SA and Namibia in 2021. What was I thinking?

[Three Dawg]

Glad you're enjoying it!

Although we clearly faced some challenges, not least of which was getting home as our flights had been cancelled by BA, we decided to press on from Springbok following our original itinerary. The prospect of having to go to Covid jail (at eye-watering cost) when we returned wasn't too enticing even if we could re-enter the UK, so we knocked around various ideas such as staying in South Africa (Me and Mrs 3D) or possibly quarantining in Switzerland (Rob and Nicky). Fortunately as BA had cancelled our tickets we were free to demand to be flown on any plane that had seats, rather than worrying about Avios seat availability. Anyway, in the meantime there was the Karoo to cross, first to Calvinia and then Matjiesfontein and ultimately to ostrich central - Oudtshoorn.

We spoke to some cops from Calvinia who were staying at the guesthouse in Springbok, and they said that the gravel road across country was in very bad shape due to recent heavy rain, so we swallowed our pride and slabbed it to Calvinia. This was of course a straightforward affair and pleasant enough, especially the spectacular Van Rhynspas, but from Calvinia to Matjiesfontein we would be back on gravel on what was by all accounts a very scenic run through the town of Sutherland, and so it was. We couldn't persuade R&N to join us on the gravel, so they went back the way we'd come and then looped south, a very much longer ride than we had in front of us. We took the dotted line on the map. I think this says something about how badly they had been affected by their spill, although in fairness they stopped off in Porterville to collect a sweatshirt Nicky had left there. Shame though, the road from Calvinia was in good shape other than a few spots where there was water still standing from the rains.

Big puddles. Unexpected, but great for the farmers I imagine.

Traffic? Er, no.

Well, mostly...

After Sutherland it was back on tar, and a straightforward run to Matjiesfontein. Stopping here for two nights was a bit of a gamble on my part, but it was great fun. Matjiesfontein is a slightly strange place that exists as a kind of living museum. The railway and station came first in 1878, but it was a Scot, James Logan, who developed the settlement starting with some sort of cafe for train passengers. This was succesful and became the nucleus of a growing village. The whole place was purchased by the government in 1968 and declared a national monument in 1975. It's other claim to fame is that you can take the world's shortest bus tour there - about ten minutes round the houses in the company of Jonny, who was a brilliant entertainer. He took us back to the pub next door to the hotel for a sing-along after the bus tour. I'll spare you the video of us all singing She'll be Coming Round the Mountain...

Step back to colonial times staying in the rooms overlooking the lovely gardens at the Lord Milner Hotel.

Who's that blousy old bird in the picture over the bar?

Jonny. "We must go left, because we cannot go right..."

And his bus

What started it all.

There is a Matjiesfontein lager. Not bad at all, as I remember.

There are two ways to get to Oudtshoorn from Matjiesfontein, both involve a couple of hours slog up the N1 to Prince Albert. From here you have two choices, head up the glorious but unpaved Swartberg Pass, or stick to the tar through the Meiringspoort road and De Rust. Can you guess who went up the pass and who went through the 'poort'?

Don't worry Rob, they say there's a way round!

The Meiringspoort is actually a lovely ride, but the pass is super spectacular. The surface is good, but there are quite a few switchbacks to be negotiated as it climbs to the 1583 meter 'Die Top'. The road actually rises 1000 meters in 12km, so it counts as 'Pretty Steep' in most people's books.

There were a few streams to splash through, but they all have concrete bottoms like this one.

View from Die Top

Anyway, it's a cracking ride. Funny thing was, because of a GPS error, Rob and Nicky approached our accommodation in Oudtshoorn from the 'wrong' way meaning they had to ford quite a wide stream. They must have thought we were taking the mickey...

Next up: Die Hel or Not Die Hel? That is the question.

 

[Three Dawg]

So, what de hell is Die Hel? Otherwise known as Gamkaskloof, it is a remote valley in the Swartberg range, once home to a small community of subsistence farmers. Nowadays it has a guest house and cafe at the end of the valley and a seriously challenging road to get in which makes it a popular destination for 4x4 drivers, adventure bikers and mountain bike riders. The start of the road in is off the Swartberg pass, a little way beyond 'Die Top' from the Oudtshoorn side.

Ready to ride to Die Hel

We were staying with friends Phil and Linda at Gumtree Lodge - we'd stayed with them on our last trip and had kept in touch. They have a lovely place near the centre of the town and looked after us so well. Phil is a 4x4 enthusiast and knows the area's back roads very well. He warned that a ride into Die Hel would be tough, and offered to come with us in his Toyota. This was great news - help to pick the bike up if I dropped it and Mrs 3D could ride in the truck if the going got too difficult.

Um...

This was one of the better sections.

We were only a few kilometers in when Mrs 3D bailed out. She's no scaredy cat, but the road was really bad. In may places the road was littered with large rocks, and was very rutted after the recent heavy rain. I was struggling, unable to see a decent line in many places, and Phil said the road was in the worst condition he had ever seen it. The thing about Die Hel is that it is a dead end. I think if we were staying at the guesthouse overnight, or there was an easy way out at the other end I might have continued, but to me doing this road twice on one day looked like a recipe for a broken leg, so reluctantly I turned around.

Phil and his pride and joy. Bit worried that Mrs 3D quite liked bumping along in the Toyota.

One thing that does irritate me is that on the way out I remembered how to ride a motorcycle properly and attacked the road much harder. Everything suddenly started to work as it should and I got back to the main road without incident. Turning round was the right thing to do, but like our attempt the Sani Pass into Lesotho (also a fail) this will continue to bug me.

Anyway, once were were out, Phil suggested a ride from the bottom of the Swartberg Pass back to Oudtshoorn on gravel, passing through a private game reserve. It was a cracker, and as I'd recently remembered how to ride an adventure bike, was thoroughly enjoyable. I even spotted some giraffes!

The last bit before we turned back on the main road to Oudshoorn was again fairly loose gravel. This was so much fun to ride fast, but that's very difficult for most pillions to accept as the bike goes all over the place.

Rob and Nicky had a day off the bike exploring the ostrich feather capital of the world.

After saying our goodbyes to Phil and Linda, we left Oudtshoorn and headed west across the Klein Karoo to the small towns of Montagu and Franshoek as we made our way back towards Cape Town. Me and Mrs 3D took the gravel back road to Calitzdorp, skirting the southern side of the Swartberg, while Rob and Nicky took the tar road. They of course got miles ahead of us, so had time to visit the famous Ronnie's *** Shop before meeting us in Barrydale for lunch at Diesel and Creme, one of those places festooned with old petrol pumps and tin signs advertising oil. It's great! Also great was to be able to see the Klein Karoo looking green. There had been a lot of rain and everything was sprouting.

We met this chap (86 years old and still riding!) on the Calitzdorp road. He told me we were rich because of all the memories a trip like this would leave us with. He's dead right

The rest of the ride back to Cape Town was a straightforward affair 100% on tar. In Montagu we managed to find a brew pub (with very small child which Nicky held while the owners of the pub sorted out our food), and Rob sat in Nelson Mandela's chair at our guesthouse. The run into Franschoek through the pass was great - it reminded me in places of a steeper Glen Shiel, although perhaps this was due to the gathering clouds..? We found another place with a decent selection of ales to try. Things were definitely looking up on the beer front!

Madonna?

Madiba?

 

[Three Dawg]

Craft ale made on the premises. Excellent.

Soon enough we were back in The Mother City and checking in to our Air B&B in Camps Bay, but not before dropping in on Adrian at Econotrans to confirm our arrangements for him taking the bike, and also picking up some fancy footpegs at Flying Brick, an amazing adventure bike goodie store nearby.

South Africa had come off the red list so we were able to rebook our flights home and enjoy our last couple of days. We opted to have a little more time in the sun and actually flew out three days after Rob and Nicky. While we would have been happy to stay on even longer, we'd had a call from First Born who had decided to pay us a surprise visit from Australia for Christmas. Probably best if we went home then...

The view from the apartment was pretty good. Camps Bay has gone a bit tarty these days - lots of noisy Harleys and Ferarris and loud bars, but the beach is still lovely. We had our last meal together in one of the better restaurants, and we were, as white people, very much in the minority. This is good to see - hopefully a burgeoning black middle class will try to hold on to what they have and not allow the corruption and funny ANC ideas in Pretoria to get too out of hand.

Kinda miss this...

Next up: My bike gets a bath and we all go home.

 

[Chrisl]

TD how hard were your tyres when you tackled the Gamkaskloof road?

 

[Three Dawg]

Hmm, not entirely sure. I would probably have set them lower than the normal 36/39 I run 2 up no luggage, maybe 32 or so at the front, but with those Anakee Wild radials I did struggle to find pressures that worked for me on loose stuff. However that day I could have done better, and did after I turned round, so I won't be putting too much blame on the boots. They were very good on tarmac for a knobbly, and way quieter than the Karoo 3s on the rented 1250. I'll probably go back to bias ply for the next one though.

 

[Chrisl]

Pity you should have brought it down to 1.8 bar it would have been so much easier seeing that your luggage was already in the 4x4. 39 is like 2.6 bar that is rock hard!!

 

[Three Dawg]

That's lower than I tried it for sure (1.8bar = 26psi) although I went to 28 I'm sure on less rocky surfaces further north. But you're right, should have aired right down, even on that rocky stuff, although I did try lower pressures elsewhere I just couldn't get the feeling that I had using a TKC80. I will maybe try a TKC80 front and a Motoz at the rear next time. I wish I could experiment and practice when I'm not on the road abroad, but not possible to ride the (many) gravel tracks in my part of the world - don't want to run into a grumpy gamekeeper carrying a Purdey.... Hurts me every time I pass one.

It's also worth noting that I am a muppet and a scaredy cat - if you could look inside my right leg you'd see why. I will be back though to have another go - you guys live in ADV riding heaven.

 

[Three Dawg]

Rob and Nicky left early for the airport from Camp's Bay, having dropped the rental bike off the previous afternoon. The bike had suffered some damage, and rental places replace rather than repair so knocks can be expensive, but sensibly Rob had paid for some sort of damage insurance so he's not out of pocket. Well, if you disregard the forty odd day rental on the bike.

We had to move to a hotel as the apartment was booked up, and decided that staying at the redeveloped dockland-Disneyland that is the V&A Waterfront would be fun. It was!

We managed one more run on the bike though, out to Cape Point. We didn't actually make it to the point itself, because access to the park costs 360 Rand per person, which is steep even by European standards. Never mind, we did the walk to the point on our first trip there in 2004.

The coastline from Cape Point back into town is spectacular, with long stretches of white sandy beaches. We had lunch in the preservation village of Scarborough and stopped to watch the kite surfers a bit further up the coast before coming back to Camps Bay and the city centre via Chapman's Peak.

Before we took the bike down to Econo Trans in Paarden Eiland to be shipped home, it had to be cleaned. I kept an eye out for garages with jet washes on the way into town, but there were none. Of course, with labour cheap and plentiful you can get your car washed by hand, but that wouldn't do for the bike. Anyway, I'd had a tip off that there was one in Woodstock which is a less than lovely area over from the cargo terminal so we headed there, hoping that the GPS's battery would last long enough to find the place - the charging terminals have finally given up the ghost, so I will need a new one for the next trip.

The following day we dropped the bike off in Paarden Eiland and picked up our bags, which Econo Trans had kindly looked after while we were away. Getting the bike ready for crating is fairly straightforward; rack and screen off, drain the fuel and disconnect the battery and the shippers take care of the rest. I would imagine it will be back here sometime in late January or early February, giving me plenty of time to clean all the sand dust out of its crevices and give it a good service before the beginning of the next riding season. The only thing I have to attend to other than routine service work, perhaps along with changing the sealing washer on the camchain tensioner is sorting out the tail light. The rear brake light switch jammed on after I dropped the bike on the way to Palmwag and the brake light bulb being on continuously melted the housing - it was only when we hooked up with Rob that this was spotted. It'll be upgraded with an LED light board which should be much more visible. Other than that, the old girl just purrs on and I have every expectation that it will continue to do so in the years to come. It's a quality machine.

Another day of doing touristy things at the V&A was briefly interrupted only when we had someone come to the hotel to do our PCR tests (very civilised). Scan a QR code at reception and enter your details, done.

Hotel bar has three ales on from an independent brewery. Progress is definitely being made in a country where Carling Black Label is still considered drinkable.

I was quite looking forward to the flight home, and not just because it looked like we were going to sample British Airway's latest Business Class offering in the form of their 'Club Suites' (with doors!). On all the previous occasions the flights heve been evening ones, so you cross Africa in the night time. OK, a morning flight meant a night in a Premier Inn at Heathrow, but I hoped the views from the plane would be sprectacular.

They were. We could clearly see the Orange River as we crossed into Namibian airspace, along with the Fish River canyon. As we got to Angola the clouds built though, and by the equater the view was gone. Never mind, there were silly films to watch - even Mrs 3D succumbed to Jungle Cruise, a Disney confection starring Dwayne Johnson which is not a lot like The African Queen, apart from involving a boat and a river.

Mask on for 12 hours, watching brain-rotting rubbish.

Fish River. Probably.

Angola? Maybe Damaraland in Northern Namibia.

Anyway, we made it (after waiting the thick end of two hours for our luggage at LHR). Arriving back to a freezing Inverness Airport was pretty unpleasant, made more so by a cretinous driver from Inverness Taxis who wouldn't take us home because apparently our luggage wouldn't fit in the back of his Avensis (he didn't even try, just said "No") Bring on Uber, I say. That reminds me; www.trustpilo... Anyway, we got home, which was happily much as we'd left it apart from some trellis which had been blown down in a storm. Our younger daughter had arrived the day before from Edinburgh and first born was on her way from Sydney. PCR tests had been ordered beforehand - they came back negative, so we were all ready for Christmas!

So, international travel during Covid? Yes, it can be done, but you have to be ready for the curve balls. We don't work during the Scottish winter and Rob and Nicky are retired so we had more options when it came to moving travel dates, staying away or doing a spot of 'Covid Washing' in a third country if things went pear shaped. However, if it had been our bike delayed in Istanbul then we would definitely not have been able to absorb the cost of a rental bike for nearly seven weeks like Rob did, so we might have had to kick our heels in Cape Town waiting for the bike to arrive which would have severely messed with our schedule. The problems with the shipping could perhaps been resolved less messily, but I think both we and the shippers took our eyes off the ball at a critical time. Live and learn I guess.

We felt pretty 'Covid safe' in Africa. Many of the bars and restaurants we used were open to the outside, and safari vehicles are open sided. We had our hands sprayed with anti-bac more times than I can remember, and there seemed to be bottles of gel just about everywhere. Africans seemed to be pretty good about wearing masks, even at remote petrol stations. This may be because they don't have any sick pay (I'm guessing here), so if they can't work they are in trouble, but even in Cape Town, the vast majority of people wandering around the V&A Waterfront were masked up, even outdoors. There was definitely less crowding too, always a bonus in my book.

So yeah, it was worth it. South African and Namibia are easy to travel in, and although there can be problems with the heat, the roads and the remoteness of some areas, it's relatively easy to get around on a bike. The riding is epic, the people are brilliant, the scenery is magnificent and the wildlife is wonderful. That was our sixth trip, and it's unlikely to be our last. We covered 5030 amazing miles.

 

[Chrisl]

TD how many times have your "old girl" flown? I'm talking of the bike!!

Thanks for the hard work posting the RR. I like your humour.

 

[Three Dawg]

PS...

Picked up the bike from Motofreight on Friday, April 1st, about two months late. The bikes got stuck in Cape Town because of something to do with operating cranes in high winds and staffing problems. Not a problem, only loons go riding here in the winter.

Early start on the 07.00 to LHR from Inverness, but that meant I could call in on our travelling companions (his bike is next to mine, pristine and unused

) near Daventry before overnighting in Darlington (about half way back) with an old school friend that evening. Can't believe I once rode my 250 from south London to Inverness in one hit on Christmas eve. Young and daft I must have been!

No problems starting up the bike, and it purred like a good 'un all the way home. Lord it was cold though. I must be getting old, but no way would I ever do a 600+ mile ride again in those temperatures without a heated vest. And the traffic in England was appaling. I had to filter through miles of near stationary stuff on the M40 (signs said an hour delay for cars), and was down to 30mph at times on the M1. Good run up the A68 though, stopping at a time-warp cafe along the way who did me a good brekky at 1970s prices (or so it seemed after fuel at £1.85 a litre).

Once safely tucked up in the Three Dawg garage having been given a good wash (all that salt!) I gave the bike a full service, stripped all the pivots and regreased, did a few upgrades including a new LED tail light panel and new aux lights and changed the tyres. It's running perfectly, you'd never know it had been anywhere at all. It's a quality machine.

Where next?

 

[Three Dawg]

TD how many times have your "old girl" flown? I'm talking of the bike!!

Thanks for the hard work posting the RR. I like your humour.

Glad you liked the RR!

There and back twice to Cape Town (by air and ship), New Zealand and back by ship (gone a very long time, but I had another bike at the time), Chile and back by air, so that's four trips in total. I reckon the bike has done more miles without me than with me. Seems stupid to ship the thing all over, but we tend to go for six to ten weeks at a time, so it's always cheaper than renting. There are other good reasons to ship too, but the sums have to add up first.

 

[Roxtar]

What a lekkr read.... thanks for sharing! Hats off to the ladies...

 

[Chrisl]

The bikes got stuck in Cape Town because of something to do with operating cranes in high winds and staffing problems.

Cape Town harbour have gone to the dogs sadly. Fruit export farmers and businesses are losing millions because of the incompetence of the harbour personnel.

 

[Three Dawg]

Yeah, there was some wierd stuff about operating the cranes in certain conditions like if you were on shift and had to stop working you were sent home, even if it was a temporary issue, and problems with the wheels or tyres (no compressors to inflate them?) or some other nonsense. Anyway, it was driving Adrian mental whatever it was.

Sounds like those docks need a good dose of Margaret Thatcher - love her or hate her she sorted out our lazy thieving stevedors.

 

[Ian in Great Brak River]

So nice to see the places we did not get to see this year. Great report!

 

[Three Dawg]

No such thing as too many pictures of Namibia I reckon. Glad you enjoyed them.

 

[Sheepman]

Thanks for an excellent report