Gravel from Potch to Hertzogville with a sleep - over.

Chrisjgvn · 2025-03-09T19:46:51+0200

... during the week my son, Gerhard and I decided to head south this weekend towards Hertzogville. Let the photos tel you the story ...

The route we followed is as indicated in the map.

We packed essential camping gear and left just after eight Saturday morning ... heading towards Hartbeesfontein.

The roads towards Hartbeesfontein was "not bad", but filled with mud puddles, penalizing you if you followed to close ...

... some section was great fun ...

We filled -up and had "pies" for breakfast at J&R petroleum (next to the silos) and headed towards Wolmaransstad (Wollies). The first 10 km of the road was graded with lots of loose gravel and stones where after it became "better" as in only ruts and no more loose gravel.

After Wollies we turned towards Bloemhof and entered the flat-land territory with its white lime - and least traveled roads ...

... and a lot of puddles ... with water tortoises in, we could not believe it !

Chrisjgvn · 2025-03-09T20:01:26+0200

We crossed the Vaal towards Hertzoville and had some fun in the red sand roads, practicing our skills ! Around 16:00 we decided to head back to Bloemhof to look for camping spots. We tried Bloemhoff NR but there were a lot of weekend fisher men so we continued towards Sandveld NR. At first they said "No motorbikes allowed" but eventually they allowed us to camp in the "day visitor" section, I think they felt sorry for me ... look tired after a long day ... I hate the stigma attached towards "Motorbike riders".

The camping spot was perfect, like we want it ... nobody around with no facilities !!!

RobCrouch · 2025-03-09T20:07:58+0200

Daai lyk perfek

petri oosthuizen · 2025-03-09T20:13:31+0200

Nice!!!!

Chrisjgvn · 2025-03-09T20:18:56+0200

We had a perfect evening, two club steaks, pocket pannini's and three Windhoek Draughts ... around 20:30 the lights went out after a long day ...

I woke up at 06:00 because I "had to" and then started coffee. After coffee we started packing up and left around 8:00

Dorsland · 2025-03-09T20:21:32+0200

Chrisjgvn said:
We crossed the Vaal towards Hertzoville and had some fun in the red sand roads, practicing our skills ! Around 16:00 we decided to head back to Bloemhof to look for camping spots. We tried Bloemhoff NR but there were a lot of weekend fisher men so we continued towards Sandveld NR. At first they said "No motorbikes allowed" but eventually they allowed us to camp in the "day visitor" section, I think they felt sorry for me ... look tired after a long day ... I hate the stigma attached towards "Motorbike riders".

The camping spot was perfect, like we want it ... nobody around with no facilities !!!

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Dít lyk nou BLERRIE lekker!

Dorsland · 2025-03-09T20:23:20+0200

Chrisjgvn said:
We had a perfect evening, two club steaks, pocket pannini's and three Windhoek Draughts ... around 20:30 the lights went out after a long day ...

I woke up at 06:00 because I "had to" and then started coffee. After coffee we started packing up and left around 8:00

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Sjoe Chris, daai wêreld is nou darem mooi groen jong. Daai laaste foto maak my sommer lus om môre êrens heen te ry en gaan kamp. Pragtige foto.

Chrisjgvn · 2025-03-09T20:26:46+0200

... tot more, dan post ek n foto of twee vd pad terug huistoe ..

RobCrouch · 2025-03-09T22:09:45+0200

Dorsland said:
Sjoe Chris, daai wêreld is nou darem mooi groen jong. Daai laaste foto maak my sommer lus om môre êrens heen te ry en gaan kamp. Pragtige foto.

Selle hier... Maar eers moet ek damhuis binne verf.

RobCrouch · 2025-03-09T22:10:16+0200

Chrisjgvn said:
... tot more, dan post ek n foto of twee vd pad terug huistoe ..

Ag lekker!

Chrisjgvn · 2025-03-10T10:38:37+0200

As we stopped outside the reserve gate, our planned route back over Hoopstad, changed. We opted to back track via Bloemhof up to the Karee pan road and went east towards the N12. From the N12 we went east on the Witpan road until we reached Makwasie.

The sunflower field is in full bloom, saw quite a lot of sunflower and soya, probably due to the later summer rains …..

The original route was to head north from Makwasie to Wollies, but we decided against it and went for the the road along the railway track towards Leeudoringstad. Had coffee and lunch at “Eersteling” station (whats left of it, nice wild Camp option).

The track along the railway was wet with some deep pools.

Grootseun · 2025-03-10T11:52:14+0200

Met daai sand by die kampterrein sou ek meer as net een aand daar moes kamp....lol.

Dankie vir die deel.

Exploratio · 2025-03-10T16:07:17+0200

Lyk na 'n lekker trip. Stunning fotos.

Chrisjgvn · 2025-03-10T20:17:49+0200

From Leeudoringstad we took the gravel road towards Bamboesspruit and turned right following the Renosterspruit road. Some of the worse pieces of road for the entire trip, 20 km's of deep dry ruts and vehicle tracks in the clay, luckily it was dry and not wet ! The last 10 km towards the N12 was in a better condition.

Just after crossing the N12, we saw this old building, look as if it it could have been a farm house or an old trading post ? (I think it is Jakkalsfontein ?)