Grandparents to be 4 day tour . . .

[JACOVV]

When the East London & Port Elizabeth dogs had their little “bash” in Hogsback during February this year, I received a call from my daughter late that night to break the news that I’ll become a grandfather . . . .  :ricky: 

That's the reason for the heading . . . .

Milly (Ou Bees) & I did a 4 day trip over Easter.  Enjoy the photos as we go.

We left the Friday morning heading for a breakfast in Grahamstown, after which we went towards Riebeeck-East.

1st Gravel as we've never been in Riebeeck East before.

Where we were coming from

 

[JACOVV]

Stretching those legs . .

 

As if she says: "Kom Sakkie - ek wil ry!!" 

We had the option of going north with the N10 towards Somerset East or stay on the R400 and turn right after +/- 20km towards Somerset East on the R335.  The latter won  :mwink:

 

[BMWPE]

This should be good  ;D

 

[JACOVV]

About 40 km's from Somerset, we had a puncture.  Ou Bees asked if all is OK and I - very confidently - told her that she doesn't have to worry, because "ek weet hoe om met die tyre te werk".  When I opened my repair kit, I realised that I gave Kally some of my "Bommers" when he had a puncture in Baviaans the other day.  Needless to say, I was a bit worried as there was not a house or farm 10 000 sea miles from us  :  Ou Bees started to sing "I Travel Gravel and I just shake my head in disbelieve that this can happen to me.    I posted a request for help on the forum and within a minute or 2 WD's were contacting me and offered help.  Thanks to you all.  

Two farmers came and helped us with a hand pump and after a short time that felt like a full day, we were on the road again.

 

[Chrisl]

En die res? :mwink:

 

[Harry the Buffalo]

Lekker..................waiting for the rest :thumleft:

 

[JACOVV]

The farmers daughter - she even took a photo of "Die oom en die tannie van die pad"  :mwink:

We each had something to drink here and to let the people where we were staying for the night know that we would be late due to me not having the right equipment.  

I will follow BMWPE's advise to buy an electric pump as it is essential specially if you are traveling "solo" with your partner / spouse on remote roads - lesson learned.

We stayed at "The Stone Cottage" and it's the place to be if you need to see the stars, hospitality and all those fancy things.  See their website at https://www.thestonecottage.co.za/  For some or other reason I didn't have enough money with me and our hostess didn't even worry about it.  We paid them the following day while we were in Graaff Reinet. .

 

[JACOVV]

Where we stayed

Where we sorted some family matters  :ricky: and had a look at all the stars  :mwink:

 

[JACOVV]

Ou Bees the following morning.  Our hostess told us of another road we had to take as “Travellers don’t travel twice on the same road”.  It was nice to ride this road and I had to travel slower than the previous day as the road was a bit bumpy and some place had water / mud pools.  If you know Ou Bees – she is very, and I mean very scared of biking and for her to travel with me and specially on these gravel roads is a great milestone for both of us.  Over and above the fact that she gets cold on this photo, she is also worried for the gravel road ahead.

 

[JACOVV]

Where we came from

We had to visit the "Valley of Bokkerol" as we were never there before.

Can you read - don't throw them with stones.  ;D

 

[JACOVV]

To be honest - it is more serene than I thought it would be.

In my younger days, I ran a few Half Marathons over this dam wall.

From Graaff Reinet we travelled towards Colesberg, as we were heading to meet a friend we saw at school some 30+ years ago.  The plan was to stay over in Colesberg.  I know that there is a WD on the forum who owns a B&B / Self Catering place in Colesberg, but for some or other reason I cannot get his name - eish!!!

Between Graaf Reinet and Middelburg.

 

[JACOVV]

While filling up in Middelburg I asked the Petrol Attendance where we can eat and he said:  "Nei, tjy wiet Manee - tjy draai net daa by die roebots die se kant toe, en dan sal tjy die Keg daa sien".  We just laughed, gave him a big tip and left.

Here is Ou Bees with a koffie we waiting for a very long time.  I think we wasted an hour - if not more - waiting for our food.  The guy behind ou Bees is a local farmer and he was in town with his Harley Davidson.  When I asked him if he rides with his bike on gravel he said to me that his bakkie is at the "laaibank" and he's got a KLR on the farm.

From Middelburg we travelled in rain which was a first for us. 

I had my eyes wide open to see if I cannot see Dustdevil, but they told me that the devil just left  :mwink:

 

[JACOVV]

In Colesberg we slept at the Herb Garden and had a lovely meal at the Plattelander.  We met our friend we saw way back when we left school.  FYI - Ou Bees and I know each other since we were small kids - grew up together.

Madelein was very shocked to see that we came on the bike.  We had a wonderful evening with her and her family.  A nice place to visit when you are in Colesberg and hungry.  This photo was taken just before we left late at night and were locked out at the B&B.

The following morning we had to decide - going back to Cradock and stay over at our parents' place or going forward with our little tour as it was misty, cold and raining.  We decided to go to Verwoerddam and make a decision once we are there.

Colesberg early in the morning

 

[JACOVV]

Colesberg

Ou Bees is getting cold  :ricky:

Better weather on the cards. .  :mwink:

 

[JACOVV]

I'm a Boer, and I need to eat.  Dis hoekom ek so dik is  :mwink:  When we saw this signage, Ou Bees and I decided that we must have a breakfast.

Ou Bees is getting out of her rain suit.

I think this breakfast was only R49.50 - 2 tjops, 2 eggs, 2 boerewors en 2 lovely grandparents to be  . . . . .  :ricky:

Prince William & Kate Middleton or is it Oom Jaco & Tannie Milly  >

 

[Chrisl]

Jmol nee man kry vir jou vrou n beter mooier bynaam!!!! Arme vrou.
Die WD in Colesberg is Nimmo by Sunset Chalets.

 

[JACOVV]

Jmol nee man kry vir jou vrou n beter mooier bynaam!!!! Arme vrou.
Die WD in Colesberg is Nimmo by Sunset Chalets.

Ha ha Chris - ons pelle noem haar ook noual so  :biggrin:

Sal weer colesberg toe gaan en sal dit nie nou vergeet nie - wou daar geslaap het

 

[JACOVV]

Between verwoerddam & Venterstad Ou Dikkes clocked 30 000km.  Another 70 000 to go.

The Church in Venterstad.  What a place???  Dirty - I was shocked as this was my 1st time there.       

On WD I once read that the bridge at Bethulie is the longest bridge in SA, so we had to go and have a look.

To the South

To the North.  1.2km long . . .  I might be out with a metre or 2, but it’s long.  :

 

[JACOVV]

I think that this is the beginning of the Verwoerddam - +/- 70km's from the Damwall.

 

[JACOVV]

The owner and his spouse of this shop are also WD members (Lupo & Miss Piggy)  Nice chatting to them. 

I have good memories of Bethulie.  Must go back again.