Yahooo â?¦ December the 22nd eventually arrived â?¦ the start to our December holiday ride.
We had planned one or two general routes with the â??aimâ? to get to Calvinia by 31 Dec â?? the most central point for a New Years Eve get-together for a bunch of us each doing our own tours:
-> Hubby (Hoofseun), our daughter (Racing Girl) & myself via Karoo and West Coast
-> Chris and Leonie to West Coast
-> Shaun to PE, West Coast and Namibia
-> Hardey to Namibia (this did not realise) and Western Cape
-> Michael and Christa Eastern Province and Western Cape
-> Hein Prinsloo and Polish visitors via the whole of South Africa and then back to Calvinia
-> Hein, Monty, Joey and Cyril to Calvinia for New Years Eve get-together
Sunday, hubby did the final bike preparations & washed the bikes â?? gee wizz â?¦ I am blessed to have such a special man in my life :thumleft:. My GS650 Twin, sporting some brand new Heydenauâ??s (bought from Runner) and Hoofseunâ??s fitted with a new rear Anakee. The original idea was to do the trip with TKCâ??s but decided it was too $$$$$ !!!
DAY1: 22 DECEMBER 2008 (590 kmâ??s) â?? Destination: Just south of Bloemfontein
Day one was about getting away from Gauteng, to at least the other side of Bloemfontein. Here we stayed over at hubbyâ??s brotherâ??s farm.
I initially â??sukkledâ? to do 120km/h plus without the bike getting terrible headshake on the tar road. Must be the new tyres ??? (I never had that problem with my road tyres). Fortunately this condition resolved itself after 1000+km when the tyres were ridden in.
We selected mostly back roads to avoid all the toll gates. At Windburg we took the road to Brandfort via Bellâ??s Pass. This took us into some seriously huge Free State rain drops. We tried to hide behind the bikes for a while as it was too late to try and put on our rain suites. The lightning in the Free State â??vlakteâ? is pretty scary when you realise you are a single high-point on the bike.
After this short cooling down it was off to the farm.
DAY 2 and 3: 23 and 24 DECEMBER 2008 (280kmâ??s) â?? Destination: Van Der Kloof Dam
From the farm we left for Reddersburg and then Edenburg.
From Edenburg to Jagersfontein provided us with our first gravel roads. The roads were beautiful and smooth but the strong side-wind made for some scary moments when blown out the tracks onto the â??middle mannetjieâ?.
At Jagersfontein we visited the old open mine. Jagersfontein is one of the oldest mining towns in South Africa with one of the biggest hand dug holes in the world (1870 to 1909). At some point Jagersfontein had up to 80 000 people staying there and also proudly beating the then Transvaal rugby team on tour by 6-3 on 21 June 1914. Some statics of the mine.
From here we visited Fauresmith where hubby went to school. This town is also known for the rail track running through the main street. This was still operational till a few years ago.
Then it was off to Koffiefontein, also a mining town with a self descriptive sign at the entry to the town.
From Koffiefontein we travelled by tar to a small town called Luckhoff on the way to Van Der Kloof Dam. Andries Lombaard, the local garage owner at Luckhoff gave some good advice on where to stay at the dam as well as highlighted some stories of when Hoofseun was still young and grew up in this little town, wheelying a Katana 650 and other bikes up the gravel streets, mmm â?¦ a hooligan biker â?¦. me thinks. >
As I told Andries with a laugh â?¦ â??He is still the same!â?.
On the way to the dam we crossed the Havenga Bridge and stopped for some pictures and leg stretches before continuing to Van Der Kloof Dam.
We camped at the local â??Vakansie Oordâ?. The plan was to stay here for two days and just relax.
Going on a â??casualâ? ride around the dam/town the day before Christmas. Notice the ATGATT :confused2: !!!
DAY 4: 25 DECEMBER 2008 (230kmâ??s instead of the planned 700kmâ??s) â?? Destination Patensie but ended up in Kimberley
The plan for today was to travel to Orania to stop over at some friends and then to take the back roads to Patensie so that we could join Michael and Christa through Baviaanskloof the next day.
Stopping outside Orania to take some pictures, everything was fine until hubby tried to start his bike, â??clickâ? â?¦ try again â?¦ â??clickâ? â?¦ aggghhh â?¦ that awful sound all of us hate to hear. Battery stuffed.
Luckily after his September 2008 trip to Botswana he came back and prepared both our bikes with jump start points and jumper cables. (you see, once again, Iâ??m lucky to have this special man in my life :thumleft So out comes the jumper cables and we were soon on our way to the friends just outside Orania. After a short visit and confirmed that the battery was stuffed, we set off to Kimberly & the BMW Dealer. On arrival we phoned BMW on Call again and the Kimberly BMW dealer. Fortunately a technician and the dealerâ??s parts man came to open up the shop to help us. The new battery had to be charged for five hours so they booked us into a hotel and about 8:00pm the technician picked hubby up at the hotel to go and collect his bike so that we could be on the road again very early the next morning. Iâ??m very impressed with the excellent service !
That night we re-planned our route and decided to go to Sutherland. Our Christmas Day was brightened up with some bubbles.
DAY 5: 26 DECEMBER 2008 (700kmâ??s) â?? Destination: Sutherland
This was a very interesting day as most of it was spent on gravel roads. We left Kimberley at 06:30 and stopped over at a small farm just outside Hopetown. Here is a well maintained private little museum and concentration camp cemetery dating from the Anglo-Boer War.
We arrived unannounced and were received with open arms by the Widdâ??s. Leaving the bikes on the farm we were taken by double cab to the cemetery, the museum (old hospital/station) and the English block house.
An interesting story here with the railroad bridge being blown up by the English when they saw some dust in the distance, thinking that it was a Boer Commando. In the end it turned out to be a herd of cattle. Ha ha, somebodyâ??s arse surely got kicked.
A partial list of the children that died in the camp, younger than 15 years.
The white heap behind Sammy/fence indicates the old mass grave.
What is left of the rail bridge that was blown up by the English themselves.
A view of the blockhouse overlooking the rail bridge.
Just after nine we left for Strydenburg. Here we filled up and took the gravel roads towards Sutherland.
Taking a break close to Sodium. Carrying water with you is key in these areas of nothing, nothing and more nothing!
Arriving at Vosburg the only open places were the Off-Sales (Bottle Store) and a Games Café. They could only provide us with russians for lunch. On the rack was one tin of spaghetti, so we bought this too, as well as a few slices of brown bread. We were served on the â??stoepâ? in the company of Freddy a local that was not shy to share all the local history and stories.
From here we left for Loxton and then Fraserburg. Locusts (â?hoppersâ?/â?red-coatsâ?) were in abundance on the road.
From Fraserburg we took the old Poskoets road towards Sutherland.
We arrived at Sutherland and booked into the â??White Houseâ?. They are very biker friendly.
The rest of our trip to Tietiesbaai to follow......
We had planned one or two general routes with the â??aimâ? to get to Calvinia by 31 Dec â?? the most central point for a New Years Eve get-together for a bunch of us each doing our own tours:
-> Hubby (Hoofseun), our daughter (Racing Girl) & myself via Karoo and West Coast
-> Chris and Leonie to West Coast
-> Shaun to PE, West Coast and Namibia
-> Hardey to Namibia (this did not realise) and Western Cape
-> Michael and Christa Eastern Province and Western Cape
-> Hein Prinsloo and Polish visitors via the whole of South Africa and then back to Calvinia
-> Hein, Monty, Joey and Cyril to Calvinia for New Years Eve get-together
Sunday, hubby did the final bike preparations & washed the bikes â?? gee wizz â?¦ I am blessed to have such a special man in my life :thumleft:. My GS650 Twin, sporting some brand new Heydenauâ??s (bought from Runner) and Hoofseunâ??s fitted with a new rear Anakee. The original idea was to do the trip with TKCâ??s but decided it was too $$$$$ !!!
DAY1: 22 DECEMBER 2008 (590 kmâ??s) â?? Destination: Just south of Bloemfontein
Day one was about getting away from Gauteng, to at least the other side of Bloemfontein. Here we stayed over at hubbyâ??s brotherâ??s farm.
I initially â??sukkledâ? to do 120km/h plus without the bike getting terrible headshake on the tar road. Must be the new tyres ??? (I never had that problem with my road tyres). Fortunately this condition resolved itself after 1000+km when the tyres were ridden in.
We selected mostly back roads to avoid all the toll gates. At Windburg we took the road to Brandfort via Bellâ??s Pass. This took us into some seriously huge Free State rain drops. We tried to hide behind the bikes for a while as it was too late to try and put on our rain suites. The lightning in the Free State â??vlakteâ? is pretty scary when you realise you are a single high-point on the bike.
After this short cooling down it was off to the farm.
DAY 2 and 3: 23 and 24 DECEMBER 2008 (280kmâ??s) â?? Destination: Van Der Kloof Dam
From the farm we left for Reddersburg and then Edenburg.
From Edenburg to Jagersfontein provided us with our first gravel roads. The roads were beautiful and smooth but the strong side-wind made for some scary moments when blown out the tracks onto the â??middle mannetjieâ?.
At Jagersfontein we visited the old open mine. Jagersfontein is one of the oldest mining towns in South Africa with one of the biggest hand dug holes in the world (1870 to 1909). At some point Jagersfontein had up to 80 000 people staying there and also proudly beating the then Transvaal rugby team on tour by 6-3 on 21 June 1914. Some statics of the mine.
From here we visited Fauresmith where hubby went to school. This town is also known for the rail track running through the main street. This was still operational till a few years ago.
Then it was off to Koffiefontein, also a mining town with a self descriptive sign at the entry to the town.
From Koffiefontein we travelled by tar to a small town called Luckhoff on the way to Van Der Kloof Dam. Andries Lombaard, the local garage owner at Luckhoff gave some good advice on where to stay at the dam as well as highlighted some stories of when Hoofseun was still young and grew up in this little town, wheelying a Katana 650 and other bikes up the gravel streets, mmm â?¦ a hooligan biker â?¦. me thinks. >
As I told Andries with a laugh â?¦ â??He is still the same!â?.
On the way to the dam we crossed the Havenga Bridge and stopped for some pictures and leg stretches before continuing to Van Der Kloof Dam.
We camped at the local â??Vakansie Oordâ?. The plan was to stay here for two days and just relax.
Going on a â??casualâ? ride around the dam/town the day before Christmas. Notice the ATGATT :confused2: !!!
DAY 4: 25 DECEMBER 2008 (230kmâ??s instead of the planned 700kmâ??s) â?? Destination Patensie but ended up in Kimberley
The plan for today was to travel to Orania to stop over at some friends and then to take the back roads to Patensie so that we could join Michael and Christa through Baviaanskloof the next day.
Stopping outside Orania to take some pictures, everything was fine until hubby tried to start his bike, â??clickâ? â?¦ try again â?¦ â??clickâ? â?¦ aggghhh â?¦ that awful sound all of us hate to hear. Battery stuffed.
Luckily after his September 2008 trip to Botswana he came back and prepared both our bikes with jump start points and jumper cables. (you see, once again, Iâ??m lucky to have this special man in my life :thumleft
So out comes the jumper cables and we were soon on our way to the friends just outside Orania. After a short visit and confirmed that the battery was stuffed, we set off to Kimberly & the BMW Dealer. On arrival we phoned BMW on Call again and the Kimberly BMW dealer. Fortunately a technician and the dealerâ??s parts man came to open up the shop to help us. The new battery had to be charged for five hours so they booked us into a hotel and about 8:00pm the technician picked hubby up at the hotel to go and collect his bike so that we could be on the road again very early the next morning. Iâ??m very impressed with the excellent service !
That night we re-planned our route and decided to go to Sutherland. Our Christmas Day was brightened up with some bubbles.
DAY 5: 26 DECEMBER 2008 (700kmâ??s) â?? Destination: Sutherland
This was a very interesting day as most of it was spent on gravel roads. We left Kimberley at 06:30 and stopped over at a small farm just outside Hopetown. Here is a well maintained private little museum and concentration camp cemetery dating from the Anglo-Boer War.
We arrived unannounced and were received with open arms by the Widdâ??s. Leaving the bikes on the farm we were taken by double cab to the cemetery, the museum (old hospital/station) and the English block house.
An interesting story here with the railroad bridge being blown up by the English when they saw some dust in the distance, thinking that it was a Boer Commando. In the end it turned out to be a herd of cattle. Ha ha, somebodyâ??s arse surely got kicked.
A partial list of the children that died in the camp, younger than 15 years.
The white heap behind Sammy/fence indicates the old mass grave.
What is left of the rail bridge that was blown up by the English themselves.
A view of the blockhouse overlooking the rail bridge.
Just after nine we left for Strydenburg. Here we filled up and took the gravel roads towards Sutherland.
Taking a break close to Sodium. Carrying water with you is key in these areas of nothing, nothing and more nothing!
Arriving at Vosburg the only open places were the Off-Sales (Bottle Store) and a Games Café. They could only provide us with russians for lunch. On the rack was one tin of spaghetti, so we bought this too, as well as a few slices of brown bread. We were served on the â??stoepâ? in the company of Freddy a local that was not shy to share all the local history and stories.
From here we left for Loxton and then Fraserburg. Locusts (â?hoppersâ?/â?red-coatsâ?) were in abundance on the road.
From Fraserburg we took the old Poskoets road towards Sutherland.
We arrived at Sutherland and booked into the â??White Houseâ?. They are very biker friendly.
The rest of our trip to Tietiesbaai to follow......
