Catchy
Race Dog
Nice reading, please keep it comming :thumleft:
Cape West Coast, Augrabies, Verneukpan, Colesberg, Rhodes, Durban
- Thread starter GStry
- Start date
Few pics enroute to Bushman's Kloof.
The scenery was amazing and wanted to stop a lot more than I did to take photo's, especially the rock formations but it really slows you down. Also, the pictures really don't do justice to what you see, hear and smell, unfortunately.
So far, Shane and I have had fun, there is something magic about being on a new track/gravel road and really pleased we stuck to the plan of coming to ride the West Coast :biggrin: , at times the trip looked doomed to next year and then maybe the next, which is so often the case, it became increasingly difficult to re-hatch the plan and satisfy everyone's needs but I was determined to do it. As everyone knows, KZN has unlimited trails, tracks and dirt roads, the Drakensberg and Lesotho in easy reach, but this has been special, the change in scenery, flora and fauna, fynbos instead of acacia, the scented air and even at this point, the lack of humanity. There are few places you can go in KZN and find complete desolation, its everywhere here. Even on the highest mountain in Lesotho, a Shepperd will pop out of the rocks in the middle of nowhere, in freezing temperatures with a worn blanket and no shoes
. Eish!
The scenery was amazing and wanted to stop a lot more than I did to take photo's, especially the rock formations but it really slows you down. Also, the pictures really don't do justice to what you see, hear and smell, unfortunately.
So far, Shane and I have had fun, there is something magic about being on a new track/gravel road and really pleased we stuck to the plan of coming to ride the West Coast :biggrin: , at times the trip looked doomed to next year and then maybe the next, which is so often the case, it became increasingly difficult to re-hatch the plan and satisfy everyone's needs but I was determined to do it. As everyone knows, KZN has unlimited trails, tracks and dirt roads, the Drakensberg and Lesotho in easy reach, but this has been special, the change in scenery, flora and fauna, fynbos instead of acacia, the scented air and even at this point, the lack of humanity. There are few places you can go in KZN and find complete desolation, its everywhere here. Even on the highest mountain in Lesotho, a Shepperd will pop out of the rocks in the middle of nowhere, in freezing temperatures with a worn blanket and no shoes
. Eish!Attachments
Johnnie Bok said:
Johnnie Bok, It seems my GPS has only stored the tracks from my trip from the 18th, 19th & 20th which was disappointing as I wanted to save all of them. Must be that my memory card gets over written once the card is full with the latest tracks.
Found Bushmans Kloof, what a place, voted the best hotel / lodge in the world for 2009. Amazing that you would find that sort of thing right here in our boonies. Won't bore anyone with a lot of wildlife pictures except maybe three, which for me, are noteworthy in that we don't see them in KZN and they happen to just be part of the scenery.
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A beautiful animal the Bontebok, was once considered to be the rarest antelope in the world but careful conservation has ensured its survival. The body colour is a deep purple-red with a white blaze on the face and a white tail. The horns are well developed in both sexes and are angular and ringed.
The estimated population of the Cape Mountain Zebra is around 600 and the Hartmanns Mountain Zebra about 6000.
The Cape Mountain Zebra was very close to extinction.
Sometimes when we know the truth we look at them differently.
Have to start throwing in a few pictures of flowers, besides this was a flower trip :biggrin:
The estimated population of the Cape Mountain Zebra is around 600 and the Hartmanns Mountain Zebra about 6000.
The Cape Mountain Zebra was very close to extinction.
Sometimes when we know the truth we look at them differently.
Have to start throwing in a few pictures of flowers, besides this was a flower trip :biggrin:
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From Bushmans Kloof, which is just north of Clanwilliam, we leave after breakfast for a round about way up to Brandkop, just north of Nieuwoudtville.
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Lighthouse Keeper
Pack Dog
Great RR and stunning photos! Saw Shane on Sunday at Lake Eland Classic so have been looking forward to your report. Good luck with the new bikes - they look amazing.
Not very long after we left Bushmans Kloof my heart sinks as I felt the front rim bottom out. The road is narrow and the verge is steep and rocky, not a great place to be spending an hour changing/fixing the tube, we've got all we need..... atch: Then we learn very quickly that neither of us have the #14 allan key to take the front wheel off, how dumb can you get?
The spare tools we have are enough to do a rebuild, even a chainbreaker but no #14 :bluduh: There's no cell phone signal and Marilyn and Michele are long gone with the trailer. Shane's riding up and down the road trying to get a cell signal. Over the hill comes a car and flies past at a hectic speed. There are rocks and stones airborne and a thick plume of choking dust, what a prick! :dousing: No sooner had the dust started to clear and another came past at full speed!. I need to get out of here so push the bike to the best spot I can see and turn the bike into the road, sideways, so the next car is either going to have to slow down or take my bike out. :eek7: Still no cell signal, the only option is to chase after Marilyn, who had taken a shorter route to Brandkop.
Thank goodness I'd stuffed a hat in my backpack, it took two hours before Shane came over the hill, they were on the way, finally.
We loaded up the bike and started out for Nieuwoudville. The trailer had paid for itself.
I had heard of Protea Motors in Nieuwoudville from Rik, he mentioned that there was this garage that was full of antique bikes and cars, well maybe they could help. It was not fun watching Shane riding in the distance.
The good news though was we started seeing more flowers.
:biggrin:
atch: Then we learn very quickly that neither of us have the #14 allan key to take the front wheel off, how dumb can you get?The spare tools we have are enough to do a rebuild, even a chainbreaker but no #14 :bluduh: There's no cell phone signal and Marilyn and Michele are long gone with the trailer. Shane's riding up and down the road trying to get a cell signal. Over the hill comes a car and flies past at a hectic speed. There are rocks and stones airborne and a thick plume of choking dust, what a prick! :dousing: No sooner had the dust started to clear and another came past at full speed!. I need to get out of here so push the bike to the best spot I can see and turn the bike into the road, sideways, so the next car is either going to have to slow down or take my bike out. :eek7: Still no cell signal, the only option is to chase after Marilyn, who had taken a shorter route to Brandkop.
Thank goodness I'd stuffed a hat in my backpack, it took two hours before Shane came over the hill, they were on the way, finally.
We loaded up the bike and started out for Nieuwoudville. The trailer had paid for itself.
I had heard of Protea Motors in Nieuwoudville from Rik, he mentioned that there was this garage that was full of antique bikes and cars, well maybe they could help. It was not fun watching Shane riding in the distance.
The good news though was we started seeing more flowers.
:biggrin:
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Nieuwoudtville.
Protea Motors was quite something, hanging up in the window is apparently the only running 1913 New Hudson in the world, and his collection of bikes was astounding, especially for a little dorp.
Tinus the owner was very helpful, changed my tube for nothing and ordered extra heavy duty tubes for us from Cape Town which were there at 8am the next morning. Considering we ordered them at 4pm that was really good service, and this included a #14 allan key :biggrin: .
On the road again :thumleft: The last photo here is from Vanrhyns Pass.
Protea Motors was quite something, hanging up in the window is apparently the only running 1913 New Hudson in the world, and his collection of bikes was astounding, especially for a little dorp.
Tinus the owner was very helpful, changed my tube for nothing and ordered extra heavy duty tubes for us from Cape Town which were there at 8am the next morning. Considering we ordered them at 4pm that was really good service, and this included a #14 allan key :biggrin: .
On the road again :thumleft: The last photo here is from Vanrhyns Pass.
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More pics of our ride around the Bokkeveldberg from Nieuwoudtville. The town and the district are often referred to as the 'Boland of the Northwest' . The landscape is rather bleak and desolate, with splashes of colourful flowers. Quiver trees dot the landscape in places, seeming to prefer some hills to others and the vegetation represents a transition between western Cape mountain fynbos, rynosterveld and the flora and fauna of the Karoo.
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Shane and I rode all day and saw no-one, not even in the distance, the desolation is hard to get used to. We stopped for a break and a drink on the top of a mountain pass and were surprised by a beautiful and very large Italian sheep dog which walked out of the fynbos, very friendly and respectful, lowering its head and coming up for a pat, then leaving just as quickly. We wondered where it got food and water, we were many miles from anywhere! This dog at a guess was 75kg and lean, not a dog I'd want to antagonise. Later the next day Shane had the experience of just how nasty these dogs can be, when he came too close to the dogs goat herd. I thought the dog was going to take him off his bike and motioned for him to take off.
Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the friendly sheep dog, he just left suddenly, no doubt to check on his herd.
Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the friendly sheep dog, he just left suddenly, no doubt to check on his herd.
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JackShit
Pack Dog
Awesome!!! And I say it again, we have a really beautiful country! Thank you so much for this.
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