phenomenal food (and I mean that - some of the best food I've ever had!) was to decide to can the planned Storms River ride for the next day and head into PE to get Chris a rim job...

More to follow

 

[Stephenoraw]

Day 2:

Eish.

Having made the decision the night before that we needed to get Chris's wheel repaired or replaced, we headed off to PE to find some help. We scrapped the original plan to head off to Storms River.

Two things happened:

1. A Gauteng soutie discovered just how nasty a Cape cold front can be... wind and rain battered us all the way to PE. Give me a Highveld thunderstorm any day....
2. We discovered just how hospitable PE Adv Bikers can be.

A massive shout out to:

1. Davies Motors and Remitech. They had Chris' wheel off, stripped & bent back into shape pronto. We didn't think that wheel was salvageable. They did it.
2. Guy Vergoes Houwens of Dual Sport Motorcycle Clinic. A Legend. When two cold and (one) very wet riders arrive at your door unannounced you have two options. Chase them away, or bring them inside, feed them coffee, chuck their wet stuff in a tumble drier, get them some decent rain gear and treat them like welcome guests. Guy, if you ever read this, and if I can ever repay the hospitality, you just let me know. I have never seen my mate Pete so happy to get a raincoat... ;D

So not much to report, except that a bottle or two of Bains met an untimely end after a brief blast down the old road to Jeffrey's Bay...

Oh, and if you feed your mates enough Bains they do a reasonably (kak) impression of the Baywatch babes running down the beach.

 

[Smuggy]

Sub.. Glad you came to enjoy our part of the world a bit.. :thumleft:

 

[Gerard]

Nice one

Day 2: From Patensie on gravbel roads to Storms River before heading back to Jeffrey's Bay

I was interested in this. I'm familiar with all the roads. Explain what your intended route was.

 

[Gerard]

We were right behind you guys. https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=216943.0 Such a pity you hoinked it to Willowmore fromn Zandvlakte and did not do the Rus and Vrede 4x4 Side Entry to Kareedow and from there to Angie's.

Arguably the best ride of Baviaans Surrounds you can get.

 

[Stephenoraw]

Quote from: Gérrard on Today at 09:41:32 am<blockquote>"We were right behind you guys. https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=216943.0 Such a pity you hoinked it to Willowmore fromn Zandvlakte and did not do the Rus and Vrede 4x4 Side Entry to Kareedow and from there to Angie's.

Arguably the best ride of Baviaans Surrounds you can get."

Gerrard - it was pity we didn't see you, we saw very few bikes on our trip. But before I go any further I'd like to say thanks to you, it was one of your posts on Baviaans and the advice you were giving to riders who had never been there before that helped us plan our trip. In case you were ever wondering if that advice had been used and appreciated - yes it was!​

We took a very late decision to head off to Angie's, we were already out past Nuwekloof pass and at the intersection before we decided to head off there. Turned out it gave us some of the best riding we'd had, the gravel road to the N9 and then Prince Alfred's pass. Magic stuff.​

I didn't realize that there was a side entry to the Kloof - all the more reason to go back there.....
​

</blockquote>

 

[Stephenoraw]

Quote from: Gérrard on Today at 09:33:54 am<blockquote>"Nice one

Day 2: From Patensie on gravbel roads to Storms River before heading back to Jeffrey's Bay

I was interested in this. I'm familiar with all the roads. Explain what your intended route was."

I don't know these roads, but figured that there was a way to get to Storms without doing the N2 and too much tar. I've attached our original route as a kml file. Knowing about would have been cool, as it would have meant a different route to get to Storms. Next time!
</blockquote>

 

[big oil]

Subscribed  :ricky:

 

[Stephenoraw]

Day 3: The fabled Baviaanskloof

A little bit of history here. The lure of Baviaanskloof was what got me into Adventure Biking.

My first post on this forum was in June of 2015"Quote from: Stephenoraw on June 25, 2015, 10:57:15 am Hi All. I've been lurking for a few weeks now, but thought it was time to say hello. Just acquired a 660Z Tenere for a planned Bavaiaanskloof trip later this year or early the next, riding skills allowing. Thanks to all that post their advice and experience here."It took me longer than planned, but here I was about to experience Baviaans.

After having damaged the Bains supply the night before after a long, cold and wet day, the first order of business was to get a decent breakfast. Wimpy in Humansdorp it was. (Yeah, yeah, i know I said "decent", but beggars can't be choosers...)

Our original route would have taken us north from Jeffreys, but the agreed route from Humansdorp looked promising, some easy gravel going north on the R332 before hitting Hadleigh and the park proper. It proved a good choice, the rain from the previous day not having unsettled the surface much and we made good time on some lovely roads before turning left on to the tar for the short piece to Komdomo and the "'Kloof".

Wow. From Komdomo to the gate was magnificent. We didn't know it at the time but we had re-acquainted ourselves with our friend the Grootrivier from two days ago. With the farms to our right for part of the way we enjoyed the really good road conditions. Perfect riding.

Gate entry was cheap and easy.

Once in the park the rain shadow of the mountains became very apparent, there was a fair amount of water in the streams we crossed in places, but mostly the levels were low and in some cases, the crossing were completely dry.

Combrink's Pass was fantastic, the plateau between Combrinks and Holgat was fantastic, the concrete strips down Holgat Pass were easy enough if you concentrated. Thank you to those who had previously given advice on riding this section. (Edit - since I started writing this I am pleased to be able to refer to Gerrard and his posts on the route)

And then Smitskraal! I'm still not sure if I'm happy or sad that the conditions we had were pretty dry. On one hand we cruised through and were happy that we had no issues, on the other hand were a bit disappointed that it was not the legend we've heard it can be. Kudos to Pete & Chris here though, as I made them go back and do it again just do I could get some decent video footage.....  :

We stopped briefly at the campsite ( I wanted to get evidence that a 250 could make it here fully loaded) before we headed off again. This was magic riding, but over far too soon. We had some fun at one or two water crossings, where Chris' attempt to soak me ended up with karma biting him in the [member=5445]ss[/member]  ;D

Our destination was Zandvlakte, where, after Chris was volunteered to do an emergency beer run to the shop further up the road (Thanks Chris!), we had a relaxed end to the day. Dinner that night was interesting, with a diverse group around the table. Us three, a couple and their daughter from George who were doing a road trip, and three ladies who travel this part of the world doing education of water erosion control. We chuckled a lot, but the thing that will stay with me was when we were asked the question by the others, "is this an annual thing, you three traveling on bikes like this?" and we looked at each other (bearing in mind that Pete & Chris had only met each other on this trip and that this was the first one we had done as this group) and said yes, we hope so. I like to think that at that moment something was created that will endure for all the years we are able to throw a leg over a bike..... Our annual "twee boere en 'n soutie" trip! ccasion14:

Somewhere between arriving at Zandvlakte, dinner, and leaving the next morning. the ideas for the next trip were already being bounced around...

 

[Gerard]

Quote from: Gérrard on Today at 09:33:54 am<blockquote>"Nice one

Day 2: From Patensie on gravbel roads to Storms River before heading back to Jeffrey's Bay

I was interested in this. I'm familiar with all the roads. Explain what your intended route was."

I don't know these roads, but figured that there was a way to get to Storms without doing the N2 and too much tar. I've attached our original route as a kml file. Knowing about would have been cool, as it would have meant a different route to get to Storms. Next time!
</blockquote>

OK, I thought you knew of roads I did not. From Patensie you can do gravel, just by-passing Humansdorp, almost all the way to Kareedow. You'd then cross the mountain to the N2 and slab 20 km to Storms. There are gravel roads along that section of the N2, but you not going to find them on a map and they don't link for a continuous ride. Just scenic in and outs more suited to MTB.

 

[Gerard]

Quote from: Gérrard on Today at 09:41:32 am<blockquote>"We were right behind you guys. https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=216943.0 Such a pity you hoinked it to Willowmore fromn Zandvlakte and did not do the Rus and Vrede 4x4 Side Entry to Kareedow and from there to Angie's.

Arguably the best ride of Baviaans Surrounds you can get."

Gerrard - it was pity we didn't see you, we saw very few bikes on our trip. But before I go any further I'd like to say thanks to you, it was one of your posts on Baviaans and the advice you were giving to riders who had never been there before that helped us plan our trip. In case you were ever wondering if that advice had been used and appreciated - yes it was!​

We took a very late decision to head off to Angie's, we were already out past Nuwekloof pass and at the intersection before we decided to head off there. Turned out it gave us some of the best riding we'd had, the gravel road to the N9 and then Prince Alfred's pass. Magic stuff.​

I didn't realize that there was a side entry to the Kloof - all the more reason to go back there.....
​

</blockquote>

Anytime and when you thinking of coming here again, just talk to me.

That gravel Rd you refer to that took you to the N9, if its the turn left just after Nuwekloof pass, is called the Hartebeesrivier road. The turn-off to the Side Entry, on the farm Rus en Vrede, is just 15km past Zandvlakte.

Just for future reference

 

[Stephenoraw]

Day 4: Out of the Kloof and finding a G-spot

We had originally planned our route with a very short day back to Willowmore. The idea being that we would either go back and do the route in the park again, or leave ourselves time to go and explore parts of the surrounds that we had heard about en route.

But one last thing on Day 3. We were joined later at dinner at Zandvlakte by the farmer who owns the farm, (I'm embarrassed to say I never did get his name  :-[ ) and we heard lots of horror stories of drowned GS's, stranded foreign students at Smitskraal, in tiny hatchbacks. Tales of fetching and carrying various riders from, to and out of the various water crossings. Hearing that were less disappointed that the water level was low..... Another big shout out to the farmers of that area for any assistance that they have given bikers over the years!

Back to day 4. Again, I need to give kudos to my riding partners. Even though I warned them beforehand that Nuwekloof pass was the last chance for me to get that killer drone and video footage, I don't think that they expected to have to ride through Raaskrans more times than I remembered to count.... Thanks boys!

The road to Nuwekloof was pretty choppy and uncomfortable, smoothed by a decent cup of coffee at the Baviaans Padtstal midway.


At Nuwekloof we saw our one and only other bike! A KTM 1290 with a pillion, who blew past far faster than any of us had been going solo !


Despite numerous runs up and down the pass, after Nuwekloof it was still pretty early, so when we got to the intersection, we decided to head off to Uniondale and Angie's. Pete & Chris had haaked vas there on the drive up before the trip and had been raving about it, so it was an easy decision to turn left and head towards Uniondale. We made a slight navigation error here, which brought us out on the N9 still 28kms out of town, whereas we realised later that we could have gone further on gravel and come out closer to town.

We did not complain though, the gravel road was excellent and we cruised quite comfortably. This was excellent "helmet space" riding, you and your thoughts alone in that helmet, the roads fast enough to go for it if you wanted, but easy enough if you wanted to throttle back and zen out. I'll go back and ride that road again....

A quick fill up in Uniondale before heading out towards Angie's.

I haven't driven Prince Alfred's in over 20 years. I had forgotten about it. Wow. Wow. We had great fun going down, more fun coming back up. The sad thing was that they were battling a fire in that valley and it was hellish terrain for them to work in.

They had closed the road to 4 wheel vehicles by the time we left Angie's, but allowed us to squeeze past, which mean that we had the pass to ourselves on the way up, there had been a few raindrops, so the road was free of dust - and grippy. We spanked those bikes up there to the best of our ability, which wasn't probably very fast, but was great fun!

A dash on the tar to Willowmore through a brief rain shower and our trip was done! 

It was a pretty mellow group that set about unpacking bikes, loading bags and generally settling back in to the reality that the trip was over....

 

[Klein Torkar]

Thanks for the share

 

[XRRX]

Lekka RR - thx! I've been through Raaskrans dozens of times - one's even when it was a raging river from side-to-side, 0.5m+ deep - but I've never seen it from the air!!!