Southern Cape (George) to EC Bash

[GRyPH]

I decided to do a seperate ride report for the Southern Cape guys that went to the bash because we made a whole trip of it, and although the bash was the pinnacle of the ride,
the couple of days before and after the Bash was just as awesome!


DAY 1

It all Started on Wednesday the 16th, were three of us departed from Dr Dirt's house at about 7:45. Scrat had allready made his way to George all the way from Cape Town the day before.
The Idea was to head of early and meet up with Smitdy at the Engen garage just outside of George enroute to Oudshoorn.

As you all know by now, the weather was not the best biking weather one could ask for, but come rain or shine, we were allready packed and planned,
and nothing was about to stop us, not rain, not even snow.


Myself, Dr Dirt and Scrat getting ready for the trip.

We met up with Smitdy round 8:00 and in the rain headed of towards Montagu pass.
we always stop at Amanda's grave, and today was no exception even with the rain and cold.

Scrat giving the thumbs-up

A very wet Montagu Pass

On our way to De rust we met up with Grysalp as well and by now all members of our group were present.

After a quick chat, and some... uhmm  ...  coffee to build up the heat, we headed off again towards De Rust.
We realised that suddenly it was getting even colder than before, and that is when we saw this:

Yip...  it was cold!!  But we decided that we were going to trust in the weather-man that predicted warmer weather and pressed on.

We went through Meiringspoort which amazes me everytime I go through there. We took a lesser travelled road to Willowmore were we would stop again for some refreshments.
There was some great riding on this road and at one of our stops we saw the signs that the weather might be clearing up after all.

Dr Dirt taking photos of the rest.

A rainbow promising sunshine

on our way to Willowmore, Grysalp had a confrontation with a cow that didnt want to move out of the road.The stubborn cow stood its ground and Grysalp had to
take measures to avoid coliding with it. Unfortunatly he rode into a ditch that sent him over the handlebars. Luckily though he was not injured and his trusty TA only had minor damage.
(some scratches and a bent handlebar) After bending the handlebar a little toward a better position, we decided to head off again.

Grysalp tending to his injured steed.

We also had a encounter with the very friendly locals, who decided that we have to come with him and look at his farm. He is planning to make a campsite on his farm that looks quite
good and will be perfect for future trips So we will keep his number.

Friendly local.

Some of the road towards Willowmore.

Finally we got to Willowmore and took a breather at the Hotel....  well  at the hotel bar atleast.
We decided to take on the last strech towards Steytlerville and as we came out of the hotel, the weather turned for the worst again and threatend to keep us wet and cold all the way there.
Seeing the weather, and with Grysalps handlebars in a akwardly bent position, we decided to take the tar (cement) road to Steytlerville.
Luckily the weather held a little and all we got was one or two light showers on our way.

We got to Steytlerville and promptly got to the Hotel there, to settle in for the night. ( I will leave the comments of the hotels food open for the other guys that went on the ride, as most were not very happy)


relaxing on the Hotel stoep.

That night we watched the soccer and had a few drinks... ok... ok ...   maybe some more drinks.....   and shooters....   before we headed of to our rooms.

 

[GRyPH]

DAY 2


Thursday morning and we were all rested. Even better, when I looked out the window, there was only clear skies to see.  :ricky:

We had a great trip planned. We wanted to head over to Wolvefontein and take the long way round to come down Zuurberg pass again into Addo.

During the night Grysalp managed to bend his handlebar even better than we managed next to the road. However he needed to go pick up a tent in
PE and his topbox mounting bracket also broke during his fall. So he decided to leave us for the day, head to PE to get his supplies and meet up with us again in Addo.

Just as he left, the attendants at the Steytlerville garage told us that there would be no petrol available on the route that we planned! Not Good!  

So we decided to head directly to Addo. Luckily there was also a gravel road leading to Addo and we proptly turned of onto that.

Even though we got to a late start in Steytlerville, It was still mid day when we arrived in Addo.
This must be the earliest that scrat (aka father time) arrived at a campsite and it was evident that he did not know what to do with himself.  ot:
It did not take long though for everyone to get settled and to get the braai started.


Missing one member

Later in the afternoon Grysalp joined up with us again and the braai got into full swing before all disapeared to their tents again.


DAY3

Friday! The big day to head to the bash. Whe were however addamant to do the Zuurberg pass that we missed out on the day before, so we planned a new route.
The idea was to head over Zuurberg, go to ALicedale and from there find our way to the bash. Later on this plan changed again as we ran a bit short on time.
So after we crossed Zuurberg, we took the tar to Paterson and from there stuck mostly to tar al the way to the bash.

Some of the brilliant scenery on Zuurberg pass.

Scrat entertaining us with a weelie at the Zuurberg hotel where we stopped for refreshments

At the end of Zuurberg pass   (or at the beginning if you come from the other side) is Anns Villa,   an old blacksmith museum where Dr Dirt entertained us a bit.

However before we got to the bash, as we were passing through Alexandria, some of those little blue men jump in front of us for a routine check...
Luckily everyone was good and we got away without any fines.

And then we finally got to the bash!

And what a great venue for it as well.   The views were just spectacular! The sunsets as well.
After everyone got settled and camp was set up....  yup... you geussed it.... we headed to Nduna lodge bar.

Sunset over the camp

DAY 4
Saturday.

The sunrise

Watty had some great outrides planned, and there was some game drives scheduled as well. We however headed to Port Alfred, as Scrat had to change a tyre and wasnt in the mood
to to it himself.

The morning had some surprises as well....  

After a long time we finally got on our way to Port Alfred only to find all the places have closed allready. So we decided that this day would be a relaxed one.
So we headed to a restaurant to get some lunch before we headed back to camp to change Scrat's rear tyre.

Port Alfred

"Vele hande maak ligte werk" and soon Scrat's brand new second hand tyre was on his bike so ....   yup...  once again you geused it....  we headed to the bar for the rugby and the
planned festivities.

Another beautifull sunset over the camp

Watty had some entertainment organised and the food was absolutely brilliant!

I didnt see a single person that didnt enjoy themselves to the full!
Once again, Thanks a ton Watty for a great bash! You really know how to organise them.








the rest to follow soon

 

[Iron Shark]

Very lekka RR guys....

Just love that "Snow" pic.... stunning! :thumleft:

 

[GRyPH]

DAY 5

All good things come to a end and this was true for the bash as well. However our trip was not finished yet.

We started to break camp when we saw this?   What the.....?    is GlenINK taking a "veldtie" right there in the garden???   ot:

We had another great route planned and soon , after saying all our goodbyes, we were on our way again.

At first we stuck only to tar, but very soon we got bored and headed of again.

We found a great route that winds all the way to Patensie and I have to say that the scenery here was great!

After a quick stop at Patensie for some food, we headed back again to go through Baviaans!
This was my first trip through the baviaans, and it will definetly not be my last!
The scenery was absolutely breathtaking!  At some places it was evident that the authorities put down some concrete to improve the road.
I did not see the road as it was before they concreted parts of the road, but IMHO the concrete breaks the character of Baviaans.
No matter though... as the trip was still brilliant!

Luckily Baviaans was not completely dry, however not all of the crossings had water.
The amount of water that was present though made for some fun riding!

It was getting late and we decided to camp out in the famous Bak-krans cave.  I will recomend this to anyone heading through Baviaans as it is a great venue and it
really helps to create the perfect adventure ride.

DAY 6

Waking up the next morning was easy as this was the best nights sleep I had since the hotel at Steytlerville.
From Bak-krans we headed toward Uniondale were we stopped for brunch (that turned into lunch) at this little farmstall:

A Karoo Shower

AAARRRRRrr

With our hunger subdued, we headed over the Prins Alfred pass towards Agies G spot for another couple of refreshments.

From there we headed to "Kom se pad"  for our last strech before we hit sivilisation again.

By now it was getting late and we wanted to get home badly, so we decided to skip the seven passes road and take the N2 from Knysna all the way back to George.
But first we had to make one more stop.

Picnic spot overlooking Swartvlei

After that it was a straight shot back to George where everyone got together one last time at my place where we said our goodbyes and everyone headed their way.
Grysalp and Scrat headed to Oudshoorn, and the next day Scrat headed to Cape Town.




This was definitly one of the most memorable trips that I have done and I will remember it always!
The routes we took was absolutely brilliant!, the bash was supperb!  and the people riding with me made it even better!

Thanks to all for a great trip.

 

[GRyPH]

Dr Dirt, Scrat. Smidty en Grysalp...  Sit bietjie van julle pics ook in, en vertel van die goed wat ek dalk oorgesien het  :thumleft:

 

[Piston Pete]

Nice RR...thanks for sharing! :thumleft:

 

[dusty]

Looks like you guys had fun, wish so much that I could have been there  :BangHead: 
Nice RR    :thumleft:    Waiting for some more pics .....   

 

[Watty]

Lekker een

 

[letsgofishing]

Looks like you guys had a great trip!
Really sorry I couldn't make it  :-\

 

[bradleys]

Lekker one guys ,hope to see you all soon.Nice report and pics,jeez scrat can wheelie any thing ,you go boy :thumleft:

 

[Camelman]

The roads you guys took looks awesome. One day I definitely gonna explore your neck of the woods! Thanks for the RR!

 

[Dunce]

Hey guys great RR.It was good to meet you CAW Dogs.
Hope to make a turn around there before the end of the year.

 

[antondp]

Awesome.  Very nice RR.

 

[Thump]

very nice

 

[cassiebotha]

Julle praat van plekke ek nie weet bestaan eers nie, soos stuittervilla?
Is dit naby pe?
Shoe oom andre gelukkig is oom fiks en oom kan sommer van bike afspring as gevaar naby kom
Was julle by die willomore royal hotel?
Ek kannie fotos sien op blackberry nir
Sad

 

[fat b]

Great RR !  :thumleft:

 

[TerrorSA]

Nice RR, thanks for posting  :thumleft:

 

[Dr Dirt]

Scrat arrived Tuesday night after a very gold ride from Cape Town.
Nala and Mufasa happy he is safe and made him feel extra welcome next to the fire place. ;D ;D

GryPh on Montagu Pass.

Smidty.

Scrat at Amanda's Grave. Still some snow on the mountains in the background.

Meeting Grysalp on the way to Dyselsdorp.

 

[Smidty]

Hier is so paar van my fotos.

Spookdorp oppad na Addo

DrDirt maak seker hy gaan nie koud slaap nie !

Lekker kuier om die vuur, voor die leeu begin brul het

Scrat besluit DrDirt het nie knaters nodig nie

Hy word sommer dadelik ge brandmerk as ‘n moeilike knaap

Besig om sy ma te vertel wat Scrat aan hom gedoen het

Sommer net omgeval

By die Karel Landman Museum

Raak nou uit tyd uit, sal later nog post.

 

[Dr Dirt]

Snow on the mountains.

Gryph checking the TA oil level. "Lyk vir my bietjie huilerig na die vorige aand se kuier"

Church in Steytlerville.
The biggest Church in the Southern Cape.