D
David van Breda
Guest
This trip was not a statement of any sort. Neither was it to proof anything to anybody. I was just in the mood. With all the exposure here on the forum and seeing all the nice pictures and reading all the ride reports I just had to get away. My initial idea was to go to Botswana but that might have been a bit premature and inappropriate at the moment.
So I decided to go down to Cape Town riding along the west coast as much as possible. I had some business in Cape Town and it came in handy as an excuse if I needed one! In the end it was really down to spending some time on the bike and seeing if I liked it or not! I have never done more than about 400km on one go and I was curious as to how nearly a 1000 will feel!
Thursday morning was still an embryo when I left Windhoek. To say I was excited sneaking into the garage and dressing up would be a huge understatement. It was pure ecstasy when I eventually pulled my helmet on with The Verve singing Bittersweet Symphony into my ears and the garage door sliding open. The boxerâ??s muffled drone through the empty dark streets cleared the last cobwebs of short dreams from my head and soon I was swinging thru the mountains south of Windhoek. It was a cool 18 degrees with a hint of rain in the air. I had the panniers packed with the port side one holding my notebook and tools with extra water and loose shit. The starboard one had all my clothes and toiletries and other soft shit. The topbox carried my camera, water, mini tripod, extra boots and loads of small loose things.
My intension was to make it to Springbok and book in at Klein plasie lodge in town and spend the day with my business partner going over a few issues. He had a camping trip planned for the weekend and invited me with. I agreed to go camp on the beach the Friday night. He promised me that it was a â??harde soutpadâ?? all the way down to the coast. Most of it was hard with some loose gravel and quite lekker to ride on but his memory failed him though on the last 15kms through the dunes! Harde pad my ass! Fcuk I struggled and blixemed down on 3 occasions, hurting my shoulder the one time. In the end I was glad that I bit the bullet and made it to the spot on the beach!
Sunrise south of Rehoboth.
The long straight roads and 40+ degrees sunshine made me do it officer, I am real sorry!!
Lekker nice bungalows at Klein Plasies in Springbok.
GPS fitted!
In Springbok, Carel gave me his GPS mounting bracket once fitted to his Dakar. It worked fine althought part of the plastic section below broke off the next day on the severe corrugations I encountered. I fixed it with ducktape and it sits lekker now!
I left Friday at around midday with two Land Cruisers in tow to Garies 115kms south of Springbok. After I refueled we took the gravel road to Kotzesrus about 50km south west of Garies. The temperature fell to the early 30's as we came closer to the coast.
Refueled at Garies!
Hout motorhek tussen Garies en Kotzesrus
Kotzesrus in the distance. Yip, that is the complete town!
Old house in Kotzesrus
After Kotzesrus we headed off to Waterval. From here onward, the roads does not even appear on T4A! I made it without mishap to Waterval which is just a name for a spot in the area where miners tried there luck long ago.
Start of the sandy dune track near Waterval!
To be continued . . .
So I decided to go down to Cape Town riding along the west coast as much as possible. I had some business in Cape Town and it came in handy as an excuse if I needed one! In the end it was really down to spending some time on the bike and seeing if I liked it or not! I have never done more than about 400km on one go and I was curious as to how nearly a 1000 will feel!
Thursday morning was still an embryo when I left Windhoek. To say I was excited sneaking into the garage and dressing up would be a huge understatement. It was pure ecstasy when I eventually pulled my helmet on with The Verve singing Bittersweet Symphony into my ears and the garage door sliding open. The boxerâ??s muffled drone through the empty dark streets cleared the last cobwebs of short dreams from my head and soon I was swinging thru the mountains south of Windhoek. It was a cool 18 degrees with a hint of rain in the air. I had the panniers packed with the port side one holding my notebook and tools with extra water and loose shit. The starboard one had all my clothes and toiletries and other soft shit. The topbox carried my camera, water, mini tripod, extra boots and loads of small loose things.
My intension was to make it to Springbok and book in at Klein plasie lodge in town and spend the day with my business partner going over a few issues. He had a camping trip planned for the weekend and invited me with. I agreed to go camp on the beach the Friday night. He promised me that it was a â??harde soutpadâ?? all the way down to the coast. Most of it was hard with some loose gravel and quite lekker to ride on but his memory failed him though on the last 15kms through the dunes! Harde pad my ass! Fcuk I struggled and blixemed down on 3 occasions, hurting my shoulder the one time. In the end I was glad that I bit the bullet and made it to the spot on the beach!
Sunrise south of Rehoboth.
The long straight roads and 40+ degrees sunshine made me do it officer, I am real sorry!!
Lekker nice bungalows at Klein Plasies in Springbok.
GPS fitted!
In Springbok, Carel gave me his GPS mounting bracket once fitted to his Dakar. It worked fine althought part of the plastic section below broke off the next day on the severe corrugations I encountered. I fixed it with ducktape and it sits lekker now!
I left Friday at around midday with two Land Cruisers in tow to Garies 115kms south of Springbok. After I refueled we took the gravel road to Kotzesrus about 50km south west of Garies. The temperature fell to the early 30's as we came closer to the coast.
Refueled at Garies!
Hout motorhek tussen Garies en Kotzesrus
Kotzesrus in the distance. Yip, that is the complete town!
Old house in Kotzesrus
After Kotzesrus we headed off to Waterval. From here onward, the roads does not even appear on T4A! I made it without mishap to Waterval which is just a name for a spot in the area where miners tried there luck long ago.
Start of the sandy dune track near Waterval!
To be continued . . .
