JustBendIt
Grey Hound
RECOVERY FROM ROAD TO HELL
Not a bike trip …getting a bit old and am too fat and unfit to push bikes over mountains for days on end …I save my fully kitted 690 for a trip to the local Vida and back where I stand around and pose with all my gear on while sipping on a fat white
I regularly go back to the Richtersveld and have discovered some amazing tracks and places to wild camp next to the Orange River
I led a trip last week – left Cape Town early Friday 22 October – 3 vehicles …me alone in my Mazdarati …a real beat up but modified 3 litre turbo diesel 4x4 Mazda BT50 that I bought from Rossdog a few years ago , Gucci (on this forum) and Scott and his dog Roo in Gucci’s Landcruiser 100 turbo diesel automatic and my brother Aidan (also on this forum) and Matt and his dog Rey in Landcruiser 76 1HZ
We all made it safely to our camp at end of a riverbed and set up next to the river – arrived there about 6 pm Friday night …takes 12 hours to travel from my house in Muizenberg to the campsite and its less than 800 km in total – the last 25 km takes 3 hours …it’s a bit rough
We relaxed and partied the whole day Saturday and well into the night.
Sunday we were due to undertake a little return drive of about 60 km each way to show the new guys the Road To Hell. The plan was that we would leave the 100 Cruiser with rooftop tent at our camp and my brother would follow me in his 76 Cruiser …we would then leave 76 Cruiser at top of Road to Hell and all 5 of us and the 2 dogs would go down and back up RTH in my bakkie …have done it many times before
Aidan woke up grumpy with a babbelas on Sunday morning and told me he was not going to back me up. Matt stayed with Aidan to fish for barbel in the river.
Scott, Gareth, the dog Roo and I went anyway in 1 vehicle …
We had a lekker drive and easily made it down the RTH in under 30 minutes …its only 4 km long with 3 very gnarly sections of big rocks and big drop offs …it is very very steep in parts and the photos never show the real picture
On the way back up on the very last gnarly big rock step up the connecting rod on the left front steering assembly broke …this connects the inner and outer tie rod ends together and basically connects the left front wheel to the steering wheel via the whole steering box assembly
The nett result is that I now had no steering on left front wheel …it was like a dicky wheel on a shopping trolley pointing wherever it felt like.
It was 14h35 on Sunday afternoon 24 October – we quickly assessed the situation and I could see that there was nothing I could do right there and then with what I had to successfully fix it and drive it out.
It was hot. It is always hot there. The sun is merciless.
We quickly made the decision to leave the bakkie and walk back to our campsite …it was only 32 km away along the river.
32 km walk took 18 hours …not a flat walk but more boulder hopping, mountain climbing and hacking through thorn bush for 32 km. We walked from 3 pm to 9 pm, slept from 9 pm to 12 pm, walked again from 12 pm to 3 am, slept again from 3 am to 5 am and then walked again from 5 am to our arrival at camp at 9 am on Monday morning 25 October.
I had brand new shoes bought the day before we left for the trip. I got a blister. It was eina.
We only had water … no food. We did get a bit hungry and I made a lekker brekkie of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, boerewors and OJ when we got back to camp…we chowed and then slept
My boet and Matt and the dog Rey had left camp at first light on Monday to go look for us …they found my bakkie and then turned around and drove back arriving about 2 hours after we did.
We continued our little holiday and decided to leave my bakkie there and come back to Cape Town to get all the parts and tools needed to fix it and drive it out.
Aidan and I drove back to my bakkie on Monday in our mate Scott’s V6 Amarok – we arrived at my bakkie at 16h30 on Monday afternoon.
It took 2 hours to winch and reverse it off the big rock about 50 metres backwards on to a flat spot and only 30 minutes to fit new connecting rod and outer tie rod end and then set the toe on the wheel alignment.
I drove it off the mountain at 19h30 on Monday night.
We camped on the other side and drove both vehicles back home yesterday Tuesday 2 November.
Fun times
Loads of pics were taken and plenty videos too …I will post some here and video links when they are edited and ready
Not a bike trip …getting a bit old and am too fat and unfit to push bikes over mountains for days on end …I save my fully kitted 690 for a trip to the local Vida and back where I stand around and pose with all my gear on while sipping on a fat white
I regularly go back to the Richtersveld and have discovered some amazing tracks and places to wild camp next to the Orange River
I led a trip last week – left Cape Town early Friday 22 October – 3 vehicles …me alone in my Mazdarati …a real beat up but modified 3 litre turbo diesel 4x4 Mazda BT50 that I bought from Rossdog a few years ago , Gucci (on this forum) and Scott and his dog Roo in Gucci’s Landcruiser 100 turbo diesel automatic and my brother Aidan (also on this forum) and Matt and his dog Rey in Landcruiser 76 1HZ
We all made it safely to our camp at end of a riverbed and set up next to the river – arrived there about 6 pm Friday night …takes 12 hours to travel from my house in Muizenberg to the campsite and its less than 800 km in total – the last 25 km takes 3 hours …it’s a bit rough
We relaxed and partied the whole day Saturday and well into the night.
Sunday we were due to undertake a little return drive of about 60 km each way to show the new guys the Road To Hell. The plan was that we would leave the 100 Cruiser with rooftop tent at our camp and my brother would follow me in his 76 Cruiser …we would then leave 76 Cruiser at top of Road to Hell and all 5 of us and the 2 dogs would go down and back up RTH in my bakkie …have done it many times before
Aidan woke up grumpy with a babbelas on Sunday morning and told me he was not going to back me up. Matt stayed with Aidan to fish for barbel in the river.
Scott, Gareth, the dog Roo and I went anyway in 1 vehicle …
We had a lekker drive and easily made it down the RTH in under 30 minutes …its only 4 km long with 3 very gnarly sections of big rocks and big drop offs …it is very very steep in parts and the photos never show the real picture
On the way back up on the very last gnarly big rock step up the connecting rod on the left front steering assembly broke …this connects the inner and outer tie rod ends together and basically connects the left front wheel to the steering wheel via the whole steering box assembly
The nett result is that I now had no steering on left front wheel …it was like a dicky wheel on a shopping trolley pointing wherever it felt like.
It was 14h35 on Sunday afternoon 24 October – we quickly assessed the situation and I could see that there was nothing I could do right there and then with what I had to successfully fix it and drive it out.
It was hot. It is always hot there. The sun is merciless.
We quickly made the decision to leave the bakkie and walk back to our campsite …it was only 32 km away along the river.
32 km walk took 18 hours …not a flat walk but more boulder hopping, mountain climbing and hacking through thorn bush for 32 km. We walked from 3 pm to 9 pm, slept from 9 pm to 12 pm, walked again from 12 pm to 3 am, slept again from 3 am to 5 am and then walked again from 5 am to our arrival at camp at 9 am on Monday morning 25 October.
I had brand new shoes bought the day before we left for the trip. I got a blister. It was eina.
We only had water … no food. We did get a bit hungry and I made a lekker brekkie of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, boerewors and OJ when we got back to camp…we chowed and then slept
My boet and Matt and the dog Rey had left camp at first light on Monday to go look for us …they found my bakkie and then turned around and drove back arriving about 2 hours after we did.
We continued our little holiday and decided to leave my bakkie there and come back to Cape Town to get all the parts and tools needed to fix it and drive it out.
Aidan and I drove back to my bakkie on Monday in our mate Scott’s V6 Amarok – we arrived at my bakkie at 16h30 on Monday afternoon.
It took 2 hours to winch and reverse it off the big rock about 50 metres backwards on to a flat spot and only 30 minutes to fit new connecting rod and outer tie rod end and then set the toe on the wheel alignment.
I drove it off the mountain at 19h30 on Monday night.
We camped on the other side and drove both vehicles back home yesterday Tuesday 2 November.
Fun times
Loads of pics were taken and plenty videos too …I will post some here and video links when they are edited and ready
:lol8:
