McSack & Psycho Porra's excursion over the border into the Cape

[Psycho Porra]

So, i have always wanted to go do the Baviaans and Die Hel and the Eastern Cape Bash this year provided the perfect opportunity.
Phoned my riding partner McSack and before you know it we made arrangements to attend the EC Bash as well as do Die Hel in a week. Leave was booked and final work commitments handled. And what a trip it was

Day 0
Tuesday, the 9th I load Johnny Bravo on the trailer and head towards Clarens to pull into M&M's place. As I am about to enter Bethlehem, I decide I am on leave so I can afford to stop and have some "wingerd voggies" so I call Petri Oosthuizen and see if he is keen on a little catchup at a watering hole of his choice but he was not available so I head on through to Clarens.
Duly arrived in Clarens and let McSack and Mandy know I will meet them in town for some sundowners and planning of the trip

After a good couple of Rum and Cokes and banter with all the locals (McSack is somewhat of a celeb in Clarens by the looks of it), we decide to head to his house for some steaks on the braai before retiring for the night as tomorrow will be a long haul to Hogsback.

 

[Psycho Porra]

Day 1
Wednesday morning arrives and we load Beastie onto the trailer beside Johnny Bravo and head out towards Hogback via Bloemfontein Honda. Reason for stopping at Bloem Honda is because when loading Beastie onto the trailer I notice that the rear E07 tyre is Fubard, to say the least. Grant quickly says, no worries he has a spare tyre that we can fit on the bike at Bloem Honda, it is after all on our way.

Thus said and done we head towards Bloem and before long we pull up and offload Beastie and they quickly change the rear tyres. Bald E07 off and Karoo 3 goes on. Man, you can become very poor, very quickly in that shop and we drool over all the goodies. While waiting the shop manager comes to Grant and says that the valve on the tube is also broken and he will replace it. We head into the workshop with him to see for ourselves and my attention is automatically drawn to the CRF300 on one of the lifts, lovely and purposeful looking bike that seems as if it can...

So new 2nd hand rear tyre and new tube fitted we head out towards Hogsback. (the night before we decided that we would trailer to Hogsback and do Die Hel while down there). We stop for lunch in Smithfield at a pub of which I cannot remember the name, fill our bellies with a burger and chips as well as our tanks with some Rum & Coke and make our way further.

Before we knew it we had arrived in Queenstown and filled the Fortuner up with diesel, drew money and got a coffee as it was now getting dark and we were tired of driving.

Grant said that we should head to Hogsback via Cathcart, via a lovely little 30km dirt road leading into Hogsback, so off we went. Now when Grant said it was a lekker dirt road....he lied, the road was one of the worst I have driven in a long time and the local farmers had just thrown grass and sand in places that were washed away. Now it would be "lekker" if we were on the bikes in the day but this was at night in a Fortuner towing a heavy loaded trailer with 2 bikes on the back. I was already seeing us changing a flat on the trailer in my head. Needless to say, we crawled along at about 20km/h which made it a long drive but eventually arrived at the backpackers in Hogsback. We had some pasta for dinner and washed it down with a Soweto Pepsi and then retired to our lodging for the night because "tomorrow we ride"

 

[Rooies]

Lekker Psycho!

Sub…

 

[Noneking]

Lekker man! Sien uit na die res!

 

[Gerard]

What ? You were at the bash ? Did not notice you

 

[Kaboef]

Praat, ons luister.

 

[petri oosthuizen]

Sounds like a good start, all that thorough planning..................

 

[Grunder]

Bring dit Porra!!

 

[Dorsland]

I stopped reading after "..... loaded the bike on the trailer."

Bloody posers. Not even one, not one, pic of a bike yet. And there are about 10 posts on this fred.

Nee man. Skaam julle.

 

[OomD]

Fluister, ek luister.

 

[Lloydb]

Yarre bra you got me hooked and now I see there is no more to this tale! We are all patiently and eagerly waiting for your next installment!

 

[TheHamster]

Was all the standard mumbo jumbo build up, packing and towing.........then "That's all Folks".

Come now Porra, don't leave us hanging mid-story, give us more.....NOW!!!

 

[punisher]

kom aan Porrrra

 

[roxenz]

Did you guys make it back Porra? Should we send someone to go help?

 

[OomD]

Hey, are you guys okay?

 

[woody1]

Porra is n stil Kerk mens....ek weet. Het met hom gepraat in die Baviaans

 

[Psycho Porra]

Gee wizz, but you old farts are impatient, some of us work you know

 

[Psycho Porra]

Day 2
Right, so just like you bunch I was also excited to ride and woke up at 03h25 on Thursday morning as I could not sleep anymore. Got up and went outside to have a cigarette and wait for that sunrise that I presumed would be spectacular, based on the clear sky and stars from the previous evening.

Now one thing is sure, I am not a very patient guy, there was no coffee or breakfast so all I could do was climb back into bed and think about what lies ahead.

Eventually Grant decided to get up and made his way down to the bathroom, to "drop the kids off to swim" while I packed up my kit, only to return with the bad news that we had to stoke the donkey for hot water but that there was no wood.

Now the last time I had to stoke a donkey was in my army days and I was not very happy. Needless to say Grant and I started gathering wood lying around to at least get some luke warm water to shower in as the showers were "al-freco" showers with a view.

Once showered and kitted we made a beeline for our bikes because "ons gaan nou ry". We slowly made our way through Hogsback and headed towards Alice. It was a quick trip as I get very grumpy if I have not had a hot shower, coffee and a brekkie. Stopped at the bottom of the pass to take our 1st official photo of us and our bikes (net vir Dorsland)

Rode into Alice and filled up both the bikes tanks as well as our own. That KFC brekkie wrap with coffee was just the thing we needed.
All filled up we headed out of Alice onto a road that meandered down to a boom gate with a sign that said GREAT FISH RIVER NATURE RESERVE and boy was I excited to ride through the reserve (thanks Vis Arende for the suggestion)

What a beautiful part of the world and the sight when looking down at the Great Fish river bending around the escarpment was something to behold. Riding at the back, I managed to see quite a few "ghosts of the veld" (Kudu), thanks to the rising sun bouncing off their coats and then just as they appeared, they were gone. Stopped for a few photos and for Grant to pick himself a toothpick before carrying on to the river crossing.

 

[Rooies]

That ride through the reserve looks amazing - added to rides bucket list.

 

[Psycho Porra]

Before long we stopped at a sign indicating the river crossing and saw a game ranger vehicle appear around the corner.

once the vehicle passed we carried on only to arrive at the crossing and the water was flowing quite strong. We decided to walk JB across 1st as it was the lighter of the 2 bikes and good thing we did, as below the surface the cement was snotty and slippery as hell.

Just as we crossed with Grant' bike we heard more bikes and looking back noticed a bunch of riders appear on the other side, also wanting to cross. this turned out to be Anthony from Langebaan with a few other riders. We suggested to them to rather walk the bikes over, which they duly did and then introductions were done.
Anthony and his crew were on a tour and he and Paul were riding "Porra" bikes. No, not ones laden with veggies but rather the AJP bikes. There was also a Katoom 500 and a GS 800.

This would be young Anthony, doing a bit of a shuffle with McSack's helping hand