The Baviaanskloof - 2 Up on a KLR

[NovaT]

It had been in the back of my mind for years that I needed to do the Baviaanskloof trip. I had heard so many stories about the Baviaans but had never experienced it for myself.

It was only decided about a week before the trip that we were going to head that way, it went something like this:

Wife: "There is a long weekend coming up, are we going to take the bike and sleep over somewhere then ride back the next day?"
Me: "Whatever makes you happy sweety"
Wife: "Cool, how about Baviaanskloof?"
Me: "OK my love, whatever makes you happy"

:deal:

It was a busy week for me, work wise, the week before and I only managed to phone for accomodation on the Wednesday. Cutting it fine but we managed to get a booking at The Baviaanskloof Guest Cottages for Saturday night.

Thursday evening I made sure my toolkit and spare tubes etc were all in order and gave the old KLR a once over, you know, because it's a KLR and things tend to come loose from time to time.

Friday evening we packed some food, drinks and clothing ... the excitement was building up tremendously at this stage! My plan was to leave at 08:00 on Saturday morning but as life would have it, we ended up only leaving at around 08.30. There was a slight drizzle on the departure morning but that was the only rain to be seen on our trip. It was also a rather chilly day but I was happy about that - It's easier to ride in cooler weather than in the scorching sun.

Here is the route we took... From PE via Elandsriver Rd to Patensie ... Through The Baviaans ... SLEEP ... Dirt Rd to Steytlerville for fuel, then through to Grootriverspoort and back on the Elandsriver Rd heading towards home.

Map by B R, on Flickr

I hate tar!

About 15km's into the trip I had some idiot riding right up my arse....what are these people thinking!? I suppose they just aren't.

Anyway, as soon as we hit the gravel on the Elandsriver Rd, everything was alright again. My blood pressure was calming and I was ready to get into this trip. We had done the Elandsriver Rd quite often in the past so we shot through there at a nice fast (well fast for the KLR  :imaposer pace. I can't tell you exactly how fast because my Speedometer doesn't work, neither does my Odometer nor my Rev Counter. Aaaaaaah Welll! It's a KLR for fuck sakes. Just top the oil up, check the fuel and ride it  :ricky:

Here we are next to the Telkom tower just before our descent into Patensie where another short stretch of tar awaits us before the entrance to the Baviaans.

Telkom Tower by B R, on Flickr

...TO BE CONTINUED - I need to do some work

 

[Smuggy]

:sip:

 

[Knucklhead/knuckey]

:sip:

 

[Matewis]

Sub

 

[chicco]

:sip:

 

[Lem]

:sip:

 

[Black_Hawk]

:sip:

 

[Gerard]

:sip:

 

[NovaT]

I see there are a few coffee drinkers here on the thread ... let me grab myself a cup ...  :sip: ... Aaaahhhh That's Better!

Now where was I...

Oh yes, after scoffing down a packet of peanuts & raisins followed by a bar one we were on our way.
On the small tar section through Patensie leading up to the entrance of Baviaans, I was passed by a Suzuki Jimny towing a trailer, so I couldn't have been going too fast along that section. A minute or 2 after the Jimny passed us, a KTM 990 and what I think was 2 690's came flying past. I thought to myself, well, at least I am on the right road. These KTM okes must also be heading to Baviaans, however, slightly further down the road they turned off towards Kouga Dam ... Baviaans was straight ahead so I kept plodding along, listening to the rather noisy exhaust pipe I have on the KLR. This was not the last time I saw this group of riders.

So we finally get to the Entrance of Baviaans and I had heard that you need to pay a fee to go into the reserve. We head into the reception area and enquire. The nice lady behind the counter explains to me that it is Tourism month and that on Saturdays and Sundays this month we don't need to pay. Awesome, what a luck! That's a saving of R80, and for a KLR rider, it means something.

Here we are at the entrance.



We jump back on the old donkey and off we go. The nice lady did explain that we would get to another boom gate and we must just show them that we have signed the indemnity/entrance forms and they would let us go through. Cool. As we approach the boom there are 6 vehicles in a line, I thought to myself that this is going to take a while but someone at the front gestured to us to come forward so I went passed all the 4x4's. After getting off the bike, helmet and gloves off and getting out our indemnity form, the 4x4's had all entered Baviaans' first ascent. They were all part of a group, driving together.

It was slightly nerve wrecking passing these 4x4's again on that first ascent but there was no ways I could ride at the speed they were driving, I need a bit of momentum to keep the packed donkey and my wife in the upright position.

Once ahead of them, it was awesome. Tight winding mountain passes are great to ride on. The views are breathtaking as well as a little scary. Some of those drops off the cliff faces aren't for the faint hearted. After what I assume was about 45min, we came up to the Jimny with the trailer. He politely pulled off to the left and let us pass.

The scenery when riding through the Baviaans is really amazing. It was lush and green, probably due to the bit of rain we have had recently as we are actually suppose to be in a drought. Taking in all the different sights and smells as we donkeyed along this new to me road. My type of riding. Slower technical riding. Slightly cumbersome 2 up with luggage but not enough to ruin it at all. I was enjoying life!

We came up to a dry river crossing and decided it was time for lunch. Viennas, Homemade Potatoe salad and marshmallows were on the menu. Lekker! We also decided to have another bar one. While I was munching my piece I noticed a fish in the pond next to us, I decided to see if it would perhaps want a piece of my chocolate, so I pinched off a tiny piece and threw it in the general direction of the fish. To my surprise the fish gobbled it up! Next time I am bringing a small rod and some bar ones  :lol8:

Where we had lunch and fed the fish.



I can't remember what the time was, I think around 12 ish. and who knows how many kilometers in... I must really get that odo fixed and I would love a GPS. But hey, the bike starts and goes well! In hind sight, we should have stopped to take more pictures of the scenery and cool things we saw but I was having too much fun busy riding to be worried about photos! There is that cool section in Baviaans that I have seen on many photos, the pretty long sections of water that you have to ride through. Those were a blast with the couple of Oooooooh SHIT moments thrown in where we nearly got soaked. I stalled in the middle of the one crossing and had to put my feet down into the water  : My boots aren't very water proof  :imaposer:

...TO BE CONTINUED AGAIN.

 

[jaybiker]

:sip:

Don't worry about wet feet, it's par for the course in Baviaans. At least it is for me!  :lol8:

:sip: more please......

 

[Black_Hawk]

Sounds like a great ride. Thanks for sharing and keep it coming  :thumleft:

 

[Clooney]

Another coffee drinker  :sip:

 

[chicco]

Im planing to do it during Dec on my bicycle, 2 days. which direction will be best on the bicycle? I was thinking from Willowmore towards Patensie.

 

[NovaT]

After a lot of slow riding we finally reached the West gate of the reserve. The scenery towards the end of the reserve and once outside the reserve is quite horrible, well for me anyway. It was really dry and not very interesting. After so much slow riding it was actually quite nice to open up a bit and get some speed. The KLR enjoyed the wind through it's lungs.
I was just getting into the faster paced riding when the landmarks of Jana, the lady who we contacted about the accommodation, appeared and that days riding was over.
200m passed the BaVIAANSkloof Padstal, turn left into an entrance and your cottage is on the left ... "Ou Kerkie" is the cottages name. I nice simple little place that agreed with the bank balance at just R500 for the 2 of us for one night. Plus 2 bags of wood at R30 each  : You see, I had bought some steak, wors and sosaties from Checkers which I froze the day before. They had just started to defrost nicely and that bottle and a half of red wine I decanted into a plastic "poison bottle" was calling my name. Liefie managed half a glass before she took an afternoon nap...The days ride had taken it's toll on us. Such a feeling of content!
I do remember arriving here at 14:30 ish so that was 6 Hours on (and a little off) that lovely KLR seat.

Ou Kerkie

Guest Cottage Ou Kerkie by B R, on Flickr

The next morning my plan was to leave by 10:00 and we managed to get away at around 09:00 which was unusual but the excitement of another days adventure lay ahead. The ride started out pretty boring but at least we were on dirt! We carried on heading west looking for the Steytlerville turn-off, turns out it's the Winterhoek turn-off first. The Nuwekloof pass is really amazing scenery too. I really enjoyed that section.
We took a break before the Winterhoek turn-off and right when I was taking a leak, THE ONLY vehicle we saw on the gravel between Ou Kerkie and Steytlerville decided to come flying over the hill  :imaposer: well, I was mid stream so didn't bother zipping up.

The break before the turn-off

Pitstop before Steytlerville by B R, on Flickr

Selfie time  :

Pitstop before Steytlerville 2 by B R, on Flickr

From then on, all the way to Steytlerville it was pretty mundane, just your average gravel road. Always fun though.
This is where another packet of Peanuts & raisins and a nosh bar was devoured.

Steytlerville Sign by B R, on Flickr

BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE

 

[Casting from Turd]

:sip:

 

[NovaT]

The route from Steytlerville through to Elandsriver Rd via Grootrivierspoort was interesting to say the least. This is the last pic we took on this section...silly really. I should have taken pics of the actual road. It was quite technical for 2 up on a KLR. A lot more challenging than the road through the Baviaanskloof reserve.

Grootrivierspoort Sign by B R, on Flickr

The scenery is absolutely fantastic and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Slightly overcast, slightly warm with a cool breeze blowing. Awesome!

This is where I saw the guys on the KTM's again but this time there was an 800 BMW in the mix and what I could only assume was a backup bakkie, signage from Theusuns Generators or something to that effect. The bakkie didn't go further than the beginning of the decent of the Grootrivierspoort though and for good reason. In some places I wouldn't really call it a road. Going up the other side was interesting with a pillion. A lot of fun and OOOOOOOOOOH SHIIIT moments but luckily I managed to keep us upright the whole way.
We eventually landed up at Elandsriver road before the KTM crowd, I think they might have taken a break.

When the guy on the BeeEm arrived at the top he flipped his visor up and said:

"You have big fucken balls to take a punda up THIS road."  :imaposer:

and with that, we headed home for a nice cold whiskey, stopping on the way for a pie at Uncle Freddie's.
We arrived home at 16:30 ish ... another 7 and a half hours in the saddle.

 

[NovaT]

All in all a great ride, but when don't we ride and enjoy it!?

I would love to do it again on a TTR250 with the wife on a CRF230F ... hopefully in the future this will become a reality.

 

[NovaT]

Im planing to do it during Dec on my bicycle, 2 days. which direction will be best on the bicycle? I was thinking from Willowmore towards Patensie.

I would say your thinking is correct. West to East would be better on a bicycle.

 

[Ri]

Looks amazing, and well done on no spills  :biggrin:  :thumleft:
Jou donkie is duidelik 'n yster  :lol8:

 

[NovaT]

Looks amazing, and well done on no spills  :biggrin:  :thumleft:
Jou donkie is duidelik 'n yster  :lol8:

Thanks Ri! It was amazing.

yster donkie ja!  :lol8: