Solo trip from Cape Town to Oudtshoorn on road less travelled

[Walletjies]

My son and I left for Oudtshoorn on Thursday morning, the route was selected from Mapsource, we had no idea that we were in for!

From Worcester we took the Eilandia road to start off the dirt roads for the day.
We had a late breakfast in Barrydale, 10 km out of Barrydale it was dirt road all the way to Oudtshoorn.

First picture taken just after we hit the dirt, GOPRO mounted on my son's helmet, I was clicking away, when we arrived in Oudtshoorn he took 900 photos.

This is what they refer to as dirt highway

It was raining heavily just before the tunnel, but on the other side it was already better and now it is just a beautiful day to be in the saddle.

It is always nice to see were the road is taking you!

We arrived at the road between Ladismith and Riversdale, turned right onto the tar and after 3 km turned left again onto dirt to make our way to Van Wyksdorp.

What was the best dirt road you can get gradually changed and had I known what was still in store, maybe I would have replanned the route there and then ...


This was the beginning of the (what shall we call it?)    ...        adventure  /  ordeal

 

[Roela]

Nice!! WHy did you not stop at Bon Cap in Eilandia? Maybe I should put up a tollroad to get you guys to stop for a cold one!

 

[Chrisl]

Did you perhaps meet "snotlaagte" just before Van Wyksdorp?

 

[Walletjies]

Nice!! WHy did you not stop at Bon Cap in Eilandia? Maybe I should put up a tollroad to get you guys to stop for a cold one!

Yes, put up a big sign!

 

[Walletjies]

Did you perhaps meet "snotlaagte" just before Van Wyksdorp?

Don't tell me that spot's got a name!
I have pics to tell the story.

 

[Bliknêrs]

I once went through there, fully loaded with pillion!
Hectic.
To top it all they were grading the rest of the road.

 

[Walletjies]

I once went through there, fully loaded with pillion!
Hectic.
To top it all they were grading the rest of the road.

Maybe it is a good thing that I did not ask for advice before the time, although it was tough it was a very memorable ride that I will do again in December.

 

[Walletjies]

The road was still manageable, but I knew I had my work cut out for me.

The first plan was to deflate the tyres, this obviously helped.

Then the Country Trax training kicked into high gear.

Standing up was the best thing I could have done, even with pillion.


Van Wyksdorp

It is from here that we took a road that I am not sure if it was the preferred road, there were lot's of farm gates.

Will post more pics later.

 

[Chrisl]

Did you perhaps meet "snotlaagte" just before Van Wyksdorp?

Don't tell me that spot's got a name!
I have pics to tell the story.

Hy het n naam en het al BAIE victims op sy lysie. :biggrin: :deal: :eek7:
Karre,bakkies,lorries en bikes dink n mountainbike of twee ook al.

 

[gwild]

Nice cant wait for more pics :thumleft:

 

[Buzzlightyear]

Is hy familie van die middelpos ganaga pad?

 

[adv]

Did you perhaps meet "snotlaagte" just before Van Wyksdorp?

Don't tell me that spot's got a name!
I have pics to tell the story.

Hy het n naam en het al BAIE victims op sy lysie. :biggrin: :deal: :eek7:
Karre,bakkies,lorries en bikes dink n mountainbike of twee ook al.

Chris, jy weet mos, as die mense tog net ordentlike bande opsit, dan is snot nie n probleem nie.


Pics look great! Summer is here and by the looks of things its going to be a scorcher! You guys seem to have gotten the last bit of rain.

 

[spoedvark]

Subscribed!

 

[Walletjies]

[/quote]

Chris, jy weet mos, as die mense tog net ordentlike bande opsit, dan is snot nie n probleem nie.

[/quote]

We discussed tyres a lot when I did the Country Trax training, I decided on the tyres biased more
towards tar / good gravel roads because of my use of the bike, but it does have it's drawbacks.

I have a fairly new Anakee 2 at the back and for the most part it is doing a sterling job.

I decided to replace the front (still original after 14 000 km) after the trip, maybe I should
have replaced it before the trip seeing what I planned!

 

[Chrisl]

Chris, jy weet mos, as die mense tog net ordentlike bande opsit, dan is snot nie n probleem nie.

[/quote]

We discussed tyres a lot when I did the Country Trax training, I decided on the tyres biased more
towards tar / good gravel roads because of my use of the bike, but it does have it's drawbacks.

I have a fairly new Anakee 2 at the back and for the most part it is doing a sterling job.

I decided to replace the front (still original after 14 000 km) after the trip, maybe I should
have replaced it before the trip seeing what I planned!


[/quote]
Wat van n lekker stel Heidenau's vir jou S10 :mwink:

 

[Walletjies]

Wat van n lekker stel Heidenau's vir jou S10 :mwink:

Ek wou, maar het gewag tot voor 'n trip om die agterband te vervang en het nie geweet dat nie Trac Mac of Yamaha
hulle stock nie.  Ek sal hulle beslis probeer.

 

[Walletjies]

From Van WYksdorp to the next turnoff where we kept right and the road towards Calitzdorp goes left was most enjoyable.

My son was clicking away, so it is difficult to select only a few from 900!

This is were we kept right, and things sort of went south!

Fiddling with GPS, but yes, this is the route I planned in my wisdom.

My son wasn't too stressed, he even looked back to take pictures!

Beautiful landscape ...

We should get to the spot within the next couple of pictures.

 

[Goose]

subscribed

 

[Ian in Great Brak River]

Keen to see the rest ... 8)

 

[Walletjies]

I never so it coming, this was taken just moments before we lost control.
I don't think that this is the spot described earlier, but this will be imprinted in my mind!

This is looking back, fortunately we kept it right side up!

When we walked back, the clay stuck to our boots but underneath the layer of clay it was very slippery.

I thank the Lord for keeping us save, it was far from anybody with no cellphone reception.

Needless to say, I was rattled, partly because I had no warning as we were the first vehicle on this road, no tracks to follow.
We took it very slow for a while, gradually the road improved again.

Lots of gates to open, thanks Marius for coming with and opening them all!

Farm animals, farm dog, but no farmer (I wanted to know if we were on the right road)

More animals

I started to enjoy the road again.

Crossing a low water bridge

This trip had it all ...


Difficult river bed with loose rocks

Nearing the end of the dirt, the Moeras river is visible.

Last gate, Marius opened the gate with his gloves on, I wonder why.

We nearly came off, but this was a very nice trip and lots of scenery to admire.

Last one, thanks for reading and replying.