- Joined
- Jul 19, 2014
- Messages
- 721
- Reaction score
- 165
- Location
- Table View, Cape Town
- Bike
- Honda CRF-250 Rally
Video overview for those too lazy to read:
[flash=1024,576]https://www.youtube.com/v/kz2ggjpZ-ww[/flash]
Credit: Lance
Thanks to lockdown, it was a long, long, long time (sense the sadness?) since we were out on an adventure ride. Since March, the furthest we were from our home in Table View was a shopping trip by motorbike to Durbanville, since – obviously – of all the bicycle shops, we had to choose the one furthest away.
Yesterday we cracked. It was time to get out. The whole world wanted to go to see the recently-fallen snow. A quick check on Google Maps, with the traffic layer activated, showed that there were some big snarl-ups at Bain’s Kloof Pass and Michell’s Pass. Roadblocks. Ceres, thanks to being a Covid hotspot, was a no-go zone.
Our motive was not really to go prance about in the snow or return home with a fine. A glimpse of snow-capped mountains, far from the madding crowd, was all that was needed for mental health.
We left home at 8:30, heading north via the N7. The highway was eerily quiet and actually enjoyable as a result.
We were wrapped in layer upon layer of warm stuff: thermal underwear, down jacket, thick socks, internal rain-layers in both jacket and pants, and winter buffs – in Lance’s case, three buffs! We didn’t unlayer for the entire day, because, it remained frigid. The temperature hovered somewhere between 7 and 12 °C for most of the day; only touching the mid-teens when we got back to Cape Town.
Citrusdal was cloaked in a cloud bank.
Fuelled up, we headed out of Citrusdal via Middelberg Pass.
The ground-level snow was gone, but every tall mountain peak had a dusting of white. It was incredibly pretty.
Lance, as usual, decided on a short off-road excursion.
In the background in the photo of Katbakkies Pass below, you can spot another bike. We did see other bikers out there, but it was always in twos: either two bikes or two people 2-up on one bike. There was plenty of room for social distancing in this vast landscape.
On Katbakkies, we found some patches of leftover snow in shady alcoves. Lance decorated my bike with small samples of it, before he decorated my person with a last flurry. At that point, my smile disappeared.
Eastern side of Katbakkies:
At Op-Die-Berg, we hit a road block. Thankfully, we never planned to ride straight on to Ceres. The cops were happy to wave us through once they saw we were heading elsewhere.
Roadblock illustrated as a yellow dot on the map:
The R355, South Africa’s longest gravel highway, was actually far busier than the N7! Yet, whenever we saw parked vehicles, it was almost always just one, pulled off randomly on the side of the road, with a family on their own outing mission.
Eventually we jumped off the R355 to explore around Droelandskloof Pass.
We were on a small road that peaked our interest due to the “waterfall” sign-board, when we spotted two bikes. Why had they stopped here, so far away from what seemed to be a chalet?
Oh, right. I understand. There’s no way we were going to tackle such a dodgy “bridge”. The drop was about 2m; enough to do considerable damage to bike and person if things went south.
Heading back:
Baviaan’s style concrete strips; apparently not great if you’re directionally challenged, but fun if you can keep a line.
Dam wall, to hold back non-existent water:
We did find some water, at a lapa lookout point:
This was a great spot for a lunch of boerie rolls and mini-potatoes; leftovers from a braai the previous night. It was freezing the previous night, you say? Your point? We are Safricans. We braai, no matter the weather.
Needing to extricate the behemoth, as we head back:
The speed was low, but the puddles were deep:
Chocolate anyone?
Droelandskloof Pass did not disappoint; with beautiful snowy backdrops.
The sun halo is caused by high-level ice in the atmosphere.
Watch out for the buffalo!
The last leg of gravel:
The sun looked like a meteorite, with tail, as well as its halo.
We reached Ceres at 4pm. It was crawling with cops, but they were more interested in people heading in the opposite direction, i.e. away from Cape Town.
The remainder of the day was a hard slog, pushing my little bike as fast as it could go, in order to reach home before dark. We managed; arriving one minute after sunset, at 5:45pm. For those interested: 140 km/h indicated speed on the Honda Rally equates to 132 km/h actual speed – roughly its limit.
My body ached from the cold and the long day in the saddle (540 km!), but my soul was jubilant. The ride was a mental health reset. It is possible to see the snow, if you are willing to ride a massive detour!
[flash=1024,576]https://www.youtube.com/v/kz2ggjpZ-ww[/flash]
Credit: Lance
Thanks to lockdown, it was a long, long, long time (sense the sadness?) since we were out on an adventure ride. Since March, the furthest we were from our home in Table View was a shopping trip by motorbike to Durbanville, since – obviously – of all the bicycle shops, we had to choose the one furthest away.
Yesterday we cracked. It was time to get out. The whole world wanted to go to see the recently-fallen snow. A quick check on Google Maps, with the traffic layer activated, showed that there were some big snarl-ups at Bain’s Kloof Pass and Michell’s Pass. Roadblocks. Ceres, thanks to being a Covid hotspot, was a no-go zone.
Our motive was not really to go prance about in the snow or return home with a fine. A glimpse of snow-capped mountains, far from the madding crowd, was all that was needed for mental health.
We left home at 8:30, heading north via the N7. The highway was eerily quiet and actually enjoyable as a result.
We were wrapped in layer upon layer of warm stuff: thermal underwear, down jacket, thick socks, internal rain-layers in both jacket and pants, and winter buffs – in Lance’s case, three buffs! We didn’t unlayer for the entire day, because, it remained frigid. The temperature hovered somewhere between 7 and 12 °C for most of the day; only touching the mid-teens when we got back to Cape Town.
Citrusdal was cloaked in a cloud bank.
Fuelled up, we headed out of Citrusdal via Middelberg Pass.
The ground-level snow was gone, but every tall mountain peak had a dusting of white. It was incredibly pretty.
Lance, as usual, decided on a short off-road excursion.
In the background in the photo of Katbakkies Pass below, you can spot another bike. We did see other bikers out there, but it was always in twos: either two bikes or two people 2-up on one bike. There was plenty of room for social distancing in this vast landscape.
On Katbakkies, we found some patches of leftover snow in shady alcoves. Lance decorated my bike with small samples of it, before he decorated my person with a last flurry. At that point, my smile disappeared.
Eastern side of Katbakkies:
At Op-Die-Berg, we hit a road block. Thankfully, we never planned to ride straight on to Ceres. The cops were happy to wave us through once they saw we were heading elsewhere.
Roadblock illustrated as a yellow dot on the map:
The R355, South Africa’s longest gravel highway, was actually far busier than the N7! Yet, whenever we saw parked vehicles, it was almost always just one, pulled off randomly on the side of the road, with a family on their own outing mission.
Eventually we jumped off the R355 to explore around Droelandskloof Pass.
We were on a small road that peaked our interest due to the “waterfall” sign-board, when we spotted two bikes. Why had they stopped here, so far away from what seemed to be a chalet?
Oh, right. I understand. There’s no way we were going to tackle such a dodgy “bridge”. The drop was about 2m; enough to do considerable damage to bike and person if things went south.
Heading back:
Baviaan’s style concrete strips; apparently not great if you’re directionally challenged, but fun if you can keep a line.
Dam wall, to hold back non-existent water:
We did find some water, at a lapa lookout point:
This was a great spot for a lunch of boerie rolls and mini-potatoes; leftovers from a braai the previous night. It was freezing the previous night, you say? Your point? We are Safricans. We braai, no matter the weather.
Needing to extricate the behemoth, as we head back:
The speed was low, but the puddles were deep:
Chocolate anyone?
Droelandskloof Pass did not disappoint; with beautiful snowy backdrops.
The sun halo is caused by high-level ice in the atmosphere.
Watch out for the buffalo!
The last leg of gravel:
The sun looked like a meteorite, with tail, as well as its halo.
We reached Ceres at 4pm. It was crawling with cops, but they were more interested in people heading in the opposite direction, i.e. away from Cape Town.
The remainder of the day was a hard slog, pushing my little bike as fast as it could go, in order to reach home before dark. We managed; arriving one minute after sunset, at 5:45pm. For those interested: 140 km/h indicated speed on the Honda Rally equates to 132 km/h actual speed – roughly its limit.
My body ached from the cold and the long day in the saddle (540 km!), but my soul was jubilant. The ride was a mental health reset. It is possible to see the snow, if you are willing to ride a massive detour!
