just finished puting a smile on SA

[donovan paton]

got back yesterday from a 11 day trip, did the west coast from Alixander bay to Agulas along the coast then the N2 all the way home 5360km. need to get the picks of the camara and will post some. KLR`s are not made to do 700km days, had 4 of them. only hasel on the 2 KLR`s was a wire that rubbed through for the heat gaudge under the tank, kept showing the bike was running hot.

 

[Adventurer]

Well done, looking fwd to the full RR. :thumleft:

 

[JACOVV]

Subscribed  :thumleft:

 

[Harry the Buffalo]

:thumleft:

 

[Tweetie]

Respect  :thumleft:  look forward to PICS

 

[donovan paton]

early morning start (09h00) :laughing4: we were going to leave at 06h00. but had fun with my bike dieing the night before, got some dirty petrol from a local garage and had to strip the tank of and drain, empty the carb. good way to test your tools before a trip

 

[donovan paton]

day one was from Mandini, Greytown, Weenen, N3, Harrismith, Bethlehem with an over night stop at Welkom. we had rain most of the way and got to test our rain coats out. with some thick mist around Greytown.

Day 2 was from Welkom, to Augrabies, we took a short cut from Welkom to Kimberly, the road had been graded and with 3 days of rain it had a thick layer of slosh, had my first fall and put a hole in the bottom of my one boxes. a local farmer drove past and said we should turn of on the next tar road as the next section was realy bad, by the time we got there, it was rain so hard you could bearly see. an open face helmet with googles does not stop the rain from hitting your nose. it was like getting pricked by pins. we got to Groblershoop with just over 1L in the tank, we had a bad head wind and i normaly get 350km before resurve, this time it was 265km, big wake up call as i had planed my stops every 300km. up through Upington and an over night stop at a fellow tablers farm at Augrabies.

 

[donovan paton]

Day 3 was Augrabies, Pofadder, Springbok, Vioolsdrift and into Namibia. we had an over night stop at Abiqua camp site on the Orange river, there name has change to river camp(i think) they had lots of damage from the floods. but are up and running, not like Augrabies that have done nothing since the floods, i was very disapointed as some of the decks are still closed and the one that is open had loose planks, not very good advertisment for SA. coming into Vioolsdrift the one bike started to run hot. my one was running sligtly hotter than normal, i think it was 50 in the shade. luckely it was a wire that rubbed through under the tank. 15min and all was fixed.

 

[donovan paton]

day 4, we were going to go back in at Sendlingsdrift, but we were told the bridge is out over the Fish river and the pont was not working. so we went back in at Vioolsdrift and followed the river to Exsteenfontain. this section is a difrent world and well worth the sand. from Exteenfontain we took the short cut over the mountian to the main road to Alixander bay. i thought we were going to sleep in the desert as the roads became single tracks and soft sand. we dropped the tryes pressure and that made the sand more barable. we got to Alixander bay at 17h00 and shot to the beach. there some locals were coming of the sand in there 4x4 and said we can ride the sand tracks to the mouth. with our sand riding skills honed to a fine piont  :imaposer: of we went. 3km later we were at the mouth of the orange river. the offical start of our trip. from there we took the main road to Port Nollath and spent the night at Mc dougalls bay.

 

[donovan paton]

Day 5 was to be from Port Nolloth, kliensee to Hondklip Baai. we took our time as it was only a short distance, the road to Kliensee was better than most of our local tar roads, with 50km of tar road after Kliensee to Hondklip baai with the last 20km some good dirt road. when we got to Hondklip baai we we not happy with the caravan park and decided to hall As$ to our next over night stop. the road from Hondklip baai to Garies is a good dirt road and we sat at 110km/h most of the way. we followed the N7 to Nuwerus and took the dirt road to the R363 and then to Lutzville and spent the night at Curlew beach caravan park. this has to be the best place i have stayed at. for R133 per camp site you get your own deck with a toilet and shower under the deck. the place is run by the local munisapality and they cam out to give us key as it was getting dark when we got there. we met up with a couple there that were in a 4x4 who also did not want to spend the night at Hondklip baai. so it was not just us.

 

[donovan paton]

day 6, follow the coast from Curew beach to St helen bay. as you go down the coast the you can follow the Toll road, yes toll road along the train line. R25 a section. we decided to stick to the back roads, a lot more fun. when we got to St helen bay we were going to stay at Mid west caravan park. we could smell it from the road and decided to carry on ridding till we found somthing else. at Paternoster we started looking for B&B. we met some guys at a petrol station with some camping gear on the back of there 4x4 and asked where they had come from. they stayed at tieties baai. what a nice little camping place.

Day 7 we took a short cut from Paternoster to Saldana bay. that was one of the best sections along the coast. you turn Right just after Parternoster on the R399 just before Louwville. you need to stop and turn around where the road goes into the dunes. the GPS showed you can carry on along that road all the way to the main road into Saldan. there is a locked gate just after you spend 3H getting your bike unstuck in the soft sand. and a very peed of farmer who called the cops on us. there was no sighns or gates till the locked one we found. we turned around and got out of there in 10min flat. all along that section is abandend camp sits, some toilets and ground sheets still left. there was even some guys still staying there in caravans. we made our way to Saldana bay, into the park and then to our next over night stop in Durbanville.

 

[donovan paton]

day 8 we whent from Durbanville to Blouberg strand, followed the coast to Cape town, Hout bay, the cape point, all along the coast, Gordans bay, bettys bay and spent the night at the palmiet caravan park. we had the place to our self and spent the night in the toilet as it was raining  :imaposer:

Day 9 we stuck to the coast, Hermanus and to L`Augulas, the end of our trip. we did the whole Atlantic along the coast. from there we wanted to cross the pont at the Bree river. R13 and see witsand. it was getting late. our next over night stop was with a couple we met at Tieties baai. they have a small coffee shop they run from there house in Groot Brak, just past Mosselbay. if you ever in the area, please stop and support them, they were willing to take in two dirty stinkey bikers and give them free food and lodging. you dont find this offten.

day 10, Hall as# on the N2 to East london. we stayed at a B&S, not a B&B, not one we checked out served breakfast, so we changed it to bed and shower. R400 for this. the last 250km was in the poring rain.

day 11, hall as# again on the N2 all the way home. 756KM. we got stoned between Umtata and Kokstad, other than that small miss hap the trip was well worth it.

will get some more picks of Etians camara and post them 

 

[Harry the Buffalo]

Nice RR.......thanks :thumleft:

 

[Laban]

Thanks, nice :thumleft:

 

[edgy]

Very nice! Been browsing with my phone so can't see all that clearly,are those long range tanks on the new shape KLR's?
BTW the transkei is a good place to get stoned!

 

[spoedvark]

looks like you okes had a lekker ride. thanks for sharing! well done on the RR!

 

[Tienie]

Lekker trip!

 

[Joyride]

Nice ride. Nam and Westcoast rocks!! :thumleft:

 

[LeonDude]

Nice!  :thumleft:

 

[cheesy]

You guys sure put a smile on the R S A, nice report and pics, What is the name of the coffee shop in Groot Brak? we will be in that area this coming week end.