Melkbosstrand to Melkbosstrand

[RedRo]

Day 17…

Jagersfontein - Orania - Vanderkloof

Since we were coming back through the Northern Cape, a number of places we have not been to, or would not be in the area to visit soon again were put on the list.

Next stop - Orania

Not a very long day, also not all that much to report…

Koffiefontein on the way to Orania

Then gravel from there to Orania

And Orania for real.

Having seen a number of photos of Orania we had a fair idea what to expect, so no real surprises.  Just another community doing their best to make a living, doing so with their own moral views and values, not for anyone else to judge what and how they do so (in our opinion anyway).

After ice cold refreshments on the bank of the Orange River and a quick stop at the koeksister monument we visited the Orania Museum, where a very passionate and knowledgeable Oom Kokkie took time out of his already busy day spending a few hours taking us through the museum telling us the history of Orania as well as sharing a wealth of knowledge about the museum and a number of entertaining stories with us.

From here a very quick 47km’s to our overnight stop for the day, Vanderkloof Dam

A very impressive dam, apparently the second biggest in South Africa, we never even knew that

Ending the day with a relaxing braai and drinks overlooking the dam, another awesome view

 

[RedRo]

Day 18…

Boring ride to a destination, Vanderkloof to Carnarvon

A dull and boring day in terms of riding and scenery (but then again, we could have been at work), the aim being to get closer to the destination for the New Year’s Day ride, as well as finding a decent place to stay over, and also a place to have a fair New Year’s eve party – mission accomplished…

De Aar’s solar array, or rather a fraction of it

Riding along the fence of the solar array

Since we, as GS riders, have been labelled, we decided to find appropriate accommodation for the night… Meerkat Manor it would be, and a place which we absolutely recommend.

In Carnarvon and example of the corbelled houses in the area

Corbelled houses were built entirely out of stone in the settler days of the Karoo. But it’s an old traditional Mediterranean design, and very practical in many ways. Now a number of Karoo farmers have renovated their old corbelled houses and offer them up to travellers as back-to-the-basics overnight accommodation.
As you’re driving through the middle bits of the Northern Cape, you’ll spot the odd beehive-shaped, white-washed hut made entirely of stone. That’s an old-style corbelled house of the Karoo Highlands.
It’s got Mali-style scaffolding, but that, too, is made of stone. It has little windows and look, there’s smoke erupting from its peak. Who could possibly live in such a quaint dwelling?

But it makes sense once you think about it. What do you for shelter when there’s not a decent tree in sight, only rocks, rocks and more rocks?
So when the first colonial settlers arrived in the form of the trekboers (nomadic farmers), they opted to build corbelled houses. The style itself is more than 4000 years old, said to originate from the Mediterranean countryside.
Flat stones were used to build the dwellings, from the walls right up to the roof, with a minimum of a mud-clay bonding substance. The ‘scaffolding’ was there so you could easily climb up and make running repairs to the roof.
The houses provided excellent shelter. The 6m-high ceilings and thick walls were cool in summer, and the rocks held the heat of the sun in winter.
Out here in the flat lands, it was simply a case of the self-reliant trekboers using what whatever was available around them. And if the grazing or water gave out, or the trekgees (the nomadic spirit) grabbed them, they just moved on, leaving the hardy houses to wait for the next occupants to appear on the scene.
Many of the corbelled houses on farms in the Fraserburg, Williston and Carnarvon areas have been renovated and opened for the hospitality trade. You can stay over in a corbelled house that runs on paraffin lamps, firewood and nostalgia.

Unleaded – sorry, not today…

And then on to the well known Blikkiesbar at the hotel, where we would also join in the New Year’s eve festivities, a party to be remembered… cameras not allowed…  :grin:

 

[RedRo]

Day 19…

A few kilometres shorter become a few hours longer…

Carnarvon to Verneukpan

What can be better than a bike ride to Verneukpan on New Year’s Day?

A ride to Verneukpan in an air-conditioned 4x4 maybe…

We leave Carnarvon in 36 degree (mild) heat for our overnight at Verneukpan, first stop Van Wyksvlei for something cold to drink and something to eat.

Leaving Van Wyksvlei our esteemed navigator decide to take the shortest route, shortest in distance only...

The “short” route ended up being a tweespoor winding its way through a number of farms, gates being the least of the problems, the path becoming really interesting with rocks and sand for good measure – we did not take many pictures of the road, all of us being a bit focussed on getting the bikes through.

Not too long before Kobus drops the mother ship the first time, a silly drop really, stopping in the sand, overbalancing and then not being able to save it once beyond the tipping point (the fact that all our luggage is on his bike, as well as carrying a pillion do not help all that much).

Me not at all impressed with the navigator…  :biggrin:

Not too long after that I go down in the sand, Kobus feels too bad to take a photo and just helps me up, but another photo opportunity presents itself a bit later…

The twisty nature of the sandy path as well as the thorn bush alongside make it difficult to get the required momentum and keep it up - one of those cases where the famous and often debated "stand up, look up, open up" definitely does not work all that well - I still wonder whether we should have locked the back brakes or not when descending, but maybe that is better left for another thread  :biggrin:

And Kobus' punishment for taking the photo of me…  :imaposer:

In the end it takes us quite a while to do the 60 odd km “shortcut”

And finally, after stopping at the home of the owner, a very hospitable Oom Giel Lubbe, we see this…

Thank goodness for the fridge at the campsite, where we did our best to empty it of its contents (an honesty bar system) of beer, cold drinks and bottled water.

The pictures can tell the rest of the Verneukpan story…

Campbell’s 1929 track…

An absolutely awesome way to spend the 1st day of the New Year.

 

[RedRo]

Day 20…

Verneukpan to Loxton…

Since seeing the movie Jakhalsdans which was filmed in Loxton, we wanted to see what the town is like, this was the ideal stop on the way home.

Leaving Verneukpan a first stop at Oom Giel’s house to have a look at the remains of another land speed record attempt car, the driver of which sadly passed away on his test run the day before the record attempt, believed to have lost consciousness and losing control of the vehicle.



Engine

Parachute which never deployed

Cockpit

Front of cockpit and controls

For some reason Kobus decided not to take the “shortcut” again  :biggrin:, opting for the easier main road back to Van Wyksvlei and Carnarvon.



These nests always fascinate me

And in Van Wyksvlei a stop for cold drinks, road food, emergency boot repairs and fuel

And then the tar road to Loxton, quite a pretty little town…

 

[RedRo]

Day 21…

Loxton to Sutherland…

From Loxton a nice gravel ride to Sutherland, road in very good condition with a loose middelmannetjie but easy riding.

Five years in the Western Cape and we only get to Sutherland now, not good enough really, and a place which must be visited in winter as well.

The church in the centre of Loxton, we were invited to have a look, even climbing up the ladder in up the bell tower as well as having a look inside the church organ, an unbelievable piece of craftsmanship.

Town view from the church

The bell, sadly cracked an no-one in the country willing or able to fix/replace

And the swiss clock mechanism, the big clock only being a clock face and hands, being driven from a level below by this mechanism, still being wound by hand every day

A monument in tribute to a woman who took on the “trek” with her children, all on their own

Road food on the way to Fraserburg

A museum in Fraserburg, a lot of history and also some ancient history to be seen here

And another corbelled house

Then, on the road from Fraserburg to Sutherland, an interesting farm name, our surname being Landsberg

Our stop for the day Sutherland…

Where we have cold drinks, good food, and a very interesting evening stargazing with Oom Jurg outside town.

 

[RedRo]

Day 22…

Final day, Sutherland to Melkbosstrand…

After breakfast Kobus and daughter visit SALT, mom decided to give it a miss and rest while they are away.

They do a guided tour of SALT every hour in the mornings, with a much bigger tour which takes about 4 hours twice daily – the longer tour needs to be booked in advance, and when we were there it was fully booked with all the holiday makers in town.

They opted for the short tour, which shows SALT only

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest in the world. It has a hexagonal primary mirror array 11 metres across, comprising 91 individual 1.2m hexagonal mirrors. Although very similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, SALT has a redesigned optical system resulting in a larger field of view and effective collecting area.

SALT can detect the light from faint or distant objects in the Universe, a billion times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye - as faint as a candle flame would appear at the distance of the moon. The telescope and instruments are designed to operate from the near ultraviolet to the near infrared (320 to 1700 nm), and offer some unique or rare capabilities on a telescope of this size.  

SALT is situated at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) field station near the small town of Sutherland, in the Northern Cape province, and is ~380 km from Cape Town.  SALT is funded by a consortium of international partners from South Africa, the United States, Germany, Poland, India, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The construction phase was completed at the end of 2005 and from 2006 to 2009 it entered a period of commissioning and performance verification. Since September 2011, observing is now in full swing and the telescope is finally realising its huge potential as Africa's Giant Eye on the Universe.

A model of SALT, as well as a display of fossils and dinosaurs, and an astronomical display which is worth looking at all on its own.

And then SALT, really very impressive

And some of the other, more conventional telescopes on the hilltop

From there we headed towards Ceres, where we stopped at the Karoo Bossieskerm, which sadly has been closed down  

The Bossieskerm during better days...

The couple in the VW Caddy was stranded there since the previous afternoon (no cellular signal), the sump being damaged and all oil lost in a driffie some km’s back – the road was pretty washed out in places.

With the man on pillion Kobus rode back towards Sutherland, eventually coming across a farmer who knows who is who in Sutherland and who offered to tow the couple back to town.

Once they were taken care of we left them and carried on towards Ceres.

Then the poo hit the fan, or rather the driffie hit the rim.

And this is what you do not want to see if you have tubeless rims (after 21 days just 200km from home).

Of course we have everything on hand to fix tubeless, but not a tube…

A phone call first to Pistonpete, maybe he knows someone in Ceres (we were about 45km’s from Ceres still) who can help with a tube, and while waiting for him a call to Dusty Rusty since we know NISMARK's parents live in Ceres.

Pistonpete offered to come fetch us, but then Dusty Rusty phoned back, they have found a tube for me in Ceres.

Kobus leaves us with the 650 and take a brisk ride into Ceres and back to collect the tube, fit it quickly and we are on the way again.

Thanks Pistonpete, Dusty Rusty and NISMARK!!!!

From here we just rode to get home since we have now lost a lot of time between assisting the other couple as well as our own breakdown, getting home around 18:45, tired but happy with an awesome holiday behind us.

 

[RedRo]

And finally a bit of post trip information, routes, distances and so on...

Daily and total distance travelled:

Entire route:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

And finally a few more comments about the trip:

- Both bikes were well prepared before the trip, serviced, new tyres, 650 twin new chain and sprockets and everything checked and checked again.

- One mechanical (or rather electrical) problem with the 650 twin - the fuel pump has overheat protection (apparently European spec - according to BMW) and starts cutting out when too hot, which was a challenge on the second leg where temperatures were seldom under 34 degrees. (not such a big issue it just meant we had to take regular breaks which we were doing anyway) - pump will be replaced by BMW.

- Mini-USB (as on most GPS' these days) do not stand up well to bad roads, and it became a challenge to ensure the GPS power cable made contact all the time (duct tape to the rescue).

- The Stealth tent which had a manufacturing quality issue (fixed with cable ties) - will be replaced by vendor shortly.

- Second hand boots did not like water (duct tape to the rescue) - boots thrown away after the trip.

- Lastly the smiley in the 650 twin's front rim on the last day, not any fault of the bike, we did go through a number of nasty washouts at speed (tube fitted and trip completed) - insurance claim pending, also looking at which spoke rims will work on the twin rather than the mag rims.

- Since we did not plan stay-overs up front we had to take camping gear as well, I am happy to say that the only gear which we never used was the emergency medical kit and the .40 Glock, both of which we are quite happy to take along and never use.  Everything else was spot on in terms of the packing list for our trip.

Planning for December 2014 - January 2015 already in progress  :thumleft:  ;D

 

[Mikie]

Fantastic trip great reading and photos

 

[Man from Nam]

Great trip and nice RR and photo's
A privilege to do it with your family :thumleft:

 

[RedRo]

Great trip and nice RR and photo's
A privilege to do it with your family :thumleft:

Dankie, ons werk nou aan 'n Namibie trip einde die jaar, idee is om bikes te sleep tot by die grens, Namibie se suide vir so 10 dae of so en dan afsluit met 'n Oranjerivier roei trip in die nuwejaar in.

 

[Man from Nam]

Klink a 'n lekker trip, moet jou waarsku dit raak vrek warm in  die suide oor Desember. Ons het self amper dood gebrand oppad terug deur Namakwaland en die suide. Dit was 48 grade op Noordoewer en 45 grade toe ons op Grunau stop. Ek het probeer vinniger ry om net uit die hitte te kom , maar die fiets self het later begin warm raak en heeltyd so tussen 100 en 105 grade geloop.

 

[DirtyTeNeReLess]

excellente RR! setting the standards high!  :thumleft:

 

[Weskuskoos]

Hi, nice to read about your travels. I live in Melkbos, Eugene and Debbie are old friends. I also have a house in Nieu Bethesda near Graaf Reinet. Next time you must go there... A Beaut!! Great beer(at Andre's brewery)  maybe we will meet here in Melkbos. Would like to see your tent setup.


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[RedRo]

Hi, nice to read about your travels. I live in Melkbos, Eugene and Debbie are old friends. I also have a house in Nieu Bethesda near Graaf Reinet. Next time you must go there... A Beaut!! Great beer(at Andre's brewery)  maybe we will meet here in Melkbos. Would like to see your tent setup.


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Just waiting for the replacement tent, should be soon, then you are welcome to come have a look, will send address.

 

[dusty]

Great meeting you at Koedoeskloof  :thumleft:  Loved your RR, thanks !

 

[RedRo]

Great meeting you at Koedoeskloof  :thumleft:   Loved your RR, thanks !

Was good meeting your group there.

Talking about ride reports...  atch:

 

[COLES]

great pics  awesome ride report thank u for sharing

coles P E

 

[Lem]

Fantastiese trip, RedRo

baie dankie vir die deel, julle doen dit in style!

 

[dusty]

Great meeting you at Koedoeskloof  :thumleft:   Loved your RR, thanks !

Was good meeting your group there.

Talking about ride reports...  atch:

eepwall:  After doing two trips of 9 days each this Dec, I do have a few pics and want to do a RR.....but work keeps getting in the way  atch:  ;D