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

[Psycho Porra]

After having said "cheers" to all my fellow WD's, Grant and I headed out towards Willowmore for breakfast and petrol for the bikes. Again, I was amazed by this part of the world and all it's splendor.

After a moerse brekkie in Willowmore and filling the bikes with petrol, we made our way onto the R407 direction Klaarstroom. It was an awesome dirt highway with some gnarly washaways here and there and the perfect road to find your rhythm again and clear your head.

At one of the aforementioned washaways I nearly shat in my undies because I was cruising along at about 80-90km/h when I just saw Grant grab a handful of brakes, trying to bring Beastie to a hasty stop but it was too late for me, so I just gave JB some throttle and leaned back to avoid going over my handlebars. The reason being was that as you enter the washaway there is a bump that will throw your bike and you will go flying over the handles. According to Grant, I looked "styling" as I passed him as JB and I were having some airtime with both wheels high off the ground. We had a good laugh about this when we stopped later and I cursed both of us for not having a gopro to capture my " I believe I can fly" moment

This road has just enough washaways, loose sand and ruts to make sure you do not get bored or loose focus. Not too long after that we stopped at the Klaarstroom for my smoke break and to have another "lag" at ourselves and then turned left through Meiringspoort and onto De Doorns.

and of course I had to get one or two pics of Johnny Bravo in his natural surroundings

 

[Psycho Porra]

While filling up in De Doorns, our route took us just out of town, where we turned right and headed up and around the back of all the farms through all the small backroads towards Swartberg Pass.

 

[Dutchman81]

Mooi Ride report oom Porra...
Gooi nog!

 

[Psycho Porra]

Not too long after this we started to ascend the SwartBerg Pass from the south side and on top stopped to take in the fantastic scenery.

After taking in the raw beauty of the surroundings we made our way down towards the turnoff to Die Hel and arrived at the turnoff at 14h30 (I mention the specific time as what is to follow is +-6 hours of hard work and bad luck)

 

[Psycho Porra]

Mooi Ride report oom Porra...
Gooi nog!

Wat is jou tannie se naam nou weer, die een wat ek blykbaar mee getroud is, dat jy my OOM noem

 

[Psycho Porra]

I think actually McSack should continue with the story from here as he experienced it all 1st hand. Ha! Ha!

So we head towards Die Hel on what can be described as a horrible, rutted, rocky road. (Die manne het mos gese die pad is sleg, maar ek luister mos nooit).
About 2 kms into the ride Beastie starts throwing up huge clouds of dust and I think YES, we hitting sand and I can practice my non-existent sand riding. Not to be as it was just Beastie who decided we need do some work by fixing a puncture on his back wheel.....EISH!

Now it is hot out there and not a speck of shade in sight and we still have a way to go before the decent in the Hel, so it is decided that we will just put in the spare tube and patch this one later.

@Dwerg - Ek wil net dankie se vir daai Karoo 3 wat jy aan Grant verkoop het....that bloody tyre was stubborn and we struggled to break the bead to change the tube. Eventually we succeeded to change the tube, pump the tyre and get going again ( a lot of swearing, cursing and laughing later). it was not more than 3km's later that I rode into a cloud of dust again and immediately started taking out my tyre levers/bead breakers as I knew what this dust meant. Sure to form, Beastie got another puncture on the back wheel and we duly stopped to fix the puncture. So now we asking ourselves if we had maybe pinched the tube when replacing it but it turns out the spare tube was coming loose around the valve (startline special).

Now we had to make a decision, do I give my spare tube to Grant, thus leaving us without any spare back tyre tubes or do we patch the 1st Ultra heavy duty tube and put that back in. This way we still have at least 1 spare tube down in The Hel as we still needed to come back this way tomorrow.

So after some deliberation, we decided to try patch the 1st tube, easier said than done. Because the hole it had was on the seam of the tube, it was going to be difficult to get the patch to seal properly but we tried nevertheless. By now, Grant, myself and JB's side stand were a well oiled tyre changing team and before long we were off again. The sun was starting to go down and we still had a way to go before the actual decent into The Hell and by all accounts from other riders the road was in a bad state and washed away in many areas.

The place has a raw beauty to it and I was already contemplating on the previous puncture fix where we would sleep for the night, seeing that we did not have sleeping bags or a tent. We were going to have to pull a Ed Stafford on ourselves, braving the elements with not much. Hulle se mos 'n boer maak 'n plan maar 'n porra voer dit uit

 

[Grunder]

View attachment 775059

This reminds me of people saying you always need to wear your good underwear because you never know when you'll be in an accident and they need to cut your pants off

 

[Psycho Porra]

Yes you guessed right, Beastie decided 3 is the number and "gooied" us another puncture. The sun was setting quickly and we knew that it would be a "dark" decent into The Hel.

Turned out the patch would not seal properly around the seam, even though we tried to flatten the seam as much as possible. It was now already late afternoon and we were still not at the decent, so the decision was made to put my spare tube in and worry about the rest when we got down to our accommodation.

AS luck would have it, just as we arrived at the decent, the biggest, brightest full moon came up making the decent tricky, but not impossible. The roads were worse than described and there were jagged rocks sticking out everywhere and at certain places some drops and deep ruts,where the road had washed away. It was already close to 20h00 and by now we were tired and weary and here and there lost concentration only to find ourselves in precarious situations. Nevertheless we both made it down safely and we stopped about 1km into the riverbed(road). I say riverbed because that is what it felt like, riding blind in the dark and hitting sandy patches, but we made it.

WELCOME to The Hel, another place ticked on my bucket list and judging by the decent, those jagged rocks, deep ruts and step ups are going to provide it's own challenge tomorrow.

 

[skydiver]

The two of you will definitely remember this trip into Die Hel for the rest of your lives

 

[Psycho Porra]

We made our way to the lodge and thankfully the lady was waiting outside for us. We greeted, recounted our ride and asked her if she had any type of meat and and a few beers we could buy off her as we were starved (We thought we would be down there by 16h00 and could enjoy a dinner at the restaurant, but fate had other plans for us).

She graciously led us into the restaurant, where she gave us the WiFi password so we could quickly contact our loved ones while she put together some things for us to eat and drink. Armed with a few frozen chops and wors and some windhoek droughts to wash it down, we made our way to Ou Piet, our chalet for the evening.

After unpacking and getting out of our riding kit and into something warm and comfy, I went to scout the braai area outside while Grant took a shower. It was here that the technology came to me and I found out how to take proper night time pictures with my I-phone (mens is nooit te dom of oud om te leer nie). With my new found skills I set about taking some pictures of my surrounds, including the ever present stray dog that decided to join because "hulle gaan nou braai".

These last few photos were taken in pitch darkness at around 22h30 in the evening, and that is why I am so impressed with my new found knowledge. Ja okay, ek weet... maar ek is BC gebore (before computers)


The highlight of the evening though was the shower, piping hot water out of a rain spout, heaven I tell you. All showered and clean, Grant and I tan a few chops and wors (with Junior Turd's spices) and wash it down with the droughts before hitting the sack for a well deserved rest.

 

[Psycho Porra]

The two of you will definitely remember this trip into Die Hel for the rest of your lives

%

 

[Heimer]

You filled up in De Rust, not De Doorns and the farm roads toward the pass was the Oude Muragie road.

Lekker ride report

Never take the hell turn off late afternoon... you ride with the setting sun right into your eyes.

 

[Psycho Porra]

You filled up in De Rust, not De Doorns and the farm roads toward the pass was the Oude Muragie road.

Lekker ride report

Never take the hell turn off late afternoon... you ride with the setting sun right into your eyes.

De Rust, De Doorns, hulle is almal De
Dis nou bietjie laat vir die advies, waar was jy voor ons dit gedoen het? Lekker kak gepraat met Chris op Stilbaai
Okay, ons het gery op daai pad ja, en die son was glad nie so erg nie, maar die punctures was

 

[Psycho Porra]

Day 5

After a super "dood" sleep we awoke to yet another great, sunny day in Africa, quickly kitted up, mounted our steeds and headed towards the restaurant for a hearty breakfast. Today was the day I was not looking forward too as it was going to be a long day of around 490km. Now 490km is "moer ver" when you riding a bike that has a seat that resembles a skateboard, thin and flat.

After a hearty breakfast and a walkabout "die werf" taking a photo or two (even managed to source Woody, his next project vehicle) we settled our bill and said goodbye to the good people of The Hel and made our way to ascend the same way we came down.

Let me just say that it did not seem as bad on the way down because now we could actually see the road properly or what was left of it. So bad that the framer down in The Hel had 2 bakkies, both with flat tyres

The ride up was bumpy but yet enjoyable and we stopped once to get a photo and look back at the place that I knew I will be coming back to again

Once out of The Hel, we settled into a nice little rhythm and enjoyed the road and the scenery. We came to a water crossing and make some small talk with the 2 couples in the 4x4's before heading on out. I was so enjoying the scenery that i did not notice the big rock Beastie had managed to loosen in the middle of the road and when I did, it was too late. I tried to avoid it but my front wheel caught it at an angle which sent my bike straight into the furrow next to the road and down (Only in Prince Albert at the garage did I notice that my front wheel was only 0.7 bar, which also contributed to me not being able to get the bike back on track after hitting the rock). Luckily I was not going fast, so after pulling JB out of the furrow and dusting myself off, I set off after Grant who was oblivious to what was happening behind him. I caught up to him just before we arrived at the exit to the Swartberg Pass again.

Me and JB coming in hot

Smoke break and a few pictures before we head off down the Swartberg Pass into Prince Albert (another awesome pass with stunning scenery and rock formations) to find spare tubes or someone to repair ours

 

[Psycho Porra]

Coming into Prince Albert, I can understand why so many city dwellers go retire in places like this, picture perfect little town. Before getting into town we had phoned Heimer, hoping he would be able to help us out wrt back 18inch tubes, but alas the man tells me that Oom Chris convinced him to move to Stilbaai, so the 2 of them "kan aangjaag" there in the Mini Baai

Heimer then tells me to phone a fellow WD (Rattrap) that stays right opposite the police staion in the main road but alas the man was not home due to unforseen circumstances. We drove down the main road and asked at the garage at the end of town if they could help us, but no luck. They did however refer us to a guy by the name of Stefan that stays just around the corner from the garage, so off we went to find this Stefan man. On arriving at Stefan's place we immediately see that if he cannot help us no one will be able to. He greets us at the gate and after telling him our dire situation he says he will have a look at the 2 tubes that are damaged. He invites us in and you can see he is the local spanner valley (mechanic) in the "dorp" and has a tyre changing machine, so I think we in luck.

Stefan goes about with all his machinery to grind the tubes, creating a lekker rough surface and managing to grind that seeam down a little on the Extra heavy duty tube and then gooi's a mother trucking patch on it. The patch holds and seals fantastically. He also managed to repair the one that was coming apart at the valve, so now we were back in business with 2 spare tubes and could carry on with our ride.

If you ever in Prince Albert and break down, give Stefan a call, hy is 'n yster soos die boere se. We now head back up the main road and turn right heading towards a place called Rietbron (i think so as we never made it that far). The road is sandy, dusty and very corrugated but at least we on gravel and moving closer to our destination which was going to be Tarkastad somewhere.

About 30km's out of town, I start getting that cloud of dust scene again and yes, as you might have guessed, Beastie decides it is time for another puncture on that back wheel

 

[Psycho Porra]

Nothing else to do but get out the tools and get to work, afterall we are experts now after 3 punctures the previous day and luckily we fixed those tubes in Prince Albert. Wheel out, tyre off, tube out, new tube in tyre on and plug the desert fox compressertjie in and ..nothing, compressor is dead. Now have you ever seen 2 grown men nearly burst out in tears, this means we will have to use the little bicycle pump to pump this tyre until it seats on the rim. Well Grant, being the single one starts working that pump with gusto and then I take over, then Grant again but alas that tyre, she is not having any of this.

Dis alweer hel warm innie Karoo and we are eventually down to being shirtless trying to get this tyre to seat, we even put the tyre on the bike and Grant went for a little ride to see if maybe it would seat, but nada, nothing.

So time for the bombs to come out and maybe that will help. 4 bombs later the tyre is inflated but just requires that last bit to seat properly on the rim. as we about to fit the tyre, POP, it eventually is back in place all snug around the rim. So now we inspect the tube to find the cause as there was nothing in the tyre, only to find that it had perished near the valve from being folded for so long. in my defence your honour, that was the 1st time in about 6 years of taking the tube everywhere with me that I or someone needed to use it. i am very lucky that I have never had a puncture in 12 years of adventure biking and that one time I offer it to someone ,poof, it is fubar from not being used.

So regardless, a decision is made to rather go back to Prince ALbert and slab it on tar via Klaarstroom towards Willowmore. Through Prince Albert on to Klaarstroom, through Meirings Poort again to De Rust (thanks Heimer) where we stop to try find some sort of liquid refreshment. We manage to find some arty, farty type of art gallery/cafe that only have instant coffee at R30 per cup, ah well it is something so we sit down to enjoy our "cheap" instant coffee before tackling the 112km to Willowmore.

it is getting late now so I phone the hotel in Willowmore to find out if they have a place for us for the night and Cameron says yes they have a room with 2 single beds and the kitchen closes at 19h00 becuase of loadshedding. I order 2 burgers and tell Cameorn we will be there by 19h00 on condition the bar is open. Ek is dors en mens het nie krag nodig op Rum en coke te gooi nie. Cameron says he will be waiting for us so we head off via the R341 destination Royal Hotel in Willowmore.

The ride there, besides being a little boring still manages to offer us a great sunset and we ride with a full moon above us which affords us the opportunity to scout for some new roads to ride in the future.

We duly arrive in Willowmore at 19h04 and as we turn into the main road, all the streetlights go off. i thought it is because the people knew there were 2 very thirsty men riding into town but no it was thanks to Eskom, load shedding had started.

Needless to say we parked in front of the hotel and headed straight for the bar, treating ourselves to a few rum and cokes. After the worst thirst was quenched we moved our bikes around back, dropped our kit off in the room and headed straight back into the bar, thinking that our burgers would be waiting for us but nothing. Oh well, in that case pour us another rum and coke barman, so I can do my duty and drink what the people that pay me want me too.

Red Heart rum runners in action

After copious amounts of liquid refreshments our burgers arrive and hats off to the chef who, in spite of load shedding served us the best hand cut, skin on chips with our burgers. We sat around chatting to the locals and I gave an pronto lesson on the various types of whisky and whiskey as well as the process of making tequila and the different types of tequila. That barman is now lank clever when it comes to liquor.

Finally we retired to our rooms for a good night's rest as tomorrow we need to ride all the way to Hogsback. Grant, I still want to know what the reason was for you rolling around on the floor in the room laughing yourself silly, I thought you going to have a heart attack man

 

[P.K.]

Nice trip and ride report chaps...glad to see NOMAD bags on both bikes.

 

[Heimer]

That thing of a 'new' tube chafing through after being packed in your kit for so long... eish. It happened to Cocky too on his way to me in Prince Albert,

It took us 4 trips over the pass to get that sorted - eventually back home at 01:00 am in the morning after riding to help him a 17:00 the previous day

Lesson leant. Check your spare tubes before leaving home by pumping them and seeing if they keep air.

 

[Psycho Porra]

Nice trip and ride report chaps...glad to see NOMAD bags on both bikes.

Great luggage Peter and both Grant and I need to order again

 

[73 Peanut]

how many punctures in total