DeonS
Pack Dog
During my holiday trip (the Coffeeshop inspection tour) I visited an old friend in Oudtshoorn. He then told me the story of when he took his 1955 BMW R50 to go and have a look at the snow on the Swartberg. At the place where the police closed off the Swartberg Pass, he asked them to take a photo of him, and then if he could just go a little bit further up the pass to take some photos of the snow. To this they readily agreed.
The only problem was, when he thought he had seen enough snow and wanted to turn around, he couldn't - the "middelmannetjie" of snow was too deep, and the tracks too slippery and icy - he felt that he didn't have enough strength for this (did I mention that he is over 70 years old?) :thumleft:. So he carried on to the top of the mountain, hoping that the Northern side would have less snow. Much to his surprise, the snow on the Northern (Prince Albert) side was deeper than on the Southern (Oudtshoorn) side. So, having no choice, he rode his 53 year old bike over the mountain to Prince Albert, slipping and sliding through snow so deep that the BMW cylinderheads were scraping in it.....
Unfortunately, as it normally goes, when the going gets tough, one forgets to take photos. So these were taken lower down on the mountain when everything was still mild...
In his own word: Haai, en wanneer voertuie op sneeu ry en dit vastrap word dit mos soos 'n spieël ..... glad.
Once in Prince Albert, he phoned his wife to tell her that he's still alive - the quick photo run took a bit longer than planned! He then rode back via Meiringspoort. By the time he got to De Rust, dusk was setting in. My friend duly put his headlight on, and while he knows that 6V electrics and lights don't work so well, he was a bit surprised that he could see light with his hand held in front of the headlight, while sitting on the bike, but not much in the road. Anyway, he rode back to Oudtshoorn, completing a 180km round trip. As he switched off the bike back at home, he realised that he put the headlight on park and not full on!
His own son perhaps summed it up best of all - "Vandag het ons amper ge-erf!" (today we almost inherited!)
RESPECT OOM J :thumleft:
The only problem was, when he thought he had seen enough snow and wanted to turn around, he couldn't - the "middelmannetjie" of snow was too deep, and the tracks too slippery and icy - he felt that he didn't have enough strength for this (did I mention that he is over 70 years old?) :thumleft:. So he carried on to the top of the mountain, hoping that the Northern side would have less snow. Much to his surprise, the snow on the Northern (Prince Albert) side was deeper than on the Southern (Oudtshoorn) side. So, having no choice, he rode his 53 year old bike over the mountain to Prince Albert, slipping and sliding through snow so deep that the BMW cylinderheads were scraping in it.....
Unfortunately, as it normally goes, when the going gets tough, one forgets to take photos. So these were taken lower down on the mountain when everything was still mild...In his own word: Haai, en wanneer voertuie op sneeu ry en dit vastrap word dit mos soos 'n spieël ..... glad.
Once in Prince Albert, he phoned his wife to tell her that he's still alive - the quick photo run took a bit longer than planned! He then rode back via Meiringspoort. By the time he got to De Rust, dusk was setting in. My friend duly put his headlight on, and while he knows that 6V electrics and lights don't work so well, he was a bit surprised that he could see light with his hand held in front of the headlight, while sitting on the bike, but not much in the road. Anyway, he rode back to Oudtshoorn, completing a 180km round trip. As he switched off the bike back at home, he realised that he put the headlight on park and not full on!
His own son perhaps summed it up best of all - "Vandag het ons amper ge-erf!" (today we almost inherited!)
RESPECT OOM J :thumleft:
