growweblaar
Race Dog
On Saturday the wind (and my todo list) let up a bit and I planned an impromptu ride for myself. As luck would have it I got a message from mountainboy, who happened to be visiting in the Bot River area, so we set off on a quick afternoon trail ride.
Up the Old Houw Hoek Pass, then back on the N2 to Peregrine where we took the Highlands road down to Kleinmond. MB knew of some Safcol trails in the area and we soon found the entrance to the one that goes all the way to the beacon overlooking the Protea farm and Kleinmond lagoon.
It was, let's say, "technical" - for me anyway
. But FANTASTIC! I knew of these trails but somehow never got to ride them. The riding is great - a great workout too(!) - and the scenery fabulous.
Here we are going up Old Houw Hoek Pass - which is a (relatively easy) tweespoor, really:
Hitting the Safcol trail, just after turning off the Highlands road. It soon gets much more entertaining than this ;D:
On top of the plateau, looking out over Kleinmond lagoon and the sea in the distance:
I only fell once (really!) - too fast, downhill, sandy corner:
Although there were no witnesses, I think I remember a Mark Hardy-style headstand dismount: a fact confirmed by my stiff neck the next morning!
Parking at the beacon to have a better look over the bay:
Looking back to Kleinmond: the road going off to the left to Arabella, the Protea farm on the right:
On the way back:
You wanna go down there!?? After a quick inspection we decided: WHY NOT!? ;D I must admit, I did some occasional paddling:
The road down was quite rutted. Hehehehehe:
We found a thin line around it but I managed to get myself stuck while crossing the last bit of the donga at the wrong angle. MB found this quite funny, since I was sitting there up to my diff in thick sand. After some digging and stone wedging I got her out, though.
On the whole the descent was quite spectacular, since it involved lots of surfing and skiing, both sports that I enjoy!
What a great trails ride. Thanks mountainboy for the tour and company - let's do it again soon! BTW MB said he was gonna take the_wes up the same trail the next day, but from the other direction: I can't wait for the report. Hehehehehehe...
Up the Old Houw Hoek Pass, then back on the N2 to Peregrine where we took the Highlands road down to Kleinmond. MB knew of some Safcol trails in the area and we soon found the entrance to the one that goes all the way to the beacon overlooking the Protea farm and Kleinmond lagoon.
It was, let's say, "technical" - for me anyway
. But FANTASTIC! I knew of these trails but somehow never got to ride them. The riding is great - a great workout too(!) - and the scenery fabulous.Here we are going up Old Houw Hoek Pass - which is a (relatively easy) tweespoor, really:
Hitting the Safcol trail, just after turning off the Highlands road. It soon gets much more entertaining than this ;D:
On top of the plateau, looking out over Kleinmond lagoon and the sea in the distance:
I only fell once (really!) - too fast, downhill, sandy corner:
Although there were no witnesses, I think I remember a Mark Hardy-style headstand dismount: a fact confirmed by my stiff neck the next morning!
Parking at the beacon to have a better look over the bay:
Looking back to Kleinmond: the road going off to the left to Arabella, the Protea farm on the right:
On the way back:
You wanna go down there!?? After a quick inspection we decided: WHY NOT!? ;D I must admit, I did some occasional paddling:
The road down was quite rutted. Hehehehehe
:
We found a thin line around it but I managed to get myself stuck while crossing the last bit of the donga at the wrong angle. MB found this quite funny, since I was sitting there up to my diff in thick sand
. After some digging and stone wedging I got her out, though.On the whole the descent was quite spectacular, since it involved lots of surfing and skiing, both sports that I enjoy!
What a great trails ride. Thanks mountainboy for the tour and company - let's do it again soon! BTW MB said he was gonna take the_wes up the same trail the next day, but from the other direction: I can't wait for the report. Hehehehehehe...
