tok-tokkie
Race Dog
My son Anton & I went on a two day trip north of Cape Town this past weekend. I call my bike the Gogga
Saturday Cape Town to Elands Bay. 284 km 5h38m
Our only plan was to ride up the dead-end road along the foot of the Olifantsrivierberge which starts just north of Porterville. Slingsby (Cederbeg â?? the map. Peter Slingsby) shows this road ending with a No Entry symbol & my old Engen South African road atlas also shows it as being a dead-end so we were prepared to go up, turn around & come back down. That would make it a really local road & it could be interesting. Turns out they are both wrong & you can easily get through to the N7.
We had a leasurly start at 11h00 with the wind howling but we expected it to be less along the foot of the mountains & that is how it turned out. The standard Malanâ??s hoogte & wind generators route to Riebeek-Kasteel route out of town. All three wind turbines were standing still even though there was a really strong wind blowing & I have only ever seen one working in the last year. Presumably the things are paid for so it would be almost free electricity if Eskom could just get them to work and yet next day we went past the massive gas turbine plant in Atlantis which was burning really expensive diesel to make really expensive electricity. I have done a little research on them; the wind turbines are 0,66 0,75 & 1,75 MW whereas each (of 6) steam turbine at one of the big coal stations is 600MW to 660MW. In total the wind turbines amount to 0,01% of peak power capacity. The four gas turbines at Atlantis are 150MW each. If you look when you are there you will see that there are no big power lines joining the wind turbines to the grid.
Had a beer and â??bitterbolleâ?? at the hotel in Riebeek Kasteel then on to Zonquasdrift to cross the Berg river. Zonquasdrift is an interesting name; it turns out to be the Koi-San (Bushmen) who raided these parts when the Dutch first settled thereabouts. The gravel ends just after that & we had a short slog on tar up to Gouda and then 37 kms of tar up to Porterville. Just north of Porterville we branched off onto the gravel road that leads to the Dasklip pass and Beaverlac and on to our expected dead-end. Anton used to work in Johannesburg but came down for a long weekend in August last year. I hired a KLR and the two of use went on two day rides in the Swartland. He has ridden for many years and was a courier in London for a while but he had not done the gravel roads thing before this. We went up Dasklip Pass then when I took this photo.
The photo shows the turn off to Dasklip with the road we went along continuing to the right all along the foot of the Olifantsrivierberge. In the background is the Piketberg which we also went up (Versveld Pass) that day and we were to go past it later today just to the north and again the following day but then behind it (west). Right in the distance are the mountains which have the Olifants River, Citrusdal and Clanwilliam on the other side. We came along the top of those and down Piekernierâ??s pass the following day. The fields were all green in August but they were bare brown earth this last weekend.
We followed the road right up to the end. It was a bit bumpy in places & my Zumo kept switching off which made me think of the problems Ratrap has been having with his. Because of his report I greased the connections on mine with dielectric grease before we left and got this problem for the first time except for one very wet day during winter. It cut out about four times so I left it until we reached the end & it started automatically when I started the bike & has continued trouble free since then.
Here is Anton at the dead-end. Just a few meters back there was a road leading west in the direction of the N7. This was a surprise so we looked at the 1:250 000 map & it showed a dashed red road going there which connects through to the N7. Slingsby marks it as a â??private road â?? no entryâ? but it turned out to be a bigger & better road than the one we had come on. We joined the N7 then turned off west a few kms later to Eendekuil. There did not seem to be any old buildings in Eendekuil with the church representative of most of the buildings.
We decided to go to the coast at Elands Bay and spend the night there. We had brought a change of clothes with this option in mind. We took the gravel road between the railway and river towards Elands Bay.
After about 20 km you join the main Piketberg to Elands Bay road which is tarred in places. It runs alongside the Verlorenvlei river
Here is the Verlorenvlei. I was pleased to see it had so much water as I heard it was suffering from all the water being pumped onto the pivot irrigation schemes â?? this is a major potato growing region now. That must make many DS riders quake because potatoes like sandy soil and DS riders of my skill hate sandy roads. I am scared of the Sandveld & the Sandveld starts once you cross the Berg river but I knew that this road is a hard gravel road. Little did I know that the next day I would be right in serious Sandveldt roads.
Elands Bay is at the mouth of the vlei. I am a lapsed surfer. This is a place I came to on a few day trips. In surfing someone who surfs with his right foot forward is said to be Goofy footed (similar to boxing where the less common right foot forward stance is called south-paw). Jeffryâ??s Bay is the best right break in the country but it is back-hand for Goofys (wave is breaking over their shoulder) whereas Elands is forehand for a Goofy (it is a left break) which means a Goofy is facing the wave while he surfs which is much nicer. Elands is the best left in the country. I actually did a niche type of surfing called kneeboarding which is half way between squirming like a baby on a body-board and standing like a walking adult; kinda like crawling I suppose. Thing is we donâ??t have forehand or backhand problems. Anton is a Goofy footer. We rode around looking for the two self catering/B & B places but they were both locked up. I suspect they are open during the December holiday period & through winter for the surfers (surfing is a winter sport; you canâ??t surf if there are no waves & that is pretty much the case during summer).
That may look like a wave but it is just the shore break as this is a bit of a telephoto picture. The surf ride starts at the kelp just below the sun & runs all along the shore along the upper edge of the water in the picture. This was a summer day & there was no swell running so you canâ??t see any waves there. On a good day this place is perfection â?? but crowded as it is an easy day trip from Cape Town.
This is looking the other way; you can see here that the waves were small. Still it is a lovely piece of unspoiled beach looking this way. We ended up in the hotel which was fine. Had some beers & a bottle of wine with supper.
Saturday Cape Town to Elands Bay. 284 km 5h38m
Our only plan was to ride up the dead-end road along the foot of the Olifantsrivierberge which starts just north of Porterville. Slingsby (Cederbeg â?? the map. Peter Slingsby) shows this road ending with a No Entry symbol & my old Engen South African road atlas also shows it as being a dead-end so we were prepared to go up, turn around & come back down. That would make it a really local road & it could be interesting. Turns out they are both wrong & you can easily get through to the N7.
We had a leasurly start at 11h00 with the wind howling but we expected it to be less along the foot of the mountains & that is how it turned out. The standard Malanâ??s hoogte & wind generators route to Riebeek-Kasteel route out of town. All three wind turbines were standing still even though there was a really strong wind blowing & I have only ever seen one working in the last year. Presumably the things are paid for so it would be almost free electricity if Eskom could just get them to work and yet next day we went past the massive gas turbine plant in Atlantis which was burning really expensive diesel to make really expensive electricity. I have done a little research on them; the wind turbines are 0,66 0,75 & 1,75 MW whereas each (of 6) steam turbine at one of the big coal stations is 600MW to 660MW. In total the wind turbines amount to 0,01% of peak power capacity. The four gas turbines at Atlantis are 150MW each. If you look when you are there you will see that there are no big power lines joining the wind turbines to the grid.
Had a beer and â??bitterbolleâ?? at the hotel in Riebeek Kasteel then on to Zonquasdrift to cross the Berg river. Zonquasdrift is an interesting name; it turns out to be the Koi-San (Bushmen) who raided these parts when the Dutch first settled thereabouts. The gravel ends just after that & we had a short slog on tar up to Gouda and then 37 kms of tar up to Porterville. Just north of Porterville we branched off onto the gravel road that leads to the Dasklip pass and Beaverlac and on to our expected dead-end. Anton used to work in Johannesburg but came down for a long weekend in August last year. I hired a KLR and the two of use went on two day rides in the Swartland. He has ridden for many years and was a courier in London for a while but he had not done the gravel roads thing before this. We went up Dasklip Pass then when I took this photo.
The photo shows the turn off to Dasklip with the road we went along continuing to the right all along the foot of the Olifantsrivierberge. In the background is the Piketberg which we also went up (Versveld Pass) that day and we were to go past it later today just to the north and again the following day but then behind it (west). Right in the distance are the mountains which have the Olifants River, Citrusdal and Clanwilliam on the other side. We came along the top of those and down Piekernierâ??s pass the following day. The fields were all green in August but they were bare brown earth this last weekend.
We followed the road right up to the end. It was a bit bumpy in places & my Zumo kept switching off which made me think of the problems Ratrap has been having with his. Because of his report I greased the connections on mine with dielectric grease before we left and got this problem for the first time except for one very wet day during winter. It cut out about four times so I left it until we reached the end & it started automatically when I started the bike & has continued trouble free since then.
Here is Anton at the dead-end. Just a few meters back there was a road leading west in the direction of the N7. This was a surprise so we looked at the 1:250 000 map & it showed a dashed red road going there which connects through to the N7. Slingsby marks it as a â??private road â?? no entryâ? but it turned out to be a bigger & better road than the one we had come on. We joined the N7 then turned off west a few kms later to Eendekuil. There did not seem to be any old buildings in Eendekuil with the church representative of most of the buildings.
We decided to go to the coast at Elands Bay and spend the night there. We had brought a change of clothes with this option in mind. We took the gravel road between the railway and river towards Elands Bay.
After about 20 km you join the main Piketberg to Elands Bay road which is tarred in places. It runs alongside the Verlorenvlei river
Here is the Verlorenvlei. I was pleased to see it had so much water as I heard it was suffering from all the water being pumped onto the pivot irrigation schemes â?? this is a major potato growing region now. That must make many DS riders quake because potatoes like sandy soil and DS riders of my skill hate sandy roads. I am scared of the Sandveld & the Sandveld starts once you cross the Berg river but I knew that this road is a hard gravel road. Little did I know that the next day I would be right in serious Sandveldt roads.
Elands Bay is at the mouth of the vlei. I am a lapsed surfer. This is a place I came to on a few day trips. In surfing someone who surfs with his right foot forward is said to be Goofy footed (similar to boxing where the less common right foot forward stance is called south-paw). Jeffryâ??s Bay is the best right break in the country but it is back-hand for Goofys (wave is breaking over their shoulder) whereas Elands is forehand for a Goofy (it is a left break) which means a Goofy is facing the wave while he surfs which is much nicer. Elands is the best left in the country. I actually did a niche type of surfing called kneeboarding which is half way between squirming like a baby on a body-board and standing like a walking adult; kinda like crawling I suppose. Thing is we donâ??t have forehand or backhand problems. Anton is a Goofy footer. We rode around looking for the two self catering/B & B places but they were both locked up. I suspect they are open during the December holiday period & through winter for the surfers (surfing is a winter sport; you canâ??t surf if there are no waves & that is pretty much the case during summer).
That may look like a wave but it is just the shore break as this is a bit of a telephoto picture. The surf ride starts at the kelp just below the sun & runs all along the shore along the upper edge of the water in the picture. This was a summer day & there was no swell running so you canâ??t see any waves there. On a good day this place is perfection â?? but crowded as it is an easy day trip from Cape Town.
This is looking the other way; you can see here that the waves were small. Still it is a lovely piece of unspoiled beach looking this way. We ended up in the hotel which was fine. Had some beers & a bottle of wine with supper.
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