Grizz & Dozer's Ride South Africa, Ride Report Complete. YouTube Videos.....

[grizz]

Being in Durban, and having a few relatives and friends there, I had asked James if Deon and I could stay another day and night, rather than move to some other place like a guest house or one of Deon's kids homes.
He agreed that we could stay, so we could spend Day 13 seeing important people in our lives.

Day 13 started at 03.30 when I woke to go for a pee and to give the cat some attention.... I heard what sounded like a lot of water running somewhere, thinking it was a decent rainfall, escaping a gutter somewhere, I went back to my banished spot in the lounge, not switching any lights on etc, and stayed restless until about 05.30 when James got up to open the armed and alarmed kitchen door for Dozer to charge out and have his first cigarette of the day....

I told him I had heard the water cascading from early, as I  could not get back to sleep, and did not want to wake the whole house up.

He used some really nice words to express his feelings (NOT ONE SWEAR WORD CROSSED HIS LIPS, HONEST) as it was a repeat of a bust pipe a few weeks before, fortunately it was on the "away" side of his water meter, or else he would have been liable for the costs.

He was onto the emergency water services instantly, and within two or three hours the water was cut off.

Dozer and I sprang into action, shoveling sand/mud and sweeping the courtyards where all the water had come gushing through.
James wanted to help, but we tried to get him to go get ready for work.
Mondays should not start like this........

Camera perched on a windowsill and a ten second timer makes for a half decent action photo  :biggrin:



Three courtyards needed clearing, sweeping, washing and then a final broom and hose session to clear all the fine silt like sand and mud that came down with the water flood.

We were both sweating in the sub-tropical early morning heat by the time we were done, but for the first time since jumping on the Whale in Cape Town, I felt alive..... Dozer and I are not very good at "relaxing and holidaying"
Usually our holidays are spent "Doing stuff" like painting a house, rebuilding a kitchen etc.... so this was great for both of us.

Once we had had coffee, brekkie and pushed the bikes out, we were off to Durban North to meet a few friends and family.

When we left there was an armed response vehicle with the driver relaxing under a tree, parked out front of James' place, nice to know they were in good hands.



Firstly we rode up to Pinetown to see my dad's youngest sister, Ester, who had last year mentioned that if we came to visit her, would give me our grandpa's pipe, carving block (He used to buy his tobacco in a roll, then carve it every night after dinner under the light of the paraffin/kerosene lamp in the front room of their house, and his tobacco tin to add to Nicola's ever growing collection of rare and vintage smoking pipes.

Met by two dogs, and then three cats, we felt right at home and settled in the kitchen, which felt like home..... climbing into her home made rusks....



As is usually the case, an animal attached itself to me.

In this case a 17 year old cat..... with massive paws.



And this one just watched us with steely eyes.



Then my aunt took me over to the one display case and on a small side shelf it was..... Oupa's pipe.
With tears in her eyes, and threatening me with death, should I lose the pipe and carving block and tin, she handed it to me like the treasure it is.



All too soon, two hours had rushed by, but we had caught up on the basics of all her daughters and various other cousins we have no contact with anymore.
And it was time to be off again.


Next up was new member Maak Hom Dronk who I have known since about 1983...... bloody hell, that is 30 years of friendship that seems to be able to just continue without any effort.
Ian and I were married to two sisters in our youth, both of whom we stay in touch with and keep a good friendship going with, which is great, but then the girls, Kim and Karen were always great people, as were their mum and dad.... being from Scotland it makes a lot of sense.
Needless to say, Ian and I spent many a day and night over time under the influence of Alcopohol..... Braaing, riding bikes and generally growing up, which we are still trying to do.
Back in the day Ian user to ride an XR500 which regularly got stolen by some dickhead on Friday nights.... that is until Ian caught him one night and ensured he would never kick start his XR again  :deal: :thumleft:


We got to where Ian worked and promptly stationed ourselves in a Flame Grilled Chicken restaurant..... Perfect.



Ordering 2 litres of Coke and a bunch of glasses we got down to some serious catching up and kuiering.

Deon and Ian together, smoke time.



Later in the day were were joined by Goatman.... ask him why  

Gerald was from Mauritius, and was in boarding school with us, finishing school the year before me in 1979 , his younger brother Dominic was in the same class group as I was, so a lot more catching up was done between us.



As some of you know, I  love retro cars, so when this Golf Bakkie or Rabbit Pickup came onto the forceourt where we were, I had to snap it.



Eventually we had to get going again, as we had some "touristy stuff" to do, and then had a 16.00 appointment John and Hilda Stanfliet and their young son Nicholas near Entabeni Hospital. They are very good friends from Cape Town, who I had met in the UK, and traveled to France with etc, they had relocated to Durban for John to specialize as a consultant in medicine.
Typical Capetonian Hilda of course had all sexy finger foods set out, made coffee and we spent some great time eating all the food and catching up, before making our way back home to Dirty Boys place for our last night in Durban.

Tomorrow was the long road up the N3 to Johannesburg and back to Deon's place at Dunnottar.

So an early night, bikes prepped and checked were all the order of the day.

Day 14 to follow later.

 

[Goatman]

I've been reading silently and enjoying your trip, and now i see you got me in there.
It was a great pleasure to catch up with you again and i will continue to follow your story.
It really was an amazing trip and can't believe how much you fitted in to this short space of time. Anyway, all the best, hope to catch up sometime again in the future.

 

[Andre E]

Leka leka!

Nou is my plek famous op die interwebz. ;D

 

[EssBee]

@ "raise Essbee from his slumber".....mmmmfh...IF I remember correctly I went for a surf the following morning.....babelas se moer.... :biggrin: But yes....copious amounts of red wine was consumed.

'so long as vines grow on this earth....
let no water spoil our mirth...'

:biggrin:

NICE RR Grizz....eerste klas!

 

[grizz]

I've been reading silently and enjoying your trip, and now i see you got me in there.
It was a great pleasure to catch up with you again and i will continue to follow your story.
It really was an amazing trip and can't believe how much you fitted in to this short space of time. Anyway, all the best, hope to catch up sometime again in the future.

Hey Buddy, thanks for the comments.

Glad you are enjoying the write up.

I think that if you exclude the days we were not actively riding, then we did cover quite a bit of ground.

Give me a shout if you come out here.

 

[grizz]

Leka leka!

Nou is my plek famous op die interwebz. ;D

Daai koek en koffie was beslis die advertensie werd. :deal:

 

[grizz]

@ "raise Essbee from his slumber".....mmmmfh...IF I remember correctly I went for a surf the following morning.....babelas se moer.... :biggrin: But yes....copious amounts of red wine was consumed.

'so long as vines grow on this earth....
let no water spoil our mirth...'

:biggrin:

NICE RR Grizz....eerste klas!

Thanks mate, just trying to share as much as possible, and remember peoples names.

 

[grizz]

Having packed etc the previous night, we were able to just brush our teeth, have a coffee and hit the road.

Not at all hung over, but looking it, as I was not sleeping very well, with changing beds every couple of nights, and being who I am, I actually enjoy the cats crawling onto the foot end of my bed at night, and then tend to give them attention when I wake in the middle of the night.

I asked Dozer to push it a bit on the day, the N3 can get very long and boring, so we left James and his family early so as to gain early morning freshness on the road and beat some of the traffic near Pietermaritzburg.

Toll roads abound, on the N3 so Deon took the lead and all the cash and paid for all the gates rather than us both struggling with change etc.

At Mooiriver plaza we came of the motorway and discovered this gem.... So much more interesting than another Engen/Mobil 1 with a Wimpy.







I had ordered a Toasted Ham, cheese and tomato sandwich and a filter coffee, and Deon opted for a Chicken Mayo toasted sandwich and coffee.

Mine was large, but the Dozer sat with a silly grin on his face, he had gotten two grilled chicken breats on toast with some mayonnaise on top.

They say presentation is important, well it is, and so was eating it all.

Total cost was way under Wimpy prices, for a better product, and I got a free coffee refill too.



We then set off, again I asked Deon to keep at it, and push his smoke breaks to a minimum as we wanted to get home, this was a longer than average day.

Once again, from the outset this day, the radios were a great help and pleasure to have, right down to deciding not to stop at the Engen for brekkie, but rather at the quirky restaurant.

We were doing really well when Deon started to tell me about a Farm stall he used to stop at when he drove his Caterpillar on a supersized rig down to the coast, he used to buy biltong,and dried wors there.... so of course we stopped at Zandspruit Farm stall to see what they had in stock.





Some lovely wares, so we bought cold drinks, and I bought a load of dried yellow cling peaches.... heavenly after the absence from SA.
You guys who have never traveled outside of your own dialing code have no idea just how terribly boring an bland imported fruit in the UK is.

Everywhere we went, I could just taste the sunshine in the fruit we bought and ate.





After the stall we hit the road again.... some bends and hills, and all too soon we got to another pass..... here Deon told me of just how close he had once come to death after another rig behind him lost its brakes and mounted an embankment, overtaking him in a fashion where the driver could stick his hand out and touch the road..... some scary shit if you ask me.

Then we hit Van Reenens Pass, another modern pass that continues to catch out the unaware.

And as luck would have it, there was a truck and trailer 100 meters down the hill, after it had left the road, lucky for us, the traffic was still being directed past by the cops.

Ready to Rock n Roll.....



Exit of Van Reenens Pass.



The road started to flatten out, as it does in the Free State.....



We eventually spotted a service station and Wimpy along the road near Harrismith and decided to stop there for a coffee.

Aaaahhhh, another farmstall, so I bought a pack of biccies while Deon fetched the coffee.



While we were on the road, I was amazed at how many more of these large for SA, rigs there were on the road.



Self portrait of two brothers, a couple of coffee's and a packet of home made biscuits.



At this point I texted my mate Mike Touchdown69 to see hat his plans were for the next few days, and managed to forget to zip up the pocket on my riding trousers..... I LOST MY PHONE on the motorway somewhere, and when we got to Springs 90km further, I realized it. Fortunately I was able to cancell that phone instrument and buy another SIM card..... I still had a spare HTC Wildfire phone I had bought in the UK for Deon, that I could use if it allowed me, as it had been a Vodafone contract before, but more about the phone saga on Day 15.

We stopped at a Spar, bought some brandy, and other provisions, then made for Dunnottar, where Deon lives.

Stopped in front of his garages, we were pleased to have had another safe day, even though I had stupidly gone and lost my phone.



At this point my butt was tired from riding on a bled out shock



And there was chafing marks on both the inner mudguard and the spring around the rear shock.....



Parked up....



Walking into Deon's garage was like walking into an Aladdin's Cave of supplies.



Of course he had also gotten his friend who keeps an eye on the house to take out some decent T-Bone Steaks and cheese sausages that morning, so they were all defrosted when we got in.

We unpacked, showered, and started to relax, while getting a quick fire going to cook dinner.

Dozer is a guy who likes to engineer solutions, so his BBQ table is one of those, with a multitude of settings and add on and take off bits, it was all a real man needs to cook dinner.




It took only one Brandy and Coke to get to this point.....



The man also keeps a bar in a fridge.....  eepwall:



PIXAR brought all the light we needed on the meat..... sorry for the photo quality or lack of it.



Soon I had all I needed.



After eating myself to a standstill, we went to bed, tired after the days ride.

Ready to be up early next morning as Deon had been grumbling about some jobs that needed doing around the house, including fitting new garage doors.

More on Day 15 in the morning.

 

[grizz]

We woke up early to a perfect day in the Transvaal...... rain threatening.

Not that it mattered much, as the bike was knackered, and Deon needed to do some chores with the bakkie/pickup truck.

Day 15 was not going to be a biking day, well, not in the traditional sense anyway.

First thing I did was to walk around Deon's house, checking out all his treasures and shit, while he smoked his second, third, fourth cigarette ?? He walked around the house, plant poison in one hand for weeds, and ant poison in the other.....he has an ongoing dispute with ants and weeds on his property.

Breakfast was tea and rusks..... rusks again, followed by bone dry Kudu Biltong, just the way I love it. He had bought it about 6 weeks before and stashed it under fly nets in the dining room to dry for my attention..... WHAT A BROTHER TO HAVE !!!!

QUESTION TIME

One of the first things I lai eyes on in Deon's lounge was this tool.


I had always coveted it when my dad brought it home after my grandfather had died years ago..... it had been his.

Now the question is..... WHAT IS THIS TOOL CALLED AND USED FOR ????

(I do know the answer)




Walking around outside, the property was laid out in a very sensible, and intuitive way, at least for me. Behind the garage, he had turned the alley into a wood store, simultaneously securing that route of entry into the back yard, although he has not added six foot fences etc, the garage and house has been alarmed, secured and booby trapped after a rather big burglary while he was at work one day.
Weird how neighbours see nothing.



Shed or Kaya was there when he bought the place on a thin concrete floor. So the option was to remove it all, at cost, replace it with a new shed, at cost or just fix it up, and add a roof over the top, also creating a rainy day Braai area for his mibile BBQ.
I think the second option was the best one. The second roof helps to keep his workshop cool in summer, a bit like a Safari Roof on a Land Rover.



Plaashuis/Farmhouse sized he said when he bought the house after dad died..... It was the first time I have been to see his place, so I was both surprised and "shocked" at just how much house he had bought for the money he spent.



One of the first jobs on our first day back was for Deon to go sign extended leave forms at his base,1 Construction Regiment, and to check if there were any crisis that needed his immediate attention.
While I was waiting for him, I watched about 100 soldiers in 4 small groups march and "practice" for some parade...... shocking is all I can say, no pace, pride, attitude or interest is probably about the right description...... I mentioned this to Dozer and he said..... YES, you are right, it is part an parcel of the New SA, but also remember that these guys are Carpenters, plumbers, electricians and construction machine operators.... they are not "soldiers" in the traditional sense. I had to accept that, and the fact that I live in a country where the military still is an active fighting force, makes a difference too.



After this we were off to the Butchers and Fruit and Vegetable shops..... Dozer knows his prices incredibly well, and the meat wholesalers have him on their text lists, so every special offer gets texted through to him.
We went into the first one, Meat World and this greeted me..... The black you see on the ceiling is all Biltong and dried Wors.




Another thing that is not known in the UK is Flat chicken, sometimes sold as Spatchcock Chicken.

A Flattie is usually Deons nod toward Vegetarianism...... They come in various flavours and you cook them in the bag over slow coals, from a height.

While there, Deon reminded me that a slow cooking braai can be good as well. I have always prefered to do a hot fire and coals, then swearing as the meat fat strikes up flames and the glow burns my hands.
The last two braai's I did for us here at home were done slower and on a higher setting..... Nicola has actually told me to thank Deon for slowing me down.



Being as well known in his two butcher shops, Deon walks between the carcasses and chooses his meat and cuts off the hook.
I guess if you are a Sargent-Major, people do listen to you at times.



Pink Viennas in this display are a flash-bang reminder of childhood..... all the snouts, arses and ears go in there.... and anything thats not collected and sold of the ground..... but lovely to stuff into your face.
We had three each , eating two before we even exited the car park...... There is a lot to be said for H&S, but sometimes you just need to return to the old ways of low hygiene and improved taste.



Janpap is a new name and packaging for a very old product.
Maize porrige made incredibly dry, and crumbly, eaten with a "sauce" or relish containing amongst others onions, tomotos, garlick, and everything else you want to toss in there..... I absolutely love Krummel Pap as it is known, and even though I am able to do so many things just by trying it out..... Krummel Pap preparation is a secret known only the best alchemists, cooks and other special people. It is cooked with almost no water, and the coarser and lumpier the texture the better.



Some GOOGLE images of what it could look like served up.

Cooked in a cast iron pot, usually alongside another pot with the sauce.

DESCRIPTION COPIED FROM HERE.

https://www.ejozi.co.za/south-african-cuisine/mealiepap.html


Mealiepap or just pap (pup) is a traditional staple food of South Africans. It is made out of white granular maize meal usually cooked to a crumbly dry porridge such as krummelpap, or a stiff porridge such as putu or stywepap which can be served with grilled boerewors and a tomato-based gravy or sauce. Mealiepap can also be served with milk and sugar for breakfast. A lump of butter added to the porridge will improve the taste and texture.

This dish is eaten like rice or noodles in other cultures.

Afrikaners in the northern parts of South Africa eat it as a breakfast staple, with milk and sugar (slappap), but also serve it (stywepap) with meat and tomato-stew (usually tomato and onion) at other meals. In the Cape Provinces, among the white population, it is almost exclusively seen as a breakfast food.

Since mealiemeal is inexpensive, poor people can afford to combine it with vegetables and be sure of one good meal a day. It can be served hot or, after it has cooled, it can be fried, giving it a different texture. Stywepap or putu is sometimes enjoyed with chakalaka as a side dish with braais.

A similar dish is polenta, from northern Italy. In the USA a very similar dish is known as Grits. The primary difference between the US and the South African dishes is that in the US the maize (or corn) used is a yellow kernel maize, whereas in South Africa maize is especially grown for human consumption with white kernels, allowing the whole kernel to be used for the maize meal.



Polo Cop car, not sure we see them in the UK or if they are in the USA either.



Polo Dune, again a car I have not seen in this new model format in the UK, but I am sure they will be available on special order.



Africa is Hot !!

Take not what time of the day it was, temperature outside in the afternoon, in the morning it was threatening rain.

It is meant to be Autumn now in South Africa.






As a certain Mr Maverick once told me..... The adventure starts when shit starts going wrong.....

The bloody mobile saga started when I texted a mate Mike "Touchdown69" about 90km from home yesterday to let him know our movements, and did not zip up my trouser pocket when we set off again, so I suspect the phone is in a many flat pieces somewhere on the M3 Tollroad.

Today I  took a HTC Wildfire I had bought for Deon, in to a guy in Nigel to unlock it from a UK Vodafone contract.... come back in one hour with R270 he said..... an hour later he said come back tomorrow.
Then an hour later he phoned me on Deons number to say that if I wanted it unlocked tomorrow it would be R650 and if I wanted to wait till Monday it would only be R450.

So I told him screw that, I will collect the phone tomorrow and buy some cheap phone to use here in SA till I leave from Cape Town on the 29th.

Africa ehhh??

Bought about R200's worth of fruit this morning, as the fruit is always sweeter in Africa, and I cannot just eat meat.

However, we did manage to buy some 35mm T-Bone steaks, you may notice a theme coming through here.....

Paw Paws are bloody expensive in the UK, when you can get them, and also small.

Devide the price by 14 to get a UK £££ price.

I bought a box and ate myself stupid on them and the other fruit I bought, pears, apples, grapes and a load of real vegetables, as Dozer does not keep them in his house, he is a true South African, surviving on meat and having two slices of toast for breakfast to make up for the deficiency.





Pineapples - cheap by the box.



Pears, a whole box for the prices of what 5 would cost in the UK, and sweeter than anything you get here.



My first day at Deon's  place was spent shopping for sandals, as I had not brought any along, and it was too hot for shoes and jeans. so I shopped Barefoot as many people who cannot afford shoes, do. Oranges were about £1.20 for a whole bag, again the price of 3 or 4 in the UK.



In the afternoon when we dropped off the mobile phone I did find some very gay beach shoes.... left them behind when I left Deon's place for Cape Town the next week.

We also ran some other errands, visited a few of his mates to sort things out etc.

Then of course we had left over braai for dinner and a drink or many.

 

[Maak Hom Dronk]

Me, me, me, me... I know what that tool is for....

Is it for measuring spaghetti portions for iron age dwarfs? Yeah?... I knew I could crack it... Genius....

*note to self* After seeing myself in those pics I must get that fringe of mine seen to soon...


and btw... this RR is making me more hungry than anything else....

 

[Maak Hom Dronk]

 :lol8: :lol8: :lol8: :lol8: :lol8:

 

[grizz]

 :lol8: :lol8: :lol8: :lol8: :lol8:

Well, you had me choking on my braai earlier.

I usually sport the same model sandals in the summer.

 

[grizz]

Day 16 was spent mostly in Dozer's bakkie.

We went to Nigel to fetch back my phone, buy a new cheap handset and to look at a few old cars.

At one dealers place we saw these cars and trucks.



Only needs a new windscreen, owner cannot find one anywhere in the world.











And lastly, one of these.



In Nigel, I also saw this, strange the new gubberment have not painted this out.... seeing as it is from the dark distant past.

Maybe the workers are just too lazy or busy.



While we were out, Deon also ordered two new roll up garage doors, to be delivered to his house.

And fitted by the two of us.... no, never done one before, but sure we can work it out.

Bedtime now.

 

[Dirty Boy]

For Nigel, those must be NEW cars  ;D  I notice there is only one colour, "DULL"

 

[grizz]

Day 17 dawned wet and cold.

So we decided to go to Boksburg flea market, for some more touristy trinkets and shit.

In the mean time, Maverick and Super Foxi had agreed to buy a brand new rear shock for the Whale, which meant my plans to have it rebuilt for about R1400.00 went south. I agreed to contribute the money to the "pot" and then of course there was the courier saga.

Sent out on Thursday late, I was told that the shock would be delivered some time on Tuesday..... WTF ???  !!!!

I told Maverick I was leaving at first light on Tuesday, shock or no shock, for Cape Town.

So Maverick got me the tracking numbers, a phone number in Cape Town and while we were out shopping for tools for Dozers garage, I called Cape Town depot and got to speak to an incredibly helpful and apparently efficient young lady in the distribution depot.

She checked the systems and told me the shock was in Joburg at the local hub distribution centre already ..... WTF ???  !!!!

She took my details, and while I expected nothing, I did offer to drive anywhere in Gauteng Province to go collect this bloody shock that had really killed my spirit and enthusiasm at this point. She called back within 20 minutes and said they could deliver today.....  WTF ???  !!!

At 12.00 there was a call on Dozers phone from the Courier saying he was sitting outside his home, could he deliver please ..... WTF ???  !!!

I seemed to be saying WTF ??  !!! a lot at this point.

We agreed to be there by 2pm to take delivery..... as we also had Dozers garage doors arriving later.

We were home by 2pm, and took delivery of the new garage doors and started to fit them..... waiting for the courier to deliver the shock.








We had also arranged for Woody1 and LouisXander to come over for a braai, but the weather was not helping, so we put up a temporary rain cover.



Chicken in a bag...??

The trick for Deon is a slow gentle heat. So he started early.



One of the things about Dunnottar is that is used to be South Africa's premier Airforce training base.

The view from Deon's on patio is quite pleasant.



Later in the afternoon we were greeted by this view....



A very happy and relieved Grizz taking possesion of the shock.

Next question of course was..... WILL IT FIT ????



I had told Dozer to carry on with the meat on the braai, but he had to get inside the garage to check it out..



Later we were joined by "Die Manne"

A great evening of eating, some gentle drinking and lots of chat ensued.



Eventually we made it to bed.

A great evening had been had by all.

 

[grizz]

After the great Braai/BBQ the night before, we were both up by 05.00 and out in the garden and then garage.

Day 18 would consist of getting the shock fitted by 06.00 and then some more shopping, an a visit to Woody1's place of wonder.



Firstly, this is what R7000 or £500 buys you.



Patient ready.....



Tumor removed.





Doctor Dozer at it with the reconstruction.



Nurse Grizz helping with the final assembly.



Sorted.... ready for another 200 000km of hard riding.



Note my gay shoes I had bought at Jet Stores, to replace my usual flip flops.

While we were at it, Dozer decreed that we should disassemble the rear and look at the rear brakes, cables etc.
So we lubricated, cleaned everything etc, which resulted in a 5% improvement on the 5% braking I had in the rear before. Still, better than 0%






After this we showered and then took the bakkie and drove over to Woody1's place where we were joined by LouisXander and spent the next four hours looking and drooling over Woody's CNC woodworking machines and some of the items he has made, including a full violin he machined.

Woody's latest baby..... I hope he will add more clear descriptions, all I can say is that I wish I could use tools like this..... oooohhhh, and he is a lucky man, how many of your wives will let you bring in huge machines like this lazer cutter inside the house  :eek7:

Next up a trip to "Die Duiwehok" = "The Pigeon House" which used to house racing pigeons till Woody added quite a few brick courses to it and raised the roof in order to start building his hobby wood shop..... I am officially jealous of this space.

Large, efficient tools everywhere, most bought for sensible or silly low prices.




And on the other side, a machine he built himself, cutting a quick pic he programmed earlier.....

There are loads of things made here, everyone more interesting, complext than the last.....

Pepper mills with ceramic grinders?

Back to the CNC macining that was on the go earlier......

RESULT

Then we were joined by his wife, youngest and mum  in law, who looks younger than him  eepwall:

At this point, after coffees and biscuits, Louis had to go, and lucky for us, being rainy and cold....... Pancake time in the Woody Home, so Mrs Woody1 made a pile of pancakes and felt sorry enough for Dozer who was standing there dribbling and whimpering like a beat dog...... she offered us a share in the family treat. Thank you !!!

Caught in the act by my own camera.... thanks Woody !!



The problem with guys like Kobus is that they have lived the most interesting and varied lives, and every story leads to another, so we ended up in Antartica and the Netherlands and a few places inbetween where Woody1 had worked in the past. And then he is a nice guy to boot.

We eventually left Woody1's place.

After we left there is was off to some shops to find bits n pieces, then home via "Devil's Inn Pizza" where we had R7.50 ice cream cones and ordered some serious pizza's, then home to relax.

Hope the weather clears up so that we can take the bikes out again tomorrow and ride to the farm and see aunt, cousins and maybe pop in to Touchdown69 Mike who spent the day in hospital having his kidney stones mined.

Some of the newer names on the roads we drove on were shall we say Interesting, I missed some better ones when we were on the bikes too,



That pretty much concluded Day 18 of my trip. Only a few hundred meters done to feel the new shock, which felt like heaven.

Day 19 to follow when I get back in a moment.

This report seems to have more days than I remember.

 

[grizz]

Day 19 we started at ease, leaving home after 06.00 on the bikes.....

Dozer remote activating his alarms and booby traps....

Do note the new garage doors we fitted two days previously, I was very impressed that we got both doors fitted along with new rails etc in a short afternoon.
This is the sort of stuff Deon and I love to do..... taking on jobs we have never done and making it up as we go along.
Woody1 had made six 40x50x100mm spacers for the arms of the mechanised door openers as well, thanks Kobus !!



A quick photo opportunity  at the plane you can see from Dozers patio.

I am amazed it has not been stolen and weighed in for scrap value, or due to the represntation of the "Apparthate Regime" Any bloody excuse will do these days.



One of the clever tricks or schemes the new local and provincial authorities use to squeeze more taxes and money out of anyone that needs to move from one place to another (that means everybody) is to add Toll Roads and gates everywhere...... here is another.



We rode some distance, filled the bikes along the way and had a few smoke breaks, saw idiots driving and doing stupid stuff...... eventually we left the toll roads for a bit.




Yesterday we had planned to go to the family farm to wrap up the "family side" of this ride, but somehow could not get hold of the relevant people, so we just did an impulsive ride out to Hartebeespoort dam to test the new rear shock...... NIIIIIICE !!
Massive difference.

Some nice views....

We hit the light at the tunnel on a red as the tunnel and bridge road is single file, so alternates between the coming and going, So we stopped and took a few pics.






Deon had a Wimpy breakfast and both of us tea, as the coffee machines were down (No electricity WTF?? )
And we watched some "Baaaikers" being total Dwisses reving up noisy bikes in their colours. Listening to the customers in the Wimpy comment I wished the riders could hear it and respond in a way other than potentially threatening or assaulting them.
I wish people in general would be more tollerant and more considerate of each other (I include guys like the Groot Dwiss who came around the corner of the 4 way stop in a beige Land Cruiser, partly out of control, arse swinging wildly side to side, endangering many people waiting to cross the intersection)

After this we rode to Tant Malie se Winkel (well overpriced for tourists) where I bought 4 little blocks of real fudge and an Old South African flag Teaspoon for my English home for R49.50  

Then some back roads, and the inevitable bloody Toll roads, we ran into "Buffel" a WD member on his new 1200 Tenere, no number plate, waiting to shoot through the toll gates without paying..... I SAY: GO BOY !!!



On the way back we visited Mike, who bought Thunder Child from me 11 years ago, and then restored her again to standard, after he had encouraged me to chop her in the first place.
It was great seeing him arrive home from hospital after us as he had spent the night in there having his kidney stones mined in the operating theatre. Mike and his family have been an extension of my own family for years, and it is always interesting that time does not alter certain friendships.  He also gave me a New York Mafia number plate and the plate of his Aprillia 1000 that he sold on last week.

On one of his smoke breaks Deon saw one of these sitting on Mike's garage wall..... KWE VOEL !!! 
Growing up, we hated them on the farm, when you went into the veld to hunt, they were like sentries, always making their characteristic noise to warn everything in a couple of kilometers radius that there was danger




From there we rode back to Woody1's place as he had called to inform me that we had forgotten something the other day.....

A placemat for Dozer's Brandy & Pepsi Max mug, which has now had 4 coats of clear varnish.

And again, a surprise for me.....

A set of 6 placemats that I will finish in the UK.

Tonight is a last braai with Deon, Thick T-Bone steaks and Cheese Grillers washed down with a few B&C's
Then off to Cape Town in episodes tomorrow morning, hopefully stopping over at Nimmo's Guest House in Colesberg if my Poephol makes it.

Day 20 would be a long one as I was hitting the road back to Cape Town, hoping to split the trip into three as the Whale started to hurt you after 500km. And I do not stop for anything but Petrol, Pissing and Police.

Hope you guys are keeping up here......

 

[Goatman]

Abso frickin lootly

 

[grizz]

After we got home from the Hartebeespoort dam ride out, it was time to do a bit of housekeeping.

I went off to fill the bike up to its filler cap, check the oil etc.

Then back to Deon's place to wash the bike with paraffin/kerosene to remove the oil slick that covered large parts of it.

Also a soapy wash to get it looking good for the trip back to Cape Town that I was starting the next day.



While I was being industrious, Dozer managed to get a load of coats of clear lacquer onto his Tweety placemat that Kobus had cut him.

This will be joining all the other "kaggel kakkies" he has already got, according to him its too good to just use.



The Dozer-Kaya where it all happens.




We had another Braai that evening, and I kept the alcohol to a single drink, followed by a mug of tea as tomorrow I needed to be focussed.

 

[grizz]

04.35 AWAKE !! ......... WTF ??? !!!!

I woke up, could not get back to sleep, edited my camera a bit to reduce the 2000 pics I had on there, then made a cuppa tea, ate the last of the rusks and left a " Sorry I ate the last ones and Thank You for an awesome ride " note in the empty biscuit tin......

Next up a quiet shower, packed the bike and at 05.15 I shook Dozer awake with a coffee, so that he could at least close the door behind me.

The previous day we had also connected a power outlet to the battery for the SatNag to run off on my trip to cape Town.

The first 200km was completely unknown to me, so she would be helpful if she did not have a meltdown.

It was still dark when I pushed the bike out, and the first 100km would be done with caution, as most of the labour force, taxis etc are on the road that time of day, and going on what i had seen the past 3 weeks, it was time to be wide awake and ride defensively.

My hands were soon numb from the cold and also the mist that seemed to be hanging over the road for most of the way, another hazzard.

Getting past Heidelberg, and through some of the more densely populated local areas had me worried and free rage animals was the other worry.

Somewhere past Heidelberg I rode alongside a rather large abatoir yard, with a few kilometers of paddocks filled with cattle waiting to become biltong, steaks and burgers.

I got stuck behind a loaded cattle truck at this point, and kept quite close to it, so that I could overtake in the cold, dull, misty early morning light the moment an opportunity presented itself..... the road carried on like this for a while, then we went into a gentle left handed bend that tightened up a bit...... suddenly, all the cow piss and shit that had congregated on the two floors of the truck got shifted to one side and started to overflow the edges..... TOO LATE !!!!!
I was showered by a pungent mix and thanked my lucky stars that my visor was completely closed and I was trussed up like a turkey against the morning chill. My visor was so covered I had to use a finger to clear a strip to see through.
Shortly after this I did manage to overtake and get back to business with the suns rays starting to break over the edge of the eastern horizon, again a picture I would have loved to have taken, but the cold drove me, not sure my fingers would have been a safe place for the camera anyway.

I got to one of the bigger intersections and saw a bakkie parked on the opposite side, smoke lazily curling from a Webber that was already loaded.

I stopped for a few minutes, just to relax my hands a bit, and without even taking my helmet off, spoke to Gert, he was another casualty of the "New South Africa" having been made redundant as an Instrument technician where he had worked for almost 20 years, he now made a living cooking burgers, chops and sausages alongside the road, in the middle of nowhere, and selling cold drinks..... he said he was surviving, and that this life beat begging on street corners for him.



As soon as my hands warmed up again, I was off.

Eventually seeing the gods of the region..... grain silos.
Grain is big business here.



Followed shortly by my directions getting clearer.

The N1 route connects Johannesburg and Cape Town. Note again, the Tollroad signs.



I eventually made it onto the N1 to start my run for cape Town.

I had already seen a few of these signs, starting at over 1200km to Cape Town and just giggled, knowing how blooody far it still was.



I carried on, filling and riding.

I also had made a Thermos full of coffee so had a good break at my first filling station.

From there it was Bloemfontein that was my next objective.....

400km from Deon's place, it was also where I used to work once a month when I lived in SA, flying from PE on a Monday and back on the Friday, Kimberley was part of that weeks work. I had the most amazing customers and relationships in this area, and would have loved to pop in to say hallo to people  I had not seen for over 10 years, but time moves on and I decided against it.

At some point I saw this signs and thought of my good friend in California, an Ex-US Marine, who came from a family of Marines, father, sons all were active members of the US Marines.

Gus' surname is Marquardt and knowing what a hard arsed guy he is, who takes no shit from anyone, I had to take the pic for him.



The deeper I got into the Orange Free State, the more interesting the roads got......

Loads of this behind me, right as far as the horizon goes and the same ahead.

These roads are the ones to be careful of, speed traps and falling asleep are both a threat.



I eventually made it to Colesberg early, by 13.00 where I had planned to stay over at Niimmo's guest house, but two things stopped me, no LRP Petrol, Not being able to find his place in town when asking locals, and the fact the bike was running beautifully and feeling very comfortable on the new shock.... really the first time on this trip I felt 100% ready for another few hours.

I did see this shop for Nicola.......  eepwall:




So I set off again, and found LRP in Hanover, but no accommodation, so I headed out for Richmond in the hope that there would be a spot to stay.

The whole route so far had been inundated with roadworks and there were loads of crews working on the roadside with heavy duty digging and trenching machines, many rolls of colourful cables along the road as well....... This I found out very soon was all for the new Fiber Optic cables that were being laid between Jo-Burg and Cape Town, as well as large sections of the N1 being rebuilt, widened etc to accommodate all the heavy duty trucking that was on the road.

I eventually made it to Richmond and found the local Information centre..... having seen quite a few the last couple of weeks, that were empty "out to lunch" and "back in 10 minutes" I held little hope......

GREAT WAS MY SURPRISE THEN...... To be helped by a young man who seemed to know a whole lot.

I told him I was on a bike (Kinda obvious if you looked at my kit) and needed a place to sleep for the night where I did not need to unpack my bike.
He immediately said that "Be Blessed" next to the river would be the right place to go to.

Ohhh, and they run the local Spar supermarket just down the road. He made a phone call, and said that I could leave my bike and kit unattended outside his office, it would be fine..... and go see Mr Saag next door.



I went around and spoke to Saag's wife Sumi who it turned out was as nice as he is.

She could offer me a plate of food, early departure and the company of a group of contractors they had over for the week..... Sounded perfect to me, so I went down to their place..... guess what.....??
Another stream to cross.



I was greeted by Jonty, one of their three dogs and Sumi shoved two ice cold Windhoek Lagers into my hand before I had even unpacked the bags, saying "I am sure you need one of these"  Just how cool is that??

I had mentioned that I needed "secure" parking for the bike.

When I got to my self contained double room, Sumi said "park your bike inside if you want, but nothing will happen here"

I declined, but it was a nice gesture.

Parked up for the night.



My room for the night, with kitchen, bathroom etc. There was a liter of milk, bottle of Nescafe Classic and sugar and teabags for guests. Perfect, as I wanted to fill up my thermos flask again the next day.



I agree, but then I have a wife who wears some pretty nice things.



With the river alongside the boundary, olive trees and figs amongst others seemed very happy.



Later the afternoon, the contractors all came back from their various sites alongside the N1.

I had to laugh a whole lot when I saw two of them wheeling a Honda 450 and KTM 200 out of their bedrooms... she was serious.

Saag, along with some of the guys went off on their bikes into the nearby hlls for some mad riding, we could hear the bikes being ridden in anger...... Saag came back on his F650GS a while later, just saying.... "Hulle is fokken mal" "They are fucking mad"
Seems these guys ride at 10/10 when offroad.

After the sun set, the fire had been started, and Saag sat next to it with his inherrited Puffer, helping to blow the fire into action.



Jonty, the dog had also immediately made an attachment to me, so I would find him on my bed, waiting for attention. Nice.

I had gone to my room to eat my dinner, supplied by my hostess.... two Garlic Chicken Kiev's and a load of vegetables etc.... absolutely PERFECT !!



I may have previously mentioned Chickens in bags......

More on this night.



My legs in my riding boots after showering as I had left the gay shoes with Deon to give to some unsuspecting fool, and Jonty who had figured out that setting his little arse on your shoe or foot meant that he did not sit on the cold floor.



A pic of the group at the self catering rooms at Be Blessed on the night, with owners inbetween. Amazing hosts, a lot like many I met on this trip.



The Braai area is a great idea, with what looks like a round brick built dam, with a concrete slab on top, on which the fire is made, so you can sit next to the fire on logs, or stand next to it while cooking your meat or whatever.





In the room there was also  some menu's for local restaurants that cater for guests.

I thought the prices looked decent, and the food was sure to be a winner. For English pricing, divide by 15 to get an idea, and keep in mind, typical South African restaurant portions are at least 20% bigger than the average UK servings..... thats just the way it is.





I eventually went to bed, watched a bit of TV to unwind my mind further and went to sleep after having done 788km for the day, I was content, as it was more than half the trip, and tomorrow the weather promised to be good as well.

For anyone who is interested.

There are 5 flats that sleep a total of 24 people.

Pricing and extras are Extremely Reasonable.

Catering, like a Braai etc is done on request, and Saag and Sumi will happily join you, along with Jonty.

www.wheretostay.co.za/beblessed  Contact: Saag 0829449240 or 0536930147

Contact them directly to discuss or book.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The time now is 12.50

Maybe time to get into the garage for a while.

I start a new job on Friday, so need to maximise the time left.