Call us Crazy!! But what an ADVENTURE!! - Finished! WE MADE IT!!

[GreenMachine]

Nice RR  :notworthy:

 

[ThomTom]

Memories are made of this!  Naude's at night! My girlfriend would not take that kindely, great RR, keep them coming.

 

[BlueBull2007]

Very lekker, keep it coming!

 

[dusty]

Great RR  :thumleft:

 

[Scrat]

daai agter tkc hou nie... watse voor tire is daai ?

Hey Stev0

Yip - ek kry gewoontlik so 9-10000 uit 'n TKC - mar kan dalk wees omdat hy so swaar gelaai was.. glo nie hy sal 5000 maak nie....
Ma Baie impressed met die voortire..... MAXXIS Maxicross-IT - MX tyre.... was tricky om aan gewoont te raak ma het nou al 10000km gery met hom - love di gravel grip wat hy gee - maar is nou nie die beste nat teer tire nie... en vi R450 'n tire !! Bargain!!  :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[bradleys]

Keep it comming ,lekker pics and report.

 

[Scrat]

Day10 Rhodes to Queenstown

After a good nights rest and Great breakfast it was time to saddle up and get going, it was freezing cold and made it difficult to get all the straps on the back of the bike hooked…

While we were busy one of the guys came up to us and said we need to hurry up if we want to get out of Rhodes… apparently lots of snow coming!!    Whoohoooooo SNOW!!! Yeah!! :mwink:
Doesn't look to bad ahead, just cold.....

Here is a few pics around the hotel....

Creativity...... :thumleft: :thumleft:

As we were finishing the packing and paying our bills it started, FIRST TIME that we saw snow falling….. stunning!! :thumleft: :thumleft: 
Can't really see it clearly on this pic........

We filled up at the hotel…. R9.00 a Liter of Petrol!!! Sharks!!  ??? ???  But as we started riding out of Rhodes it REALLY started falling!! My heart was pounding and adrenalin rushing through my veins!! I have no idea what the tricks is for driving in snow…… :-\... And if it is gonna get worse??  Only one way to find out. :ricky: :ricky: :ricky:
Barkley East here we come!! The heavy snow continued for about 8-10min and we were out in the open, think we just left in time!!

The road to Barkley...

a glimpse of the way we just came.....

Rhodes now hidden away in that snow fall.....

A stunning road to Barkley East – it was just Moer koud!! Our toes were freezing in the MX boots – but we made it and decided to look for a cozy bar/coffee shop.. the clouds was getting darker outside…. Had a moer koffie with tot whiskey and tot amarula for milk…. Awesome mix – makes you warm and keep you awake!!!  :mwink: :mwink:
Regte bar Flieg...... :biggrin:

of dalk eerder Bar Vliee..... :mwink:

Pic from outside the bar....

While we were inside the bar it started snowing outside….in Rhodes we saw snow in the form of small balls, and here it was big flakes – like in the cartoons!! It was amazing!!
Bike enjoying the snow flakes....

After soaking up all the heat we could from the fireplace we decided to hit the snow before we get snowed in here at Barkley East! 

We headed out on the R58 and took the R396 gravel towards Dordrecht. We stopped to make sure we are not too crazy…. Are we insane????… will we make this day!! HELL YEAH!! We only live once!!! We will have a story to tell …if we make it…… :-\ :-\ :-\
Just look how pretty......

Guess WHo's loving THIS!!!!  :mwink: :mwink:

Yeeaaahhhhhhh........

It was madness but the amount of adrenalin rushing through your body at that stage is amazing!! We didn’t even feel the cold anymore! Everywhere we looked it was as if a white sheet covered the world!!  We eventually started to loose feeling in our toes…. We had to stop, shake all the ice off our jackets and boots, ….

this is cold......not helping to defrost my toes!!

The road we came from.....

As we came around the one bent the wind started pumping…. Now it was worse than “Leeu koud”!!  we continued for about another 20Km and I saw an old shed next to the road – we need shelter from this wind and snow!!  AND OBS!!!
As i was turning in the snow my front wheel just deided to go straight.... asked Marique to get off and pull the bike back a bit.....  :laughing4: :laughing4: her boots slipped and she slammed down like a vrot vel..... sorry no pics - was laughing to much!

Hiding from the cold wind....

Eva not feeling so cold anymore......she gave new meaning to the words: Layered Clothing.......

It is freezing cold - and no.... that is not smoke....

The Road ahead...... :ricky: :ricky: :ricky:

We had to stop and defrost again.......not snowing so heavy anymore......

After about 2 and half hours of this “snow riding” we made it to Dordrecht! Now we need to find a place to defrost!!! Only place we could find was “The Foundry” – Dordrecht Methodist Church coffee shop!
They had a fireplace and we could smell some good food…. We decided to have a good lunch

Now this is a decent lamb curry......

Eva defrosting her boots......

From here we headed out on the R392 to Queenstown, we were really looking forward to get to Hogsback, to be in a cozy warm place! It was a long boring and COLD tar road to Queenstown. As we entered Queenstown we suddenly felt rushed, being on the road and all these stunning small towns these past few days and now all of a sudden we in this “Rooimier nes!” busy little town this… we refueled at the last garage on our way out of Q-Town and one of the guys there told us to rather forget about Hogsback… . They phone the traffic department and confirmed that only the N6 toward Aliwal Noord is open – rest of the roads are all closed – To much snow on the roads! So the only thing we could do is to find a place in Q-town for the night. Got some beer and Nandos take aways and headed to our B&B for the evening…The Rose Lodge!
And our room name was Joy....... :mwink: :mwink:

A pic from outside - sorry for the blury pic but was shacking from the cold....

just after sunset....

Bike had his pozzzy for the evening...

All the heaters was on and as if it just ad to be…. Wall-E was showing on TV!!! Ya it might be corny but we love that movie…. Scrat aka Wall-e and Marique aka Eva!

It was a hectic day – the snow was amazing and cold – wondering if we would be able to make it our next destination tomorrow.....  and soon we were in lala land……

 

[Andy 950]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......, keep it comming!

 

[Nardus]

Yep, I think I will call you Crazy ! And you have a great woman to enjoy the pillion biking so much !!!

I know that area well and most people do the bike trip in summer and go and watch the snow in the bakkie with the heater ON ! I had to put on a jacked just from reading the report --- RESPECT !

 

[KAT-WP]

i've SO enjoyed reading this....really important 2 have 2 adventurous people who r willing 2 go thru stuff like this together, well done u 2...

 

[Gravel_Seeker]

Wow what a cool trip, we want more.... 

 

[Crossed-up]

Wow what a cool trip, we want more.... 

:laughing4:

+100

This is a fantastic report - keep it coming.  :thumleft:

 

[Boere]

Please don't go home fark the boss and keep on traveling and ja keep up the RR. I am sure all dogs wil deposit money for fuel and chilly bytes as look as you keep this up.

Save riding and enjoy

 

[TVB]

This threat is a treat, keep it coming! 

 

[Oppad]

Go, gooi, gooi, Scrat. Love this trip

 

[Gee eS]

Brilliant RR! Well done to both of you for showing such "deursettings vermoe". Kamp staaldraad se m@er

 

[Beserker]

Way to go!

And the first nominee for Wife of the year!  .....Eva!

 

[uyster]

Hell yeah I am enjoying your trip report  :thumleft:

 

[Scrat]

Day11 Queenstown to Willowmore

We felt rejuvenated and full of life again, ready for today’s challenges!! Had a quick Oats-so-easy and we were off again. :ricky: :ricky:
Almost fished packing.....

Shall we go  :ricky: :ricky:

Just outside Queenstown..

As soon as we left Queenstown, maybe about 25km, we hit a kinda hail storm – nothing compared to the previous day’s snow!  
We arrived in Tarkastad and stopped at the Rhino Inn, hoping to find a warm place with Food!! Well, we did find a warm spot…kitchen not open yet.... all the places around here has fireplaces!! Love it!

STill nice and sunny...... :-\

As we left Tarkastad it started snowing again, what will this day be like??? ??? ???  But it only lasted about 10min and we drove out of the “bad” weather. :biggrin: :biggrin:   The R61 took us straight to Cradock, now we really need to get some food. There was steers, kfc, wimpy…. But we can have that anywhere, and back at home. We need something better, that will leave us a good memory and experience…… :mwink: :mwink:
Victoria Hotel sounded good, we were told that we can have lunch but they do not have a smoking section :-\ (ya ya – bad habbit…. One day…..) but they can make a plan for us….. :thumleft:
They gave us the best spot!! Garden set right next to the pool, a little distance from the Hotel but it was great!

EK like dit!!!  :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

Talking to DR Dirt..... making some Plans

Even Bike had VIP Parking......

Eva had Bobotie and Veg, and I went for Springbok pie and Veg!! We were served like VIP’s!!  :drif: :drif:

Just could not wait!!!! :drif: :drif:

The man who made it all happen!!! Thanx a Mil!!!

It was amazing lunch, and just wanted to veg out next to the pool in the sun but we had to get going again. I arranged with my friend….Dr Dirt aka Danie from George to meet us in Willowmore, just around the corner for him and seeing as it is only after 1pm now we can be there at the same time.
We decided to take the R337 to Pearston … We travel on Gravel!!
Stunning road, going through, up and down the mountains, all the mountain tops still covered in snow, and the chill factor still biting us.   :ricky:
some pics of he road....

Spieeltjie spieeltjie, wie is die gelukkigste 2 mense op aarde....???

As we got closer to the top of the last hilltop the mud/clay patches stated getting bigger!! Damm, keep concentrating….. Just another 12km to Pearston….. When suddenly………………
Does he want to play Chicken....OR is he trying to Warn us about the road ahead....??? ??? ??? ??? :mwink:

(Ok just to set it straight..... the bok did not hit us --- the below statement is about the clay!!)


............... ....................AND THEN WE HIT IT!!!!!...THE CLAY MONSTER!!............ ...............................


We were lying in the mud and struggling to get up, everything and everywhere was mud, clay….sticking to everything…..what a mess!!  ot:

As usual, Marique and I had a good laugh, we got Bike back up, got the pannier that came off, damm, the bracket’s lock broke off, but we can make it work.  :mwink: I saw the road ahead… and stopped laughing, and started worrying. :'( :'(  Decided to push the bike, from what I can see it is downhill all the way, there was no way we will be able to go back up….. Not in this!!!

Pushing  didn’t work, so start the bike, put in 1st and try and keep the bike upright, BUT every 2-5m the front wheel will clog up with this bastard clay and will have to stop and try and clean the front mudguard!! Why did KTM design it like this???  Marique would walk down a bit – and I will follow cursing and swearing and… :dousing: :dousing:.. Getting REAL tired of this MESS!! Time was not on our side…. We came OFF just after 2pm and it was already 4pm now and I think we managed to cover about1.5km… .. We could see the good grave road down there– maybe about another 1.5km to go!! ..... atch:

If it wasn’t for Marique at this stage I might have decided to leave the bike there and go look for help, it was getting late and cold…. But she kept telling me to stay positive and we are a team we can do this!! (Now for the people who know me personally, they will know that I’m Always Mr. Positive)  NOT TODAY!! Thanx my skat!!   :dousing: :dousing: :dousing: :dousing:
We found a dry spot and rested for a while - me sweating like a pig..... but refused to take my jacket off.... don't want to get sick now!!
Evan strolling down - Partner 1000!!

Pics doesn't show the amount of clay stuck to wheels but here is a few.... :eek7: :eek7:

I decided to rip off the front fender and try it like that!! Whooo hooooo why did we not do this earlier???!!!??! Just after 5pm we got to the good gravel… 3hours to do 3km??!!! Talking about challenges!! Hectic, I felt dehydrated and faint!! ...
We sped off to Pearston, got there and stopped at the garage to replace the mudguard as I was getting mud in da face!!  atch: atch:
Putting it back again.....

Made a plan to keep the pannier on... and by the looks of it - it was not just me that was exhausted :eek7:

Eva making the most of this moment.....    

Phoned Dr Dirt, he was already at the Royal Hotel in Willowmore, drinking….. Bastard!! How I need a beer right now!!  :drif: :drif: well, sun was setting and we still have about 280km to go. The plan was to take the R337 to Jansenville but the locals advised us not to as that road also had a few good patches of cley/MUD… ok let’s take R63 to the T junction and then R75 to Jansenville …. We arrived just after 6pm in Jansenville…. Had to cover as much km’s as possible before dark…… so no pics… sorry.

We had our coffee and a few of the local Boere that stopped at the garage warned us about the Kudu’s on the road to Willowmore, scary stories. :eek7: :eek7: :eek7: Now I’ve seen what a kudu can do to a car, I have felt what a kudu can do to you @80km\h on a DT175 (many moons ago on our farm in Groblersdal…..) and I can just imagine what it can do to us on our way to WIllowmore!   :-\
But we decided that we will cruse 60-80km\h for the next 180km….. Hectic, we were alert and didn’t miss a thing on the road…. It was pitch black and only the roar of the scorch pipes and the piece of the road visible in my headlights……..and don’t forget the cold monster…..
After traveling like this for over an hour without stopping we arrived in Steytlerville, :thumleft: :thumleft: and stopped for a refresher at the Royal Hotel…. How many Royal hotels are there around here???
We were urged by the locals NOT to carry on to Willowmore. “ Die Kudu’s gat julle doodmaak!!”  and they told us horrific stories about a few accidents involving kudu…. What to do ???. We deided that we will carry on – we have 80km left and it is now almost 8pm…. And freezing. And Dr Dirt is waiting…… ot: ot:

Sorry - totally forgot to think about taking pics here.... just wanted to get to WIllowmore - and BTW, our hand were frozen... :'( :'(

After an hour and half of Hair-raising road and freezing cold, we rolled into WIllowmore!!! WE HAVE MADE IT…. We were exhausted, stokstyf vani koue and thirsty! Never again…..
We were greeted at the Royal Hotel bar by everyone – they were all waiting for us!  Felt as if we just finished the Argus!!  :ricky:
You can still see how wet my clothes are from the afternoon's sweating..... aaai - i should have listened to Eva.....

Dr Dirt can finally stop worrying....

Obviously there was no limit in the amount of drink we had now…. we could have died so cheers – we made it , let us cheers - one after the other……

Don't even ask....... : :

This “frikkie” tried to get funky with Marique  :eek7: :eek7: ma het sy moses tee gekom…. Marique planted the camera with a huge SMACK next to his eye and explained the rules to him… > >. Apparently he was causing all sorts of k@k at the bar the whole evening…… he was soon after that thrown out and sent home…. :deal:

Tough little Girl this Eva... Vati k@ki....  >

I think it was about 3am when we decided, or was kindly asked to get out of the bar as the bar has been closed for 3hours!!!
Our ABF drink.......

Karate Kallie............... > >

Die Gashere van die Royal Hotel!! Thanx Julle, was great om saam julle te kuier!!!  :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

Ok - this was our Gat slaap nou drink..... kani onthou wat hy genoem word nie ma HELL - never again!!!!

Damm, it’s about time we go sleep, it was an EXAUSTING Day for us and now we will DEF have a headache in the morning…..

 

[Frog]

A great adventure you had. I got tired just reading it.