Fish Hoek to Coffee Bay

[DisasterRelief]

Day 1 Fish Hoek to Montagu 26 April 222 km

The plan is more or less to go solo, get to Coffee bay and spend a few days there. I head off on 26 April after writing an exam the previous day.

I have E09s on front and back and have done about 150 km on them, all tar, before I left.

So I started my solo trip with my buddy Bruce. The idea that he rides along for two days, before I leave him with his family and set off by myself. It was wet leaving Cape Town around 3pm and both of us on knobblies meant going real slow. Went over Sir Lowrys and then onto Villiersdorp where we took gravel to Robertson. It was dark by the time we got to the gravel and it made for some interesting ridding on the wet gravel.

We got to Montagu and stayed over at the De Bos. Walked to a local restaurant where the ambiance was obviously intended to provide a more romantic dinner stetting than two blokes in bikes might have been after. Oh well, popped into the pub across the road after dinner for a manly double brandy and coke.

The start at Bruce's place

At Grabouw

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 2 Montagu to Oudebosch Farm 27 April 332km

Set of early from De Bos and managed to scrounge up some breakfast at a local hotel. After that we headed out into a very misty morning looking for the Ouberg pass. I've done that pass a number of times but somehow weren't paying attention when I planned the route. Anyway, we ended up going through some farm and then got stopped by a massive mud bog. It had a set of vehicle tracks  through it sunk at least 30cm deep. I decided we need to turn back and find another route. We did eventually find Ouberg pass.

After that we took a road that lead to the Witnekke pass north of the Swartberge so we could go through Seweweeks poort from north to south.

At some point the gravel heading to Seweweeks just looks to good and I open up and loose Bruce. Eventually I stopped as something was not lekker. Every time I hit a dip at speed the rebound is wobbly, as in side to side as well as up and down. I stop and check my tire pressure and the rear reads almost 3 bar. Eish. I deflate to 2.6 and check all my luggage straps. The real culprit I think was the right hand side pannier bag which was not nearly tight enough. I reckon that it flapping up and down was the reason my rebounds were going a bit side ways.

Bruce eventually pulls in and we head off again.

Stopped for a bit of lunch at a picnic spot in the poort after talking some courage into a lady who was going through the poort with a horse trailer. With a horse in it. She was freaking out a bit as google maps told her to take this route.

Ended up the day at Oudebosch farm near Riversdale where we met up with Bruce's family.

Where that damn pass..

After Ouberg

After Ouberg

Before Witnekke pass

Yours truly

Seweweeks

Something rattling

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 3 Riversdale to Uniondale 28 April 349 km

I set of the next day early, truly solo now. First stop, refuel in Riversdal and a quick breakfast at the wimpy before heading back over the Garcia pass and taking the first right after the pass opposite the Muiskraal shop. Kept on that route until all of a sudden a sign in the middle of nowhere between the hills proclaim "Bikers Pub and macadamia farm" "Open". I slam on the brakes, go through the gate and then ride up a small hill to where the pub sits. This is somewhere on what I think is the R327. As I pull up, the proprietor/farmer, I think his name was Martin, comes out and tells me he's always open for business. Grand, I'll have a beer please. The map shows it as Dwarsrivier Country Getaway.  We talk bikes for a bit, he rides a Transalp, when a guy on a KTM 990 pulls in with his girlfriend on the back. They're off to Die Hel.

I head off again and about 5mins down the road my bike gets stuck in 4th gear. I eventually get it unstuck by stomping on the gear lever, only for it to get stuck 2 more times. I'm seriously worried at this point and have also managed to bent my gear lever with all the stomping on it. Eventually though it seems to be ok but when I get to the R328 I stop and call a bike mechanic in Mosselbay. He says to pull in so off I go. When I get there he had a bit of a play with the gear lever and reckons it ok. It's Friday and at best it looks like Monday before he'll be able to open it up and take a look. I decide to rather to keep going. He bends the gear lever back into shape for me and I head back to my route.

From the R328 I take a gravel road that takes me all the way to Uniondale just south of the Kammanasie berge. It's hot as hell. I sleep over at the Hotel Schulteheim.

Crossing Gourits

Cloete's Pass. I think.

Just off the R328 near Outshoorn

Off the N12

Some shade

South of the Kammanasie

Same spot

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 4 Uniondale to Jbay 29 April 270 km

I take the R339 and pull into Angie's G-Spot on the Prince Alfred's pass for a very early beer. They're still open and Harold reckons it will remain open but the whole legal business is not quite finalised. Harold pulls out his old battered road atlas and gives me some route advice and a couple of Angies G-Spot stickers.

I go further on with the pass and have a few close calls with other bikers heading in the opposite direction, who think it's ok to take blind corners on the wrong side of the road. Bloody amateurs.

From there I continue on to Natures Valley and stop for a quick beer. Then onto the Bloukrans pass. A few near misses with cars this time and I'm back on the N2.

I eventually turn off the N2 onto the R102. From it I take a gravel road that leads to Oyster bay. Probably the worst corrugated road I ever experienced. I stop in Oyster bay for a recovery beer and head on to Humansdorp. The place looks a bit rough. Then on to Jbay where I stay over at the Beach Cabanas, which are not on the beach. I haven't been to Jbay in more that 20 years and don't recognise it at all. The people running the beach cabanas are really cool though and they allow me to park my bike inside, instead of on the street where the rest of the guests park. Tired as hell Im in bed by 830pm.

Prince Alfred Pass

Angie's G-Spot

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 5 Jbay to Hogsback 30 April 353 km

This was tar all the way. My knoblies took a beating even after I upped the tire pressure. I go through Uitenhage, Grahamstown, Fort Beaufort and Alice. All of them look seriously worse for wear. No offence to any one from there.

I pull into Hogsback around lunchtime and stay over at the Arminel hotel. I walk down to the Hogsback inn where a Medieval warrior from Ohio politely asks for a cigarette whilst casually resting his hand on his battle axe. You can't make this up. Something about a photography convention gets mentioned and there are loads of people walking around with big cameras snapping away at random stuff.

Later that night I'm back at the Inn and have way too many tequilas with the proprietor and some ladies from Bloem.

Front

Rear

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 6 Hogsback to Kob Inn 1 May 294 km

Lekker gravel route through the forest out of Hogsback. At some point I cross a small dam with some of yesterday's photographers who immediately point there cameras at me. I oblige by looking up, standing up and opening up. The road leads to Keiskammahoek where I stop at some shop at the edge of town for a quick beer. The route goes through Stutterheim and eventually takes me back to the N2. I head west and take a gravel "shortcut" to the R349 leading to Kei Mouth. Dodgy little shortcut of a road that was. Luckily I kept my tire pressure quite hard after the previous day's tar ridding, as it probably saved my front rim a few times.

In Kei Mouth I stop at the Bush Pig for a burger that is big enough to feed two people. After that I fill up my tank and 5L fuel cell as I'm unsure about fuel options going forward.

I cross the Kei on the ferry with all the locals posing for a picture with my bike. I know right? Those Yamahas are seriously sexy when covered in a bit of dust and mud. After that it's many kms of very poor gravel. Lots of ruts and pot holes and cows and horses and pigs and gaggle of geese, so I take it easy. I get lots of practice of my newest bike skill, the waving at people with my left hand whilst standing on the pegs. The locals must think I'm really friendly, but I'm actually just showing off. Look at me! I can wave whilst standing on the pegs!

After about 40 km the poor quality road turns into the most awesome gravel, I throw caution to the wind and open up. Absolutely great riding, spectacular views and loads of locals to dazzle with my waving whilst standing on the pegs. Really some spectacular riding going into Kob Inn.

I pull into Kob Inn just after 4pm and I'm the only guest there. Im told another group will check in later, and speaking to the hotel chef, I thought he said a group of 10 bikers, so I get exited at the prospect of an eventful evening. Turns out it is 10 hikers, on a management team building blah blah whatever. They don’t talk to me.

The view

Hogsback

Hogsback

Some dam

Causing a scene at Kei Mouth

Transkei

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 7 Kob Inn to Coffee Bay 2 May 143 km

So finally reached Coffee Bay where I intend to spend 2 nights. What a ride though to get here. Started off with a bit of rain on my way to Willowvale where I refuelled. Then winding roads on to Coffee Bay. The road quality varied immensely and good gravel would give way to rutted and potholed roads quite suddenly. All good though, lots of fun riding.

Then I eventually got to the road that leads down to hole in the wall. Looked like a very well kept gravel road and I considered going down to see the place and maybe find a beer. However, the route I planned went straight on and immediately it seemed like it was going to be a challenging road. It was, very. Heavily washed away for its entirety, very steep descents and ascents, but I soldiered on.  Then it went even worse as I hit some indigenous forest. Later, looking at T4A, it actually says, “very bad road”. Turned into some very technical riding and I had to carefully choose my lines. Sweated my way through and on the other side of it turned off to find Raptor's View restaurant. Got there but a woman came out to tell me it's closed as she just sold it. Oh well.

I pressed on and got to the road that leads out of Hole in the Wall's other side and realised that going down to it may have been the smarter route after all. But good to go through some rough stuff with a fully loaded bike.

I got to Sea Shells guest house where Ill be staying for two nights. The lady that runs it with her husband almost immediately offers me a beer.

Since my bike use a bit of oil now and then, I check it but the level is still good.

Kob Inn

The view from the deck at Kob Inn

Filling up at Willowvale

Transkei

Start of a "Very bad road"

Cheers!

 

[DisasterRelief]

More day 7 pics

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 8 Coffee Bay 3 May

No riding today. Took a hike to Hole in the Wall. Asked myself the entire time why I did not ride my bike to the damn place rather.

Still worried about the oil, I check again, and its definitely still at the full mark. More on this later.

Hiking

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 9 Coffee Bay to Hogsback 4 May 357 km

Started of raining and was either raining or wet the entire day. I head out on the T310 until I cut over gravel and cross the N2. I stick to gravel to get to the R61. Despite al the rain, the gravel roads are mostly OK. But still take it very easy. I stick on the R61 until I get a gravel road going through to Cathcart. Bit more of a challenging road, a bit more mud and my tires have still way too much pressure in them for the conditions.

As I fill up in Cathcart, a thunderstorm decides its a good time pass over. I take the opportunity for a coke and a garage pie as I expect that the last bit into Hogsback might be a bit challenging. It was. More rain as I hit the gravel only meant really slippery conditions. I struggled a bit with the E09s on. So what is the deal? Does knobblies work better in muddy conditions when they are on a lower pressure?

Muddy and wet I pull into the Hogsback Inn, but the pub is open and they got a fire going so Im not complaining. Had a great steak at the Inn for dinner that evening.

I don’t check my oil.

Road to Cathcart

Cathcart

Hogsback Inn

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 10 Hogsback to Barrydale 5 May 795 km

My original plan was to go to Steytlerville, but I decide that morning to rather push hard so I can have a easy last day back to Fish Hoek. I stick to tar all the way. After Graaff-Reinet the wind is relentless. My bike ticks over to 47000 km.

I do an obligatory stop at Ronnies *** Shop just as its getting dark. Whilst having a chat and a beer it rains a bit. As I start my bike again, I realise my head light is dead, both dim and bright. Luckily my spots are still working so I drive off.

 

[DisasterRelief]

Day 11 Barry Dale to Fish Hoek 6 May 284 km

The next morning I check my oil and the bike is dry. Not even touching the dip stick. So by my reckoning Ive done just over a 1100 km since the last check, and its gone from full to empty. I put a litre of oil in and have a look at my head lights. I don’t even bother looking further after realising that the entire internal part of the headlight assembly is somehow loose. I did notice a new rattle a few days ago but ignored it. I notice one of the auxiliary lights have also some how gotten loose and has fallen to the bottom of the head light assembly. This looks like it will cost me.

Regardless, I ride off to Fish Hoek and take the gravel pass from Robertson to Villiersdorp.

On my way home I resign myself to the fact that I will probably need to spend a bit of money on the bike. Ill need to have the engine and the gearbox opened up, the headlight will have to come off to see whats the damage and I need a new set of tires.

Total distance done 3,399 km plus the 150km before leaving and the rear is toast.

Final thoughts:
Doing a solo trip is definitely worth it. Since I like to plan, things went more or less OK. I tried to keep the days short and the routes relatively conservative, but this did not always work out. If I really got stuck with a broken gear box, on my own and miles from nowhere, I would have been stuffed though, so maybe I'll take a satellite phone next time. Will I do it again? Definitely.

 

[Dorsland]

Only one way to do a long ride and that's solo. Stop when you want to stop, eat where you want, start the day and end it when it suits you.

Lekker man, lekker. 

I need to take a week off. 

 

[sidetrack]

Nice ride, Hogsback a must do for me still. Have you ever noticed the bike using oil ? I had a simular issue a while ago where the dipstick had no oil on it but the sump had plenty. The pump did not work properly, worth a check. Drain your oil first and measure or remove the oil feed pipe to the motors head and check for oil pressure when running. At 47000km this motor should just be run in and unlikely to use oil. The loose headlight is a poor design on the Z for anyone doing a lot of dirt. The plstic pins that the headlight clip into breaks off and the headlight starts to float inside. I removed the bottom bulb cover and shoved a rag int there to keep it in place. In the top part I used some safety wire and drilled two small holes in the headlight refelector and fastened it to the spring that holds the bulb in place. Only alternative is a new unit from Yamah at around R6000 or if you can score one 2nd hand. I dont bother it works fine as is. Just not adjustable.

 

[DisasterRelief]

Nice ride, Hogsback a must do for me still. Have you ever noticed the bike using oil ? I had a simular issue a while ago where the dipstick had no oil on it but the sump had plenty. The pump did not work properly, worth a check. Drain your oil first and measure or remove the oil feed pipe to the motors head and check for oil pressure when running. At 47000km this motor should just be run in and unlikely to use oil. The loose headlight is a poor design on the Z for anyone doing a lot of dirt. The plstic pins that the headlight clip into breaks off and the headlight starts to float inside. I removed the bottom bulb cover and shoved a rag int there to keep it in place. In the top part I used some safety wire and drilled two small holes in the headlight refelector and fastened it to the spring that holds the bulb in place. Only alternative is a new unit from Yamah at around R6000 or if you can score one 2nd hand. I dont bother it works fine as is. Just not adjustable.

Yes, it's been using oil since after its 30k service. But only about 500 ml per 5000 km.  Using this much on 1100 km is I think a sign of trouble. I'm know nothing about engines, and as much as I would like to learn, I still think it's better to have pro poke around.

The headlight thing I'll take apart myself and see what's what. Your approach might be the way to go as it would be pointless to replace the entire thing if it would just break again.


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[DisasterRelief]

Nice ride, Hogsback a must do for me still. Have you ever noticed the bike using oil ? I had a simular issue a while ago where the dipstick had no oil on it but the sump had plenty. The pump did not work properly, worth a check. Drain your oil first and measure or remove the oil feed pipe to the motors head and check for oil pressure when running. At 47000km this motor should just be run in and unlikely to use oil. The loose headlight is a poor design on the Z for anyone doing a lot of dirt. The plstic pins that the headlight clip into breaks off and the headlight starts to float inside. I removed the bottom bulb cover and shoved a rag int there to keep it in place. In the top part I used some safety wire and drilled two small holes in the headlight refelector and fastened it to the spring that holds the bulb in place. Only alternative is a new unit from Yamah at around R6000 or if you can score one 2nd hand. I dont bother it works fine as is. Just not adjustable.

Yes, it's been using oil since after its 30k service. But only about 500 ml per 5000 km.  Using this much on 1100 km is I think a sign of trouble. I'm know nothing about engines, and as much as I would like to learn, I still think it's better to have pro poke around.

The headlight thing I'll take apart myself and see what's what. Your approach might be the way to go as it would be pointless to replace the entire thing if it would just break again.


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The only other thing of note was that the long day on tar was done riding hard, I pushed the bike almost to the max the entire way.


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[DisasterRelief]

Only one way to do a long ride and that's solo. Stop when you want to stop, eat where you want, start the day and end it when it suits you.

Lekker man, lekker. 

I need to take a week off.

I have to agree, solo long rides are my future. I'm a bit stuck though between camping and B&Bs. Camping has its obvious appeal but require more luggage and comes with security issues that I feel curtail other opportunities. But I think that is the next thing to explore.


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[johanp]

Amazing trip!

 

[Kykdaar]

You missed out on that ferry.......check that cherry in yellow all over your bike :biggrin:

Hikers .........and not bikers :imaposer: When the Lord said ears, I thought he said beers and I ordered two big ones.

Enjoyed your RR :thumleft:

 

[Dunce]

Great reading this.
Yes solo riding is the way.
You find your soul and also the reason why you started riding these bikes.
At places you stop, you always find that people come across to chat when you are on your own because as a lone biker you are not dangerous or intimidating.
The adventures you have are your own and the mess you make in regards to the decisions are all yours.
So the adventure begins and ends with you, and where and how far you take it is great.
Solo or two people riding is the best.
I have camped in some really doggy places and as long as you use your head, you will be fine.
Go out there and try it more, it is the way to ride and enjoy this beautiful and diverse country of ours.