My annual leave...EC, WC & NC with pillion (RR DONE!!!)

[m0lt3n]

Day 3 continued

After the gravel we were on our way to Humansdorp as Patensie accomodation were fully booked. It was a flippen hot day! We hit Olifantsnek pass, nice and a good coastal twistie which I enjoyed after a morning of being careful on dirt.

After Olifantsnek we cdecided on going the Addo way. A good alternative to the highway. At 39ºC we werent enjoying much until we took a proper rest while refueling. This has happened more than once now where we try to just push through and try to get a piece of road done while a simple refresh, a quick stop and relax, can make even a hot day enjoyable again.

We went around the ugly city of PE (what we saw were ugly okay) and on a whim of the moment took the detour to Van Stadens. Good decision as the road was good with nice twisties and sceneryand the atmosphere relaxed at Van Stadens holiday resort where we could could cool of with ice cream.

When we continued we took the Van Stadens pass which was great.
Humansdorp itself was pretty average and you have to buy your food early...otherwise you will go hungry.

Pictures: Olifantsnek pass x2
Near Addo, (what does the paw mean in this area?)
PE harbour I think
Van Stadens

 

[Bliknêrs]

Lovely stuff Molten.
Are you still on this trip and if so where are you? Or is it finished?

 

[m0lt3n]

Lovely stuff Molten.
Are you still on this trip and if so where are you? Or is it finished?

We are still busy. Did Swartberg and Die Hel yesterday, our best day to date. Will have anotber short day today driving back from Prins Albert to George.
I hqve to say, its becoming difficult to sort the photos and allocate them to a certain stretch of road. We are taking A LOT of photos

 

[Sharingroads]

Lovely stuff Molten.
Are you still on this trip and if so where are you? Or is it finished?

We are still busy. Did Swartberg and Die Hel yesterday, our best day to date. Will have anotber short day today driving back from Prins Albert to George.
I hqve to say, its becoming difficult to sort the photos and allocate them to a certain stretch of road. We are taking A LOT of photos

Just an idea for your next big trip.
Buy lots of small memory cards, 1 for each day and write date on it. Much easier to sort out. Usually 2 gig is more than enough for a day in normal mik en druk, and you find them dirt cheap.

 

[Casting from Turd]

You must have ridden right past my place!!!!!!!!!  Orange Elephant with a dog paw on the gate!

and you didnt pop in for Coffee?????  Sies man

 

[Bliknêrs]

Lovely stuff Molten.
Are you still on this trip and if so where are you? Or is it finished?

We are still busy. Did Swartberg and Die Hel yesterday, our best day to date. Will have anotber short day today driving back from Prins Albert to George.
I hqve to say, its becoming difficult to sort the photos and allocate them to a certain stretch of road. We are taking A LOT of photos

Enjoy it, weather should clear up soon.
In two weeks time it's my turn, can't wait!

 

[m0lt3n]

You must have ridden right past my place!!!!!!!!!  Orange Elephant with a dog paw on the gate!

and you didnt pop in for Coffee?????  Sies man

Ai sucks, I love coffee!
If I knew I would have stopped. Where exactly is your place?
I am jealous of anyone staying in this area!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[m0lt3n]

Blikners: where will you guys be going? How will your route be different and how long you going?

Douglas: Great idea on the SD cards. Problem is we are taking pics on three different phones, and then I send it via whatsapp to resize. But with the delay between ride report and updating facebook and sharing pics with friends...its a lekker mess up.
But I will have it sorted soon!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Chrisl]

M check jou pm. :deal:

 

[m0lt3n]

Day 4: Humansdorp to Knysna
The plan was to sleep over at Uniondale but friends from Knysna saw our facebook updates and told us to rather go there. So we lost our deposit (planning ahead is not always a good thing....) and decided not to play around to much  and see how far we can get.

We did Baviaans as well as the gravel road between Uniondale and Knysna, Prins Alfred pass. We started out at about 08:00 and ended at 17:00 in Knysna so guess all went well.

Baviaans was great fun. I liked how the road was ever changing and there was some slight technical pieces in between. There is even a nice tar section just before you get onto the gravel. We found all the officials very friendly I must say. It always makes you feel welcome when you are greated in an intelligent and cheerfull manner.

At the entrance there was a sign that said no motorbikes...since then I have seen the same at Die Hel. I am guessing this will allow them to get rid of any oke on a scrambler that misbehaves. (Just point at the sign and say get out! While dodging an adventure bike coming through!)

We really enjoyed taking photos at baviaans, maybe to much as we will be flooding you guys with that same photos now! ;D

 

[m0lt3n]

Day 4 continued
The most unique attribute of Baviaans to me though, were the water crossings. I was a bit worried that the low level water bridges (whats the correct name?) would be slippery but in the end there were no real incidents. I am guessing that the few cars that do come through each day keeps the rocks and cements surfaces clean, that and my Mitas E07 is proving to be brilliant all rounders.

When we came to Smitskraal I was a bit worried, it looked super intimidating. I put up a brave face for my wife (unsuccesfully) and started fitting my creepy crawley. When a hilux came through and we could hear it struggling through the deeper sections it did not help my nerves. But it was what I were here for and in the end I got throuhh without major issues. There were some big rocks throwing me around but all is well that end well...

Watch "Baviaans water kruising (Smitskraal)" on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bhq7Aeux1g&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Thats a video my wife took, just copy and paste the link to see me have an almost incident.
Below is some pictures of the water crossings. Note my wife had to empty her shoes of water from taking pictures while I crossed over dry  :ricky:

After baviaans kloof we did start to get hot but luckily we could take a break at Babes se winkel. It worked wonders at refreshing us. After that we had the long open and hot stretch before reaching uniondale. I love the open spaces while my wife...not as much. It did create an opportunity though at getting some nice pictures.

The last picture is a guy we ran into. I think he said his name was Paul. He rides a 950 KTM and it seems like he does it for a living. He says he knows a lot of the dogs...can anyone telll me what is his facebook group's name, I cant remember it?

 

[m0lt3n]

Day 4: 3 of 3
Yeah I thought the last bit was good enough to get proper attention. My wife liked it more than Baviaans itself actually.

We filled up in Uniondale and then took the gravel via Prins Alfred pass (I think). Really beautiful and scenic route, definitely worthwhile to do. It had a lot of twisties which made for slow going but the mountainous views were excellent. The route ends in the Knysna 'woud' and therefore does not get boring.

I have found two handy meals...those chicken in bbq or peri peri with crackers. Another meal is cooking eggs in the kettle of whatever guesthouse you are staying at. What does not work though is taking milk along to the next stop. All the shaking of the bike makes it go thick  :-\
Eating next to a quiet road with brilliant scenery never gets old! But we were getting tired in the end though, it was a long but good day.

I did not see Baines pillar but I must say, pillar or not, his roads realy are plentiful and always legendary

 

[whitedelight]

The guy you saw ,if he was on a 950 SE then I think it is Paul John Shaw.He was up that side the same time as you. He does bike tours.

https://www.facebook.com/PaulJohnShaw1



Edit. I see there is a pic of the two of you on his Facebook page going through one of the crossings.

 

[punisher]

Sub

 

[GIDEON]

This is great.  :thumleft:

 

[COLES]

great photo,s great area to ride in the eastern cape

enjoy

 

[Ernst Jr]

Geniet jou RR baie. Mooi wereld waar julle julle nou bevind.  :ricky:

 

[cloudgazer]

great report so far.

Your vario panniers would have been fine by the way.
The only real downside to them is the weight.

 

[Pepe]

Thanks Pepe

It will be our wedding anneversary when we are at Augrabies, but I will be contacting you maybe for coffee, always nice to meet a fellow wilddog. Thanks for the invite!

Great! Pumba's place, Coffee 4 U, in the main road (Schroder Street) has great coffees etc.

 

[m0lt3n]

The guy you saw ,if he was on a 950 SE then I think it is Paul John Shaw.He was up that side the same time as you. He does bike tours.

https://www.facebook.com/PaulJohnShaw1



Edit. I see there is a pic of the two of you on his Facebook page going through one of the crossings.

Jap its him. Lekker way of life he has!