Knopkop & Marnus's AWESOME Eastern Cape....and a bit of Lesotho..****RR DONE****

[KnopKop]

Day 5
Joubertina to Plett – 254km


We woke up to yet another beautiful morning in Africa. Why anyone would leave this beautiful country, I really do not know.....

We made our way back up the steep, twisty rocky track towards the main dirt road again. We would now head back east along the Onder Kouga road to meet up again with the R62 about 13km east of Joubertina. I have always seen this “dirt loop” on many maps and eyed it in Mapsource for a long time and always wanted to ride it. I read in one of LuckyStriker’s ride reports how he did this road and how much he loved it, so I really wanted to do it. I was really looking forward to it, and my word, it did not disappoint!!

From the dirt road at the top you drop down steep into the valley to cross the Kouga river

You then ride up the otherside after riding for a short while under a completely covered tree canopy, just magical.

Marnus coming up on the other side of the river

About halfway, Marnus realised that he forgot his phone back at the lodge, we decided that he would ride the same road back to the lodge, do the steep little track down for the third time, and I would carry on with the Kouga road and we would meet up in Joubertina

Marnus pulling away in the direction from which we just came...

So I carried on with this truly awesome rode on my own, I loved the little time had on my own because I really like riding solo. But Marnus and I ride very well together and we give each other all the space we need so it almost feel like you are actually riding solo. Choosing the right riding buddies is very important on a trip like this.

Me having a quick pit-stop when nature called and took time to take some pictures, this road is really very very pretty.

All too soon the Kouga road was finished and we met up in Joubertina and settled in for some much needed breakfast.
We slabbed it a bit on the R62 towards the turn-off to “Bo-Kouga”, this was to be another “loop” around the Kouga river. Although not nearly as beautiful as the “Onder-Kouga” road of this morning, still a great ride with awesome gravel corners and cattle grids to slide around and jump across.

The turn-off to “Bo-Kouga”

We exited on the uniondale – Avontuur tar road where we again met up with the two on the V-Max and Boulevard after their Baviaans excursion

Me going a Captain Morgan pose at Avontuur

We then took on the famous Prins Alfred Pass, I was really looking forward to ride this masterpiece of a road, although not technical at all, it is worth every bit of credit that comes its way – What a great ride!!!

I will just post this pics..........

See if you can spot the biker in this pic

Some more of this great pass

We just had to have a drinks break at Angie’s G-Spot, what a lekker place...

Old Harold, what a nice bloke, he also has a PhD in kak-praat!!

We then took in some of the stunning Knysna forest roads including Kom se Pad, what a great ride these forest roads were. It was so nice and cool in the forest after the heat of the Prins Alfred Pass

We stopped for lunch in Knysna and inspected Marnus’s kis-planke Metzler Karoo rear tyre – 1500km.......eish.....

We then did the tourist thing as I have never been to Knysna and always wanted to see the “heads” – well it is just two rocks, what’s the big deal ???

I could not care much for Knysna, sorry to everyone that lives there or think it is the bees knees, it is just to “touristy” for me, I don’t like crowds and so many people. If I wanted that I could have just gone to Menlyn...


We then hit the short stretch on the N2 to Plett where we would stay at Dave Swart (gonedown)’s backpacker’s, Amakaya Backpackers. What a nice place to have a lekker braai and good old piss up with good friends...............sorry no pics.........

Went to bed dog tired after eating so much that I could not even drink anymore!!  Sorry partner!!   :xxbah:


Tomorrow - Tar, wind and bike problems....

 

[Brakenjan]

Lekker RR julle twee!!  :thumleft:

Keep it coming....  :ricky:

 

[Groenie]

Next time you pass this spot...

....Jump in for a swim! Crystal clear, ice cold waterfall.....

 

[Wolfmother]

Nice report dudes!  Love the minimalist packing on the x.

 

[KnopKop]

Nice report dudes!  Love the minimalist packing on the x.

I listened to Jacko, and the BMX really does not lend itself to heavy packing. I even had a towel in there that I never needed to use. Other than the towel, I had everything I needed and used everything I took - perfect packing  :biggrin:

 

[corcorlia]

Ons wag in spanning vir die res.... 

 

[Trailrider]

Lekker RR. Kudo's for doing Grootrivier Poort in the wet on a GS! Skillful riding right there. I once VERY nearly put my bike down on that road and it wasn't even wet.

 

[soundboi]

AWESOME! I think I now now what I want to do for the holiday season. I't can sommer be my other X-Max pressie to myself.  :3some:

 

[KnopKop]

Day 6
Plett to Kenton-on-Sea = 390km


After a rather heavy night at the backpackers with some good friends, big thanks Dave and Dot for a great evening, and to Johan and Trudi for all the great laughs, we were a bit slow out of the blocks. After kitting up and saying our goodbye’s, we went for some breakfast at the Lookout Deck in Plett.

What a view from the deck

I was taking a bit of strain this morning......

We only left Plett at 11:00 am and we still had quite a way to go to get back to Kenton. It would be mostly tar riding, but I wanted to do the Kinkelbos road and Woody Cape on the way back to Kenton, so we had to slab it a bit to make up lost time.

At the turn-off to Stormsriver mouth we saw this old Pink Cadillac and Marnus just had to stop and chat to the guys and take some pics, this thing is freaking HUGE!!!

We then headed over to the Stormsriver bridge and skipped the mouth as they wanted R30 entrance fee, no way.
A bridge pic

We then slabbed it all the way on the R102, skipping Bloukrans Pass as the road was closed and no matter how hard we tried to convince the guards that we can ride it, they wanted none of that. Bliksem but the wind was bad, I really struggled on the X-Challenge. This was the first time on the BMX that I was really longing for a bigger bike, I thought about buying Captain Slow’s 800GS so many times during that ride, and when I got back I saw that sadly it was already sold.......

Quick stop at Van Stadens River

We then klapped it all the way to Sundays River again for some much needed Cheese Burgers. After Sundays River the skies got very dark and gloomy again and we had to give it some stick if we wanted to ride Kinkelbos and Woody Cape.

We got to the Kinkelbos turn-off in double quick time and blasted along the pretty, little bit sandy dirt road, I overshot only one corner on this road..........not to bad........ >

Marnus took some pics of these big marshmallows on the fields  :biggrin:

Not long after this pic, I felt the back wheel is all over the place, slowed down and saw the pap tyre. This is not what I needed now, we were 60km from home, it was late, it was starting to rain and I still wanted to ride Woody Cape...

So I put what I learned from Mark Hardy to good use and the wheel was off in a flash, so was the tyre off the rim and the 21” tube installed in the 18" tyre, pumped up and back on the rim in record time. We struggled a bit to get wheel back on the bike with the brake pads donnering out all the time, but we got it back after a bit of swearing, it really helps!

Some tyre pics

The bastard nail

Getting the wheel nut loose

My ZigZag working its magic, this thing is worth every penny...

Me working the levers

The bastard nail again

One moeg tube

After this little setback and the time lost and with the rain setting in we had to opt out of Woody Cape unfortunately, our late start in Plett caught up with us now.... We took the rest of Kinkelbos to Alexandria and then the 26km to Kenton we did in pissing hard rain......

A pretty boring day with all the wind and tar and the bloody puncture, but we were home and sat down to a wonderful cooked meal prepared by my mom.


We sat with mapsource and plotted a plan........Lesotho is not that far off course............

 

[KnopKop]

Day 7
Kenton-on-Sea to Matatiele = 600km


While sipping on your Captain Morgan in Kenton last night we looked at Mapsource and hatched a plan to go past Lesotho and take a detour on our way back to Pretoria. I remembered “edgy” mentioning that they were planning on doing Ongeluks Nek on their way up to the Roof of Africa, so a quick call to “edgy” to find out what the pass is like confirmed that they went up Rama’s and not Ongeluks Nek, no problems, we will give it a go in any case. We decided to go to Matat, find accommodation there and go up Qacha’s Nek in the morning and come down Ongeluks Nek back to Matat. We had no idea of the road conditions or how long it would take.....


Right, so with bikes loaded and goodbye’s said we hit the road to Grahamstown to meet up with BigDom because Marnus had an old 1200 screen for him. Great meeting you Dom!! We then went past Fort Beufort, Queenstown and Elliot to Matat, but not before some more bike problems........


Yesterday I fitted a 21” tube in my 18” rear wheel as an emergency and it worked like a charm. I did have an extra 18”HD tube in Kenton, just in case. So we decided we will stop at a bike shop in Queenstown and just have the 21” removed and the 18” fitted. I will the carry the 21” as a spare again. As we got to a bikeshop and we removed the wheel we saw pieces of metal falling out everywhere...............

Wheel bearings are fucked......

Now I was lekker die donner in!!! Luckily the bike shop and the Midas is owned by the same crowd and quick quick they organised another brearing, but only one.........and we needed both. Mark the mechanic went out of his way, jumped on his scooter and returned about 45min later with a 2nd hand bearing out of a broken truck’s gearbox. Brilliant!! He fitted the bearings, changed the tube, and we sommer fitted the extrs brake pads I had with me as well. This all took about 3.5 hours of our and more importantly their time, they were very busy and gave us preference above all other bikes in their workshop. And guess the cost = R200 for everything!!! I will be for ever thankful for these guy’s effort!

Waiting for Mark to find the correct bearings

We left Queenstown much later than planned, but at least we were on our way! Until we got into the main street that is........ then we saw this:

Mob Justice at its best!! I think one guy stole something and he was being beaten up by like 20 people – lekker jou bliksem!!
After this delay we were finally out of Queenstown and heading for Elliot. It was Friday after all and we just had to go and support the one man drinks thread in Elliot! We stopped at GlenInk, had a few toots, chatted to him and his mom and got all the news from the WD forum, because we were not online for a while now, then we were off again, we still had a long way to Matat. Thanks Glen it was great meeting you!!!


We arrived in Matat at about 7pm, found awesome accommodation and grabbed some dop and KFC for dinner, wondering what Lesotho will bring tomorrow........

Lesotho tomorrow.....

 

[rubiblue]

nice rr, cool pics!

 

[KnopKop]

Matatiele to Matatiele via Qachas’ Nek and Ongeluks Nek = 221km


We were really very excited and a bit nervous today, mainly because we had no idea what Ongeluks Nek would bring. I have been wanting to ride Ongeluks Nek since I read about it in Metaljockey’s Camel Man report where they descended it in some snotty wet conditions, him on a 1200GS with Anakees and Nardus on a KTM640 (read about it here – https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124550&highlight=transkei&page=4)

Ok, so after a re-fuel we took the road up to Qacha’s Nek border post, nothing to write home about on this route apart from the great views and the fact that the road up to Rama’s Gate is much more fun and interesting. I must also add that I saw yesterday that I had a leaking fork seal on my bike, it was leaking quite badly, but we decided to ride with it just like that, it was our last day of riding in any case. I could feel that my front suspension was not 100% on the corrugated road up to the Border Post.

The road up to the Border Post

At the top we were reminded to take it easy in Lesotho....

On reaching the town of Qacha’s Nek in Lesotho we saw that the road was tarred and in wonderful condition, I was actually happy about the tar as I was worried about my dodgy fork seal, and in any case tar in Lesotho is never boring.........

Pit stop, the spectacular views in Lesotho just never ends, if you have to stop and take pics of everything you will never do any riding....

BMW promo pic....

Some more

Ok, after 90km of tar even I got gatvol, and wanted some dirt, at the bustling town of Letsielo we stopped for some refreshments first

We then hit the first dirt, we were both very happy. Up to now it was real easy going

Some Lesotho corners

Loving life!!

Some more of Lesotho

Lesotho Dual Sport

At the small mission station at Maphopaneng, we would turn off on the road to Ongeluks Nek.

Here we chatted to a German/French dude in an Overland Bakkie with his missus. They had just come up Ongeluks Nek so we asked him how the road is. He told us that it is more rocky, steeper and tighter turns than Sani. I was not sure about his comments because I had a look at the pass on Google Earth and I could not really see any very tight corners like Sani. Well, we got going and over the crest you suddenly see the most amazing view I have ever seen on a bike.

Lake Letsie............ I will let the pictures do the talking, I was blown away by this beauty.....

We then did this really cool water crossing right next to the lake - stunning

We then reached the top of Ongeluks Nek, like Monontsha Pass, there is no Lesotho Border post here, we just hung around at the top taking it all in.

Kaboef said it best when he and Michnus stood here:

We were on top of the world, looking down on the clouds towards the Eastern Cape and KZN. We took off our helmets and the wind blowing from the valley of horses behind us whistled around our ears as we gazed in rapt wonder at this spectacle.


......


This is why I ride bikes. This, right here, made my trip. Here, in a place like this, life suddenly made sense for a while.

I so completely agree with you Kaboef, that right there is a very very special place to ride....



The top of the pass

Some pics of Ongeluks Nek going down, that German dude was smoking his socks!! The road was piss easy and in great condition, but it was bone dry. In the wet this would be an absolute nightmare.........I cannot wait to do it in the wet........

Two VERY VERY happy bikers

We arrived at the border post after a very good ride. It is amazingly beautiful here and the area is so green.

We then hit the dirt road home and I could feel that my front suspension was not happy, that seal was now properly moeg, just to top it all off, 30km from Matatiele this.......

Marnus was riding ahead and klapping it flat taps, I called him and asked him to just go and fetch the trailer and to please come and fetch me. We were so close to the end of the ride, and my fork seal was stuffed in any case. I had a bit of a dos under a tree until Marnus arrived, we loaded my broken boney and headed back to Matat.

We loaded Marnus’s bike and hit the 798km home to Pretoria arriving just after 2am....tired but very very happy.



Thanks for taking out the time to read this.....

 

[sef156]

Very nice, thanks Knopkop  :thumleft:

I said it before and I'll say it again, your pics are great!!  :drif:

 

[Marnus]

Wow... awesome report Knopkop.  And thanks for letting me share in the experience - 1st hand!  It was an absolute adventure riding in some of the most beautiful places our country has to offer.  After a week back at work, it feels like we did this trip a year ago - already time for the next one :evil:  I still didn't get around to wash my bike!

Thank you for your great companionship - your are a great riding buddy and (except for one night) a great drinking buddy

Hope your bike gets fixed chop-chop... in a matter of speaking!

 

[KnopKop]

Very nice, thanks Knopkop  :thumleft:

I said it before and I'll say it again, your pics are great!!  :drif:

Thanks ou maat, volgende keer ry jy verseker saam !!!

:thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[KnopKop]

Right a quick wrap up of my views of the trip, Marnus will post his as well, we may differ on some, but I think we will agree on most, we like the same things after all.

Highlights
* Grootrivier Poort
* The stunning mountains in the area north of Steytlerville
* The eastern side of Baviaans, past Bruintjieskraal and Komodo
* Onder Kouga road
* Prins Alfred Pass north of De Vlugt
* Lesotho - always a highlight, but the riding on the plateu from Lake Letsie to OngeluksNek - the highlight of the entire trip

Not so highlights, but not lowlights
* Baviaanskloof - I expected more and was a bit disappointed
* All the tar from Plett to Sundays River

Lowlights
* Two punctures
* My bike having some issues, namely fuel hose, wheel bearings, fork seal, and once it would not start, we had to push start it.


I want to give a special mention to my riding partner for this memorable trip, Marnus. You rode like a champ, always there to help, always ready for a laugh and never complaining when I struggled in that bloody wind and kept us up a bit, I had an absolute blast riding with you. I will ride with you any day again!!




Thanks folks...............



now........... what picture do I enter in the competition?

 

[Marnus]

Highlights
* Grootrivier Poort
* The stunning mountains in the area north of Steytlerville
* The eastern side of Baviaans, past Bruintjieskraal and Komodo
* Onder Kouga road
* Prins Alfred Pass north of De Vlugt
* Lesotho - always a highlight, but the riding on the plateu from Lake Letsie to OngeluksNek - the highlight of the entire trip
+ Clean towns & friendly people of Steytlerville & Willowmore
+ Our accommodation! - specifically Semane Lodge close to Joubertina - complete with technical route!
+ Meeting the other dogs - BigDom, GlenInk, LanceSA, Michael
+ Doing Elandsriver road at 80-90kph in the rain
+ Stopping for smoke & photo breaks often  

Not so highlights, but not lowlights
* Baviaanskloof - I expected more and was a bit disappointed
* All the tar from Plett to Sundays River
+ Tar in Lesotho

Lowlights
* Two punctures
* My bike having some issues, namely fuel hose, wheel bearings, fork seal, and once it would not start, we had to push start it.
+ The wind
+ Seeing "Sunshine Coast" signs when it's raining
+ Queenstown on a Friday afternoon, and Richmond on a Saturday evening when Pirates and Chiefs are playing
+ Misjudging the amount of Coke to go with the Rum, forgetting the bottle Johnny Walker in Kenton-on-sea, 1.75l coke leaking out in my topbox!

 

[oo7]

Ductape + Tjommie + Fuel Bowser + BMX + STUNNING scenery + bevange roete om te ry!

Wat meer wil `n man he?

Dankie vir die lekker RR, Knopkop

 

[soundboi]

Dankie knopkop. Great RR en die pix is bef@k. One more on the Bucketlist. :thumleft:

 

[Thump]

now........... what picture do I enter in the competition?

That's always a problem after a ride like this. ???

and you got some good one's there.
The places you rode are so awesome you want to just keep taking photos.

Thanks for taking the time to share :laughing4:

good stuff :thumleft: :thumleft: