Rain in the Richtersveld and refloating the SAS Wildehond

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At the Oewerbos camp we were in for a treat - our own rooms!!! Hallelujah, I would be able to sleep without earplugs and a pillow over my head to drown Mike's snoring. He claims he is just dreaming he is riding his bike.

 

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That evening, we had delicious pizza's on a deck over the Orange River.

Then we retired to our OWN rooms. I was hypnotised by the soft lullaby of the crickets and other night sounds gently wafting through my window. My first night's full sleep.

 

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Coffee over the Orange River and a beautiful sunrise started the day for us.

Dark clouds promised a cool day for us to wind our way through the Richtersveld toward Port Nolloth.

 

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Best Pizzas at oewerbos

 

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Best Pizzas at oewerbos

I second that, plus a great location over the river.

 

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Just before Helskloof pass it started raining! In the Richtersveld! Gus's magic was at it again. Put him on a bike with some mates and it will rain. We needed to keep this amongst ourselves less the locals tie him to a pole so that it rains here more often.

 

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Eksteenfontein in the rain.

 

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At this point, the story splits into two.

You see Gus had decided to consult the oracle "Gollum", who is an exceptionally talented bike rider, who has opted for more luxurious transport nowadays in a 6x6. He and his lovely wife (not sure what got into her to subject herself to the trials and tribulations of being married to Gollum) go by the name SimplyOverland.

On Gus's request Gollum had dug deep into the archives of his twisted mind to suggest a route that should be fun.

"River bed's" he proclaimed! Not just any river bed, but the Holgat river. A cool 30 odd kms of soft sand, silt, rocks and many other nasties.

"Yes, the Holgat River must be ridden", he had driven it some months prior IN A 6x6! And it had flooded in the interim.

His luxurious sojourn down the river can be seen here:

 

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The wiser of our group, including one who knew Gollum well (this should have been a warning signal that we all missed), opted to head off on a more direct route to Port Nolloth. They expected to be at the hotel by 12:00.

 

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The remaining four, enticed by Gus's lyrical description of this lovely river bed ride, aimed for the Holgat river after completing the Tierhoek Circle route.

 

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The Tierhoek circle had put on a display that surpassed all we had seen to date, the density and variety of flowers was the stuff of a botanists' wet dream. I started to feel a little ridiculous riding along, gasping at the magnificence around each bend.

Then we crested a rise, both sides of the valley were covered in yellow flowers, each fighting for a square centimetre to display their brilliance alongside that of its immediate neighbours who had in turn a little hard won space. This repeated endlessly all the way down on both sides of the track. The angle of the light striking the carpet of petals created an iridescent sea all the way to the horizon. It was as if i had ridden into a scene in Avatar.

I had run out of gasps, and wows - I just laughed in my helmet and thought "OK, now you are just showing off!"

Regrettably, I did not stop to take a photo. This will have to suffice.

 

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Namaqualand step aside, Richtersveld coming through to claim the botanical beauty crown.

 

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We dropped down and out of the Richtersveld World Heritage site to stop at Bakkrans Cave.

 

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Lohan did his best centrefold impression - he did not realise that I was wanting a photo of the bike against the rock face.

 

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Next up the Holgat River!

I have a small confession to make, when I am on my bike and someone mentions "River bed", I get a tingle throughout my entire body, a delicious mixture of excitement and expectation coupled with gallons of endorphins flooding my entire being.

My memory automatically plays reruns of previous river bed riding.

Like this....

Jozi2Kozi - Mkuze river bed


and this....

Mzimnene in Swaziland..

JustBlipIt Zim trip - Save River

 

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30km of that !!! Bring it on.

Well, to be fair, there were sections like that - but 80km/h eats them up like smarties. and then.....

 

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And this .. . . .

 

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And just when you can get back on the gas.....

 

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Some genius in his Sandton Curb Crawler wants to avoid every little bossie in case he scratches the rock sliders of his Curb Crawler - IT'S
A 4x4 it's meant to get scratched!

So suddenly the track lurches hard left, then back even harder right, and so we weave our way down the river at a snail's sliding pace through the softest of sand, which our liewe maatjie has specially prepared by doing a zig zag course with his difflock on, unnecessarily churning up the impossible sand into the perfect tank trap which eats bikes for kicks.

And you end up spending your day like this