As it's said better late than never.....here is my report, from a bikeless bakkie driving dawg.
Sam and myself were running late and should have met up with Joburg WD's at Villiers, sadly we only reached them at the Lindley / Reitz intersection.
CaveGirl with Andries hanging on for dear life, as it was Sharon's first trip with a back seater. JohnSt and wife, on the very smart KTM.
Later met up with Kykdaar and Pretoria WD's in Bethlehem and then moved off to Clarens, after purchasing some supplies.
Apology to the WD's who thought because I have a GPS, we would find De Molen. I plotted Clarens, instead of the highway outside of Clarens. We drove a circle through Clarens and gave the WD's a couple of gravel roads, in case they were having DS withdrawal symtoms. Damn, they had been on tar roads long enough. Arrive at our final destination.
The closest I got to a trout all weekend.
There was a unknown DS rider with his wife, having there honeymoon, who stayed (take note I did not say "slept" in the Oak Tree Cottage. As we started up our braai and conversations, I am led to understand that someone invited this newly wed couple to our orgy.... sorry meant our braai. If that couple reads this, please note that it was a braai by WildDogs, who love what you love doing. And we are now talking about riding Dual Sport bikes and having a braai, where we laugh and talk a lot of kak.
Sam caught sleeping late on Sunday morning when all the WD's had already left De Molen.
The only reason that we were still there until after 12:00 was that someone forgot to wash the dishes. The braai was held outside of the Fisherman's Cottage, away from the main house and our guests from the main house brought all their cutlery and plates to the Fisherman's Cottage.
Thanks to our brothers and sisters who left all the extra food and booze in our fridge, Sam and myself, let's say had another party. And in case your feeling guilty, we did not do the dishes, but left a gratuity for the housekeep to do the dishes.
OK..so this my report so, here I am in the canoe, paddling away across the lake, doing some kind of Fish Finder thingy and casting a fly from the canoe. In this way, i was sure not to hook up in all the "darn" bushes so close to the lake.
This is what life was intended for...standing in a beautiful stream of water, which is the Little Caledon River.
After leaving Clarens, in the true style of WildDogs turned off at Reitz, found a gravel route and directed ourselves towards the Vaal Dam, well almost....we did 85km in the Mazda Drifter across the gravel and sand.
If anyone says they hate this country, it's because they have never yet seen the country, the way many of us see it. We crossed the Liebenbergsvlei River bridge.
The single lane bridge crossing the Vaal into Oranjeville.
Later took a brief stop at an old fishing haunt at Deneysville,
The Vaal Dam Wall crossing of towards the Gansters Paradise, we call home. (Johannesburg).
A BIG THANK YOU to Kykdaar, for all the arrangements and a GREAT TO MEET YOU to the WildDogs, who did this trip in style.
The scenery along the river is really stunning! After a loooong walk up and down the river I hooked up (scuse the pun) with Cavegirl, Andries, Kykdaar and Blazes at the little dam, where Kykdaar was busy trying to hide an undersized trout that had leapt out of the water and landed at his feet... Sitting whilst fly-fishing Kykdaar???
