Crossed-up
Pangaman
Travelling on a long tar road or even a boring gravel highway gives one just one preoccupation – counting down the kilometres. One is happy to reach the end.
But a good road only brings sadness to reach the end.
There are 3 usual routes to Vioolsdrif from Cape Town – the N7, the Westcoast sand. and the Louriesfontein route. The boring, the gruelling and the barely tolerable. With the Bash coming up I decided to put a more interesting route together. In 2010 I was fortunate to work in the Hardeveld to the west of Bitterfontein. Here I realised that there is a long stretch of country from Klawer to Steinkopf to the west of the N7 but east of the sandy coastal plain. So I started to string some of the lesser-known roads into an interesting route. And what a route it turned out to be!
Tuesday afternoon I popped over to Andy’s workshop and this is what I found when I got home!
I sincerely hoped it wasn’t an omen. Luckily the nail had entered at an angle and didn’t penetrate the casing or tube. As it turned out this was the closest to tyre trouble we had over the whole trip.
Wed 12th Oct
Andy660 (660Z), AntonW (950SE) and I (660R) met at Richwood Total at 6:30 on Wednesday and set off up the N7 to Piketberg for breakfast where we met 2 other WD, also taking a slow trip north. Then we did the Paleisheuwel route through to Trawal where we filled up and Andy did some repairs to his crashbars, which tend to rattle and break themselves apart.
The Yamahas both had brand new Mitas CO2s on the rear and new knobblies up front. Both of us felt very uncomfortable on the loose surfaces, struggling to keep a steady line. The CO2 is a motocross tyre and is not designed for fully laden heavy DS bikes. I think they are too unstable when the knobs are new and so high. Later in the trip they came into their own when a bit worn-in. Then they really gave fantastic grip. I also discovered their great performance in the mud.
A quick little dead end up the hill behind Trawal gave me pause to consider my navigational skills again.
Lunch in Vredendal and we took the road on the north bank of the Olifants towards Lutzville. Along the way we came across this old traction engine, sadly rather more rusted than the one in the Tankwa. No, Frikkie, the brown one at the back.
Then we turned onto the Beeswater Pad at the bridge over the Hol River. My original intention was to turn north off this road and to work our way to Bitterfontein, entering from the southwest, where the railway comes into the town. Time was getting short so we stuck to the Beeswater road and crossed the Knersvalkte to the N7, just north of the Sishen line. This road was the subject of a RR recently. (https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=78737) It is very little used and heavily eroded – but what a lekker road!
Pushed on to the Bitterfontein Hotel for the night where Powerflow Justin and Leftless joined us later that evening. They had trailered through after work that day. What a nice place! Dinner, bed and breakfast, R300pp sharing. Lekker bord boerekos and a convivial bar run by Ice Cornelissen and his family. Well recommended. The locals provided free entertainment and the floormat in front of the till clearly showed where their rugby sympathies lay
Thur 13th Oct
Now we were five. I was privileged to have these four fine gentlemen as my companions.
Filled up and headed east to Rietpoort – the first of several mission settlements we passed along the way. Rietpoort is undergoing substantial development in the form of community facilities etc. Then north to Molsvlei where I was impressed to see a well kept school with perhaps 200 schoolchildren in uniform playing in the grounds. Of course the bikes created quite a stir! Next was the little remote village of Stofkraal, where at least one of our number entertained the locals by overshooting a corner. From here the road deteriorated northwards to eventually join a larger road leading down to the Groenrivier. Here we turned west for a few km and then north towards Groot Brakfontein (where Andy fell in the sand) then to Rooisandkop (where I also fell) and up to the Garies road near Otiep.
At this point Andy left to secure us a campsite in Kamieskroon and to regain his composure after struggling to find his rhythm in the sandy tweespoor. I confess I wanted to join him at this point as I was hurting a bit from my fall and also feeling out of sorts on my bike. I’m glad I didn’t.
From Otiep the track heads north toward the Agama Tented Camp where we turned left towards Klipfontein (another mission settlement) and then north again up a long beautiful Namaqua valley. Near the head of this valley we came across Bethelsklip and stopped for lunch. This is a huge isolated boulder on the valley floor which was used as a focus of missionary work in the early 1800s. The Lieliefontein people would trek down here to spend the winter at lower altitude and a warmer climate. The ruins of the 1840s mission house are still there, as are remains of Later Stone Age occupations. In the early 1980s Lita Webly, an archaeologist, excavated some test pits at Bethelsklip to flesh out aspects of the story of its use. Truly a remarkable place and I will go back.
A bit north of here the road swung west and headed down a glorious, twisting mountain-ridge road to Spoegrivier settlement. You guessed it - another mission settlement! From here the road runs around the mountain and north through a confusing network of roads (where Anton sampled sand) up to the road to Kamieskroon, via the great Killians and Grootvlei Passes. Camped at the back of the Kamieskroon Hotel. Excellent facilities, helpful folk and a good breakfast made up for the slightly pricey site almost next to the N7.
I admired Leftless’ ultra light jerrycan racks. Clever!
Once there’d been petrol here and the pump is in good nick.
Fri 14th Oct
We started off a bit late in the morning and took another stunning road northwest from Kamieskroon via Wolwepoort , Aronegas and Kanariesfontein , eventually turning back eastwards and joining the N7 at the bridge over the Buffels river. The landlord at Kamieskroon had given us some bottled water to give to the man pushing a hospital bed around the country. He was reported to be in the vicinity. Sure enough we found him, gave him the water and listened to his story. Joppie Fourie - a man with a mission. Read the story here https://www.tenmillionstepsforcancer.org.za/ and support his sterling efforts.
Justin needed attention. He probably still does!
My original intention had been to ride all of Friday and pull into the Bash that evening, but my companions were so eager to get to the Bash that we sommer slabbed it from here. So they missed out on the Messelpad, Kommaggas, the climb to Nigramoep and the road via Bulletrap to Steinkopf that were all on my plan. Too bad. They’ll remember that there was no sign of protest from me.
Stopped in Steinkopf for fuel and the worst food imaginable at that crappy establishment east of the N7 there. Then through the crosswind to the Bash.
On Saturday some of us rested and some of us went out on insane missions through the Richtersveld and Bushmanland. I took a small ride out into the desolate mountains behind the Bash site. This was mostly to use the facilities that nature provides, as opposed to the grossed-out, germfest at the camp. It turned out to be a serene and enjoyable experience to ride in the harsh desert so close to the lush river valley. Rivers through deserts are so incongruous and such life-givers that they draw disproportionate attention from the visitor. It is easy to ignore the moonscape a few hundred meters away.
The Bash was fun – watching people being people. Here I met my benefactor in the “Win an ATG bag” competition. I’ve promised not to reveal his identity which is a pity because I’d like to trumpet his kindness from the rooftops. All I can say is a huge thank you, sir. That was a wonderful act of generosity to sponsor a bag for me. I hope the gesture gave you a kick to match the dimensions of your forum name.
I met Michnus, too, and thanked him for the competition prizes and his excellent service. I now have one of his Jiko multi-fuel stoves and I have to say it’s a wonderful piece of kit. It will run on just about anything flammable short of wood or coal.
Sun 16th Oct
Pressures of work kept Andy660, Leftless and PFJ from joining me for the return journey so AntonW and I set off up Helskloof Pad to Eksteenfontein. We passed the petroglyphs and cairns along the way.
The road has been patched here and there, particularly at the notorious step, so it presented no difficulty.
There is a long sand stretch at the top. Taken fast it was Quite Easily Done. We met up with Leon Dude and Cave Girl and wished them well. We also met them on the Port Nolloth Road the next day where their route coincided with ours. I hope you guys had a good one.
We met some donkeys past Eksteenfontein that tried to hide
But we could see them.
We took a track to the south that Kameelkop and Andy660 had ridden last year when we went to the Richtersveld (https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=48892.0)
The last bit is a steep, very loose, rocky slope that tested our shoulders and arms. Anton was so relieved to get down safely he promptly dropped his bike at the first little ditch at the bottom. The slope can be seen behind him.
We travelled around the corner to Spitskloof and set up camp in the Bakkrans caves for the night. The borehole at the entrance to the kloof has been taken out of commission so there is no water to cool off in. It was never drinkable anyway, being hyper-brak. Perhaps the sheep wouldn’t drink it either.
Nice remote part of the world.
The cave deposits were excavated during the last 2 years by a ZA/Canada/UK team, revealing a long, but intermittent occupation from perhaps a hundred thousand years ago. Despite our acts of cultural vandalism in parking our bikes there and camping in the caves we were careful not to disturb the surface or leave any signs of our visit. These are two pics from my trip last year.
But a good road only brings sadness to reach the end.
There are 3 usual routes to Vioolsdrif from Cape Town – the N7, the Westcoast sand. and the Louriesfontein route. The boring, the gruelling and the barely tolerable. With the Bash coming up I decided to put a more interesting route together. In 2010 I was fortunate to work in the Hardeveld to the west of Bitterfontein. Here I realised that there is a long stretch of country from Klawer to Steinkopf to the west of the N7 but east of the sandy coastal plain. So I started to string some of the lesser-known roads into an interesting route. And what a route it turned out to be!
Tuesday afternoon I popped over to Andy’s workshop and this is what I found when I got home!
I sincerely hoped it wasn’t an omen. Luckily the nail had entered at an angle and didn’t penetrate the casing or tube. As it turned out this was the closest to tyre trouble we had over the whole trip.
Wed 12th Oct
Andy660 (660Z), AntonW (950SE) and I (660R) met at Richwood Total at 6:30 on Wednesday and set off up the N7 to Piketberg for breakfast where we met 2 other WD, also taking a slow trip north. Then we did the Paleisheuwel route through to Trawal where we filled up and Andy did some repairs to his crashbars, which tend to rattle and break themselves apart.
The Yamahas both had brand new Mitas CO2s on the rear and new knobblies up front. Both of us felt very uncomfortable on the loose surfaces, struggling to keep a steady line. The CO2 is a motocross tyre and is not designed for fully laden heavy DS bikes. I think they are too unstable when the knobs are new and so high. Later in the trip they came into their own when a bit worn-in. Then they really gave fantastic grip. I also discovered their great performance in the mud.
A quick little dead end up the hill behind Trawal gave me pause to consider my navigational skills again.
Lunch in Vredendal and we took the road on the north bank of the Olifants towards Lutzville. Along the way we came across this old traction engine, sadly rather more rusted than the one in the Tankwa. No, Frikkie, the brown one at the back.
Then we turned onto the Beeswater Pad at the bridge over the Hol River. My original intention was to turn north off this road and to work our way to Bitterfontein, entering from the southwest, where the railway comes into the town. Time was getting short so we stuck to the Beeswater road and crossed the Knersvalkte to the N7, just north of the Sishen line. This road was the subject of a RR recently. (https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=78737) It is very little used and heavily eroded – but what a lekker road!
Pushed on to the Bitterfontein Hotel for the night where Powerflow Justin and Leftless joined us later that evening. They had trailered through after work that day. What a nice place! Dinner, bed and breakfast, R300pp sharing. Lekker bord boerekos and a convivial bar run by Ice Cornelissen and his family. Well recommended. The locals provided free entertainment and the floormat in front of the till clearly showed where their rugby sympathies lay
Thur 13th Oct
Now we were five. I was privileged to have these four fine gentlemen as my companions.
Filled up and headed east to Rietpoort – the first of several mission settlements we passed along the way. Rietpoort is undergoing substantial development in the form of community facilities etc. Then north to Molsvlei where I was impressed to see a well kept school with perhaps 200 schoolchildren in uniform playing in the grounds. Of course the bikes created quite a stir! Next was the little remote village of Stofkraal, where at least one of our number entertained the locals by overshooting a corner. From here the road deteriorated northwards to eventually join a larger road leading down to the Groenrivier. Here we turned west for a few km and then north towards Groot Brakfontein (where Andy fell in the sand) then to Rooisandkop (where I also fell) and up to the Garies road near Otiep.
At this point Andy left to secure us a campsite in Kamieskroon and to regain his composure after struggling to find his rhythm in the sandy tweespoor. I confess I wanted to join him at this point as I was hurting a bit from my fall and also feeling out of sorts on my bike. I’m glad I didn’t.
From Otiep the track heads north toward the Agama Tented Camp where we turned left towards Klipfontein (another mission settlement) and then north again up a long beautiful Namaqua valley. Near the head of this valley we came across Bethelsklip and stopped for lunch. This is a huge isolated boulder on the valley floor which was used as a focus of missionary work in the early 1800s. The Lieliefontein people would trek down here to spend the winter at lower altitude and a warmer climate. The ruins of the 1840s mission house are still there, as are remains of Later Stone Age occupations. In the early 1980s Lita Webly, an archaeologist, excavated some test pits at Bethelsklip to flesh out aspects of the story of its use. Truly a remarkable place and I will go back.
A bit north of here the road swung west and headed down a glorious, twisting mountain-ridge road to Spoegrivier settlement. You guessed it - another mission settlement! From here the road runs around the mountain and north through a confusing network of roads (where Anton sampled sand) up to the road to Kamieskroon, via the great Killians and Grootvlei Passes. Camped at the back of the Kamieskroon Hotel. Excellent facilities, helpful folk and a good breakfast made up for the slightly pricey site almost next to the N7.
I admired Leftless’ ultra light jerrycan racks. Clever!
Once there’d been petrol here and the pump is in good nick.
Fri 14th Oct
We started off a bit late in the morning and took another stunning road northwest from Kamieskroon via Wolwepoort , Aronegas and Kanariesfontein , eventually turning back eastwards and joining the N7 at the bridge over the Buffels river. The landlord at Kamieskroon had given us some bottled water to give to the man pushing a hospital bed around the country. He was reported to be in the vicinity. Sure enough we found him, gave him the water and listened to his story. Joppie Fourie - a man with a mission. Read the story here https://www.tenmillionstepsforcancer.org.za/ and support his sterling efforts.
Justin needed attention. He probably still does!
My original intention had been to ride all of Friday and pull into the Bash that evening, but my companions were so eager to get to the Bash that we sommer slabbed it from here. So they missed out on the Messelpad, Kommaggas, the climb to Nigramoep and the road via Bulletrap to Steinkopf that were all on my plan. Too bad. They’ll remember that there was no sign of protest from me.
Stopped in Steinkopf for fuel and the worst food imaginable at that crappy establishment east of the N7 there. Then through the crosswind to the Bash.
On Saturday some of us rested and some of us went out on insane missions through the Richtersveld and Bushmanland. I took a small ride out into the desolate mountains behind the Bash site. This was mostly to use the facilities that nature provides, as opposed to the grossed-out, germfest at the camp. It turned out to be a serene and enjoyable experience to ride in the harsh desert so close to the lush river valley. Rivers through deserts are so incongruous and such life-givers that they draw disproportionate attention from the visitor. It is easy to ignore the moonscape a few hundred meters away.
The Bash was fun – watching people being people. Here I met my benefactor in the “Win an ATG bag” competition. I’ve promised not to reveal his identity which is a pity because I’d like to trumpet his kindness from the rooftops. All I can say is a huge thank you, sir. That was a wonderful act of generosity to sponsor a bag for me. I hope the gesture gave you a kick to match the dimensions of your forum name.
I met Michnus, too, and thanked him for the competition prizes and his excellent service. I now have one of his Jiko multi-fuel stoves and I have to say it’s a wonderful piece of kit. It will run on just about anything flammable short of wood or coal.
Sun 16th Oct
Pressures of work kept Andy660, Leftless and PFJ from joining me for the return journey so AntonW and I set off up Helskloof Pad to Eksteenfontein. We passed the petroglyphs and cairns along the way.
The road has been patched here and there, particularly at the notorious step, so it presented no difficulty.
There is a long sand stretch at the top. Taken fast it was Quite Easily Done. We met up with Leon Dude and Cave Girl and wished them well. We also met them on the Port Nolloth Road the next day where their route coincided with ours. I hope you guys had a good one.
We met some donkeys past Eksteenfontein that tried to hide
But we could see them.
We took a track to the south that Kameelkop and Andy660 had ridden last year when we went to the Richtersveld (https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=48892.0)
The last bit is a steep, very loose, rocky slope that tested our shoulders and arms. Anton was so relieved to get down safely he promptly dropped his bike at the first little ditch at the bottom. The slope can be seen behind him.
We travelled around the corner to Spitskloof and set up camp in the Bakkrans caves for the night. The borehole at the entrance to the kloof has been taken out of commission so there is no water to cool off in. It was never drinkable anyway, being hyper-brak. Perhaps the sheep wouldn’t drink it either.
Nice remote part of the world.
The cave deposits were excavated during the last 2 years by a ZA/Canada/UK team, revealing a long, but intermittent occupation from perhaps a hundred thousand years ago. Despite our acts of cultural vandalism in parking our bikes there and camping in the caves we were careful not to disturb the surface or leave any signs of our visit. These are two pics from my trip last year.
