cloudgazer
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 5,135
- Reaction score
- 6
- Bike
- BMW F650GS / Dakar
We left CT at about 09h30 on Friday morning to go to the Cederberg.
Instead of taking the scenic route through Wellington and Bainâ??s Kloof, we decided to take the faster route through the N1 toll tunnel to Rawsonville, and go through Slanghoek valley up to Ceres. If it wasnâ??t for Jaco from Top Bikeâ??s article I wouldnâ??t have taken this route, but am glad we did.
Unfortunately as we got to the tollgate, my mate on the Africa Twin got a puncture.
We were carrying tyre repair kits, and a few cans of that goo stuff, but decided against a roadside fix, as he did not want to worry about a damaged tube for the entire trip.
So we headed back to Paarl and found Boland Bikes. Nice bunch of people there that replaced our tube for us. We purchased additional tubes for the front and rear. No point in taking a chance of getting another puncture. Itâ??s a nice thing that the Africa Twin and Dakars have the same wheel sizes.
This little setback cost us two hours.
Through the tunnel we went, turned off towards Rawsonaville (R101) and then up to Slanghoek. Iâ??ve ridden through here before and it is a pretty valley.
We had a quick lunch at Ceres, and while sitting at the Steers saw a few GSâ??s ride passed on their way to somewhere.
Our next stop was op-die-berg, where we filled up, bought food from the Spar and beers. We had one on the side of the road before finally hitting the dirt.
The Cederberg is unbelievably beautiful. Especially for someone like me whoâ??s never been there before.
We stopped at the Cederberg Oasis and had another beer (we were drinking Windhoek Light â?? responsible hey?).
It wasnâ??t too much further to KromRivier, where we spent the night.
The ride, including all stops and puncture repair took us almost eight hours. A bit long, but a lot of fun.
After breakfast, we packed up camp and continued north through the Cederberg towards Clanwilliam.
We stopped at every campsite en route, and each one got progressively nicer.
Iâ??m definitely heading back to Driehoek in the coming weeks. Itâ??s stunning.
Can't talk. Mouth Full.
Coming over Uitkyk pass is probably the most majestic sights Iâ??ve ever seen. The view from up there took my breath away. I found going down pretty dangerous, cause all I wanted to do was admire the view and not concentrate on the road.
Instead of going all the way up to Clanwilliam, we turned off in the direction of Citrusdal at Algeria.
The roads in the Cederberg are very good, the only soft sand and rocky roads we experienced are on the smaller roads leading to the different campsites.
From Citrusdal it was tar all the way back to CT, we stopped at the top of the Pieknierskloof pass for lunch. I canâ??t remember the name of the farm stall but it had incredible views of the Swart land beyond.
The last 175 kms to CT was hell and hard work. The wind was howling , and it was a struggle keeping the bikes upright.
Despite this little hardship it was a fantastic ride overall.
Weâ??re gonna head back in a few weeks to discover the road to Wupperthal.
Instead of taking the scenic route through Wellington and Bainâ??s Kloof, we decided to take the faster route through the N1 toll tunnel to Rawsonville, and go through Slanghoek valley up to Ceres. If it wasnâ??t for Jaco from Top Bikeâ??s article I wouldnâ??t have taken this route, but am glad we did.
Unfortunately as we got to the tollgate, my mate on the Africa Twin got a puncture.
We were carrying tyre repair kits, and a few cans of that goo stuff, but decided against a roadside fix, as he did not want to worry about a damaged tube for the entire trip.
So we headed back to Paarl and found Boland Bikes. Nice bunch of people there that replaced our tube for us. We purchased additional tubes for the front and rear. No point in taking a chance of getting another puncture. Itâ??s a nice thing that the Africa Twin and Dakars have the same wheel sizes.
This little setback cost us two hours.
Through the tunnel we went, turned off towards Rawsonaville (R101) and then up to Slanghoek. Iâ??ve ridden through here before and it is a pretty valley.
We had a quick lunch at Ceres, and while sitting at the Steers saw a few GSâ??s ride passed on their way to somewhere.
Our next stop was op-die-berg, where we filled up, bought food from the Spar and beers. We had one on the side of the road before finally hitting the dirt.
The Cederberg is unbelievably beautiful. Especially for someone like me whoâ??s never been there before.
We stopped at the Cederberg Oasis and had another beer (we were drinking Windhoek Light â?? responsible hey?).
It wasnâ??t too much further to KromRivier, where we spent the night.
The ride, including all stops and puncture repair took us almost eight hours. A bit long, but a lot of fun.
After breakfast, we packed up camp and continued north through the Cederberg towards Clanwilliam.
We stopped at every campsite en route, and each one got progressively nicer.
Iâ??m definitely heading back to Driehoek in the coming weeks. Itâ??s stunning.
Can't talk. Mouth Full.
Coming over Uitkyk pass is probably the most majestic sights Iâ??ve ever seen. The view from up there took my breath away. I found going down pretty dangerous, cause all I wanted to do was admire the view and not concentrate on the road.
Instead of going all the way up to Clanwilliam, we turned off in the direction of Citrusdal at Algeria.
The roads in the Cederberg are very good, the only soft sand and rocky roads we experienced are on the smaller roads leading to the different campsites.
From Citrusdal it was tar all the way back to CT, we stopped at the top of the Pieknierskloof pass for lunch. I canâ??t remember the name of the farm stall but it had incredible views of the Swart land beyond.
The last 175 kms to CT was hell and hard work. The wind was howling , and it was a struggle keeping the bikes upright.
Despite this little hardship it was a fantastic ride overall.
Weâ??re gonna head back in a few weeks to discover the road to Wupperthal.
nice report and pics :thumleft:
