Kenhardt - Die Hel - Baviaans

[McSack]

Damn! I can see them ????
Wonder if there is some "share" setting I need to sort out

Only difference I see is http vs. https.

Dropbox has a password maybe?

Could be .. .going to try Photobucket


.... OK updated to photobucket pics ... let me know if it grafts now if you don't mind. Not going to spend time carrying on if the first few posts don't work

 

[McSack]

Eaton (aka Kraai) and his wife Suzette are wonderful hosts and we soon settled in for a Karroo lambchop feast and a bit of a skop in the pub



Who let the KLR in??



What the hell kind of stogie is that you smoking Dawie?

must be something that makes okes think they can fly  


You let one donkey in .. and the next thing you know he has invited all his friends

 

[McSack]

So I was sharing with Doc , and my sack ! can that oke snore !! I couldn't even hear myself snore and that is saying something  ;D
Anyway, I was up early and took a little stroll outside the hotel to check the sunrise




Plan was to ride out to Verneukpan for the day and then back to the Kenhardt Hotel for dinner. By the time we were done with breakfast, there was a bit of cloudcover but weather was warmer than expected.
Notice my "big wake up" in the bottom right of these pics  ;D




Great ride out to the pan. We took turns opening and closing farm gates along the way


and arrived on the outskirts of the pan. Cloud cover was starting to break up so some photo opportunities and a few okes riding around in circles while we waited for the keys to the last gate

 

[McSack]

Then it was onto Verneukpan proper. I'm going to let the photos tell the story here, but this has got to be a bucket list destination for anyone who owns a DS bike

 

[subie]

Great trip  :thumleft:
Did you fall there ? Straight road and seems you just ran onto the soft shoulder.

 

[McSack]

:headbang:  :ricky:  :ricky:

PeterVee power-sliding a KLR 

Baksteen, DieselDawie, McSack, PeterVee, Kraai, Porra, Ang, TheNav(aka Rolex), Jorg, DocKLR ... and PaparazziLilly behind the camera


And after a lekker boerie braai out on the pan, it was time to head back

 

[McSack]

Great trip  :thumleft:
Did you fall there ? Straight road and seems you just ran onto the soft shoulder.

Ja Subie ... bought a farm when I was paying too much attention to the scenery and not enough to the road. Front wheel hit that erosion gully in the middle of the road and before I knew it I had bliksemmed off the left hand side into a donga

 

[McSack]

Next series of pics taken on the road back to Kenhardt










... and so an epic day in the saddle came an end . WHAT A RIDE!

then it was party time ... for some more than for others

... you go Baksteen you good thing .... :laughing4:

 

[Garfield]

Daar werk dit nou mooi  :thumleft:

 

[McSack]

Daar werk dit nou mooi  :thumleft:

Schweet. More to follow of our trip after Kenhardt

 

[subie]

Great trip  :thumleft:
Did you fall there ? Straight road and seems you just ran onto the soft shoulder.

Ja Subie ... bought a farm when I was paying too much attention to the scenery and not enough to the road. Front wheel hit that erosion gully in the middle of the road and before I knew it I had bliksemmed off the left hand side into a donga

Constant battle for me also to not let my mind wander on long distance dirt roads. The look but not really see
stare. Dan is dit kopskud en fokus vir my  :ricky:

 

[Peter Vee]

Lekker Grantus,  made me feel a "hunnertpercent" better,  all pics display fine.

Pete

 

[Cracker]

Nice RR, McSack - makes me miss those rides .................. 

 

[McSack]

Anyways ... after 4 days of riding some really amazing roads (majority identified and led by our fearless captain PeterVee) it was time for everyone to kind of go their separate ways. Pete, Dave and Norbs would be heading down to Hondeklip Baai, and Baksteen and I would join the Cape Clanners down to Carnarvon to overnight, and then the next day our ways would part at Fraserberg after breakfast . From there the 2 of us would head to Die Hel and then through Baviaans down to PE where we'd overnight with The Ballies Baksteen ... after which we'd each head home solo.
So it was with mixed emotions that we set out in different directions on a cold Northern Cape morning

Short section of slab and then we were onto the kind of roads we did this trip for in the first place


Talk about "Long Desert Highway" ...


... that was exactly what I had blasting in my helmet straight after this essential "warm up stop" ... damn it was cold, but the riding was epic




... and remember that party from last night ....



Djarre .. the youngsters of today...  :laughing4:

Shame .. I actually felt quite sorry for my riding buddy, but it was hilarious never-the-less

 

[McSack]

Those long straight roads (interspersed with some hectic corrugations here and there) eventually brought us into VanWyksVlei which is apparently the driest place in South Africa.


Although considering how poep-dronk most of the locals were (this well before lunch) , one has to wonder  :-\


Essential stop in any case ... we needed coffee and the girls needed a shuzz. Thanks to The Nav, coffee was brewed inside the local Cafe and while there he got chatting to the local cherrie on the till (and one or 6 other people) who mentioned we just had to visit the dam outside town that had been hand-built by convicts way back when. Was definitely worth a bit of a detour





Sad news here was that the back suspension of the GS of Jorg and Lilly had conked out (must've been those corrugations), so they were going to take the "easy" route through to Carnarvon and would meet us there. So it was just the 4 KLR's ... Ang, Dave(TheNav), Baksteen and myself who took the right turn towards Brandvlei just after the dam while the GS continued on straight to Carnarvon

The dirt from that T-junction to where the road joins up with the R63 into Carnarvon has got to be one of the best bits of dirt freeway I have ever ridden. Long straights to the horizon ... twisties through some rocky passes ... and not a cage in site. I swear the first car I saw for the day was when we eventually rode the last 20kays on tar into Carnarvon

There is just nothing like the wide open big sky country of the Karroo


Once again an epic section of road winding through the "Tafel Berge" which eventually spat us out at this intersection


Where my buddy once again had to take a quick 5 minutes of personal time in a bush . This strange situation ensued when ang spotted a large piece of the local topiary protruding from Baksteen's posterior ... oke couldn't ride like that so Ang and The Nav were forced to carry out a bit of surgery with a leatherman

TheNav" OMG Ang ... are you sure you know what you are doing? ... that looks seriously ... well ... serious "
>


Shot Dave for suggesting we take that detour  :thumleft:


And then we were at our spot  in Carnarvon


Took a walk into town and had dinner at the restaurant with the same name, got home and shot the breeze on the couch for an hour or 2 and then we hit the sack for a pretty early night. Next day was going to be a long one for Baksteen and I so I was quite grateful
Slept like the dead

 

[McSack]

...
Up and at 'em early next morning . More big sky beauty all the way to Fraserburg for a lekekr boere breakfast at Meerkat in town








... wish I had stopped to take a few more pics of this part of the ride, but time wasn't really on our side. Baksteen and I still had to get down to Prince Albert, then through part of the Swartberg pass and down into Die Hel before sundown

 

[McSack]

Breakfast turned into a bit of a prolonged kuk-praat session, so when we eventually dragged ourselves out of Die Meerkat and said our farewells to the Capies, we decided we'd better klap the 100 kays or so of tar down to Prince Albert at a fair pace.
Along the way, just where the Northern Cape becomes the Western Cape you come across one the most amazing tar passes in the country (IMHO of course) and I was like a kid with a new toy through the TeeKloof pass down towards Leeu Gamka. ... not a chicken strip left on my E07's ...
(I have got to come back here on my Brutale. I reckon I could spend a few days just riding down through the pass and then back up again)
....and before we knew it were were in Prince Albert Road for a quick fill up and then back on the road towards the mountains


Through Prince Albert (again, wish we had a bit more time) and then .... and then .... just ... wow...








There just was no question about stopping to admire the many views and to take some pics

 

[McSack]

Thomas Bain's masterpiece apparently .. and we could see why







Anyone ... with whatever bike you have ... even a sooohhhoooper bark ... has got to ride this pass. simply amazing (another one I want to come back to and ride a few times from Prince Albert to Cango Caves all day long)

 

[McSack]

So you cruise along this amazing road all the way to the top of the mountain, and just when you think you might have been ooohing and aahhhing too much at all the beauty and missed the turnoff ... there it is to the right with a sign telling you " this way to Die Hel , make sure you give yourself 2 hours to get in and 2 hours to get out" ... and if you are still unsure, there is this sign about 100m down the road ....


...along with a white ribbon of road that twists and turns its way through the mountains off into the distance.
What more could an adventure rider ask for  ?
... OK ... maybe a few water crossings ..


... and one or 2 places along the road to stop and admire the view ?




... perhaps  a good mate not afraid to go wherever the road leads ...


... and let's face it ... this is one ride that should be on everyone's do-before-you-die list


... of course a spot at the end of a day such as this where you can get bitterly cold (and I mean bitterly cold) beers doesn't hurt


... and neither does a spot in the middle of nowhere where you can have a duk braai and sleep like the dead



... they even supply you with a well-trained mozzie and fly catcher for your caravan


WHAT A RIDE !!!

 

[McSack]

... next day we rode dawn till dusk ... Die Hell to Bakkrans Caves in Baviaans via Cango Caves, De Rust, Rolbaken and then all along the Kammanassie River through Uniondale.
Pics and update to follow.