JHB to St’Francis Bay via Cape Town

[Bossies_]

My first RR…..looking forward to share my solo ride with you!
All packed and ready to leave JHB tomorrow morning latest 5:30..knowing myself I will probably be wide awake at 3:00 and will leave earlier than 5:30

I will be doing a 3 day trip down to Cape Town and then from there a further 2 day trip to St’Francis bay to meet up with my girlfriend.
The plan is to do mostly gravel after Bloemfontein through to Cape Town.

So far the plan for day 1 -
Will grab some breakfast somewhere between JHB and Bloemfontein, after Bloem I will be heading to Philippolis to spend the night.

 

[chopperpilot]

Enjoy, and have a safe journey! [emoji6]

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

[8 min Mark]

Enjoy the ride. Should be really good

 

[Mikie]

Waiting with Baited breath

Safe travels!!

 

[Bossies_]

Travelled on the N1 to Bloemfontein…nothing much to share except for having a lekker breakfast at Jakalsdrift Padstal about 120km before Bloem.

After Bloemfontein I went into the direction of Jagersfontein. One straight long tar road that felt as if it will never end. Jagersfontein is a small town that is an international acclaimed tourist attraction…..maybe once upon a time it was, but definitely not anymore.

After Jagersfontein I finally got on gravel.

Found a tortoise/turtle (don’t know what is the difference) in the road. Looks like it has been run over by a car. It seemed ok,only its shell broken a bit so I took it out of the road.

Arrived safely in Philippolis. Will be sleeping in jail tonight.

Grabbed a beer and a burger at the local bar…If they catch me over the limit then they can just take me back to the jail where I am staying.

 

[Chrisl]

Sub!! :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[Challa]

:sip:

 

[kevin]

:sip:

 

[Bossies_]

So this morning I manage to leave Philippolis jail quite early.

Just as the sun was breaking the surface I was over the Oranje River and into the Northern Cape past Colesberg, Noupoort and into Middleburg.

Through Middleburg I took the 1st gravel of the day all the way to Nieu-Bethesda. What a ride!! I believe this part of the world is never so green.

I arrived in Nieu-Bethesda around 10 for a beer and breakfast. Very nice little Karoo town!

After breakfast I passed through Graaff-Reinet and then to Aberdeen. Something worth seeing in Graaff-Reinet is definitely the Valley of Desolation. I went there last year so did not stop there again.

By this time I got to Aberdeen it was crazy hot so I stopped at a padstal for a milkshake to cool down a bit.

After Aberdeen I went in the direction of Beaufort West. A few km on the tar I saw swarms and swarms of Springkaan…was so weird, they just hopped around and did not fly. Lucky for me. I can’t imagine hitting a few of them wile riding.

After some km on the tar I turned off to find some gravel. Again what an amazing 100km or so gravel road!

 

[Bossies_]

I arrived safely in Beaufort West around 15:00. It was around 34 degrees. Seeing that I spend a night in jail
I decided to treat myself at Lemoenfontein Game Lodge just outside Beaufort West. Took a nice swim (was the best!) had a couple of beers and just enjoyed the views….

 

[Gerard]

I'm trying to figure out how you got from Aberdeen to Beaufort Wes.

 

[Blikkies1]

Lekker, enjoy! Probably mixing it up with Fort Beaufort?

 

[Gerard]

Lekker, enjoy! Probably mixing it up with Fort Beaufort?

He went Sentraal karoo

 

[Bossies_]

Yesterday was a long day with excellent gravel roads  and mind blowing Karoo scenery!
Left the guest house at Beaufort West around 6:30

Through town and after short drive on the N1 I turn right on gravel road heading to Merweville.

After about 20km or so the road that I have to take to get to Merweville had a “closed” board. If you stumble in life get hold of the Dominie (Pastor)…I managed to get hold a local Dominie running a guest house in Merweville and he assured me I should be able to get through with a bike. Because I didn’t have internet I used to the Tracks 4 Africa app (works offline) to try and get a local number. Lekker app that. Luckily I had a bar of phone signal and was able to phone out.

One of the river crossings bridges broke after the heavy rainfall that the region had not so long ago. I managed to pass quite easily and off to Merweville.

After about 120km I arrived in Merweville.

I ate breakfast at the famous bookclub (was a show on Kyknet that was made in this town). That skildpadjie was excellent!

 

[Bossies_]

I went passed Ds Kallie Le Roux and thanked him for the help. He is not the local town Dominie, but now retired after preaching in Darling. He showed me around his guest house called Springbok Lodge. Definitely worth staying over in the future….

Leaving Merweville I went in the direction of Sutherland. Traveled on another + 100km gravel road with the most amazing Karoo scenery. At this time (around 10am) it was already deep 20C.

Arrived in Sutherland. Tried to go and check out those telescopes but due to Covid you have to book online and blah blah blah…

After Sutherland I took a short trip on the tar out of town (in the direction of Matjiesfontein) and the. back on to gravel in the direction of Ceres. It was blazing hot! As you can see it was 39C. At one stage it showed 41C on the screen. I just couldn’t stop to take photos…it was too hot with the bike clothing on.

After Ceres I went through the winelands and arrived safely in Gordons Bay around 5pm. I visited some friends and had a lekker braai. What an amazing day of hard riding and exploring our beautiful country. The bike - BMW 850 GS - was riding like a dream. I haven’t been riding adventure bike very long and heard this and that from the guys owning some other brands, but I am well impressed with the performance of the bike!

 

[Bossies_]

I'm trying to figure out how you got from Aberdeen to Beaufort Wes.

There is the R61 connecting Aberdeen to Beaufort West. But I took a longer route on gravel. After a few km on the R61 there is a board that said Nelspoort where you get on a nice piece of gravel into Beaufort West. The route looks like this.

 

[Gerard]

:thumleft:  That view from the top of Rammelkoppas over Sentraal Karoo is one of my favourites

 

[evansv]

:sip:

 

[skydiver]

Thank you for the RR
I have just returned from a holiday in Mossel Bay and whilst driving along in the car, I kept daydreaming about riding my bike on some of those dirt roads one day

 

[Platte]

Bly jy is veilig by die see, dit was n mooi trip wat ek gemis het,ons sal dit saam weer moet doen  :thumleft: