Eisbein
Bachelor Dog
Finally it was that time of the year again.
For the past year or three it has become a bit of a tradition that our group of friends have a breakaway at the end of August/beginning of September.
The 1st year was into the Karoo
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=21127.0
The 2nd had us camping on the bank of the Orange.
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=37259.0
After a little bit of backwards and forwards and due to the recession we decided that we didn't want to go out that far (the initial plan was Sani and Wild coast).
We were talking about doing something new, as well as doing something that we missed out last year due to difficulties on the road.
Naturally the project suffered (as most projects do) from a significant amount of scope creep ;D
So the final plan was:
Day one:
Quickest way to Lutzville, then onto the coastal roads, camp as close as possible to Groenrivier.
Day two:
From Groenrivier straight up to Hondeklipbaai and then past Springbok onto the Namaqua Eco trail
Day three:
Through the Namaqua eco trail and onto a friend of Ektoknbike's farm where he have a 700 hectare pan where we would be able to camp
Day four:
From the pan through Loeriesfontein and Calvinia, then the R355, cut across to the Doringrivier and over the SAS willehond, over Eselbank and to Cederberg Oasis.
Day five:
From Oasis past Sanddrif, Uitkyk and onto Citrusdal and then home.
Day 1:
I didn't know at the time how close the line between brave and stupid was.
We knew it was going to be rough sand and we knew that it would be tiring, but with my physique and (lack of) fitness level added to a loaded 1200GS I could think of cleverer ways to put k's on the bike ;D ;D
I suppose in hindsight I wouldn't have signed up for the same thing again knowingly (the day 2 part), but then again - ignorance makes for getting into situations/adventures where you 'rationally' and knowingly would not have ended up in and then, by definition, would be considered 'bliss'.
We had to adjust the plan on the road as well, but I will elaborate as we get there.
In the regular circle of friends there were busy job/farm schedules, new born babies taking up extra resources in the the form of time and money and other general timing/scheduling issues that made the group smaller than usual.
In retrospect I suppose this was a good thing - a smaller group is more manageable when the going gets tough and the tough goes farming...
More on that later.
So the group was:
Biesie on his recently acquired and pimped out Dakar
CJ on the other Dakar
Operator with his tricked out DRZ400
Drifter with his 800GS and me with the 1200
It was with great anticipation and an overdue need of a breakaway that I pointed the 12 in the direction of our 1st meeting spot at the N1 one stop. From there the 4 of us went off to Paarl to meet up with Biesie.
One thing you need to understand about Biesie is that if he gets excited about something he is committed.
And I don't mean general mild enthusiasm like usual guys have.
I mean the 'almost bursting at the seams-can't contain it-starting to vibrate-contagious' type.
So much so that by the time the trip comes round his twins are also seriously excited about it. Not quite as much as their dad, but then I don't think their little bodies would be able to contain that level of exuberance.
;D ;D
Naturally 'pappa' can't go on his trip without having them join in as well in their own way, so they were taken for a slow around the block 'farewell cruise' ;D ;D ;D
(Most of the photos comes from CJ - they are marked as such)
Ginger sandwich
It was shortly after that and the good-bye's that we were on our way.
I can tell you without a doubt - as far as riding somewhere on a Monday morning goes, heading for the West coast with a loaded bike is probably in the top two destinations ;D
We had to go through Wellington, so we stopped at Stoetbul's place quickly say 'hi', but unfortunately he wasn't in yet. Probably not an early Monday morning person ;D ;D
We were headed for breakfast at Eendekuil hotel and the needle on the 'excitometer' was in the red.
This is drifter on the 1st piece of gravel we encountered:
We arrived at Eendekuil for a very lekker breakfast.
Unfortunately Eendstop wasn't there, but we'll catch up with him next time.
Very nice hotel there.
From there we quickly made our way to the railway service lines that would take us through Elandsbaai, Lambertsbay, Doringbaai and beyond.
This was paying at the 1st service entry gate:
Darth Biesie
We had our last petrol/pit stop in Lutzville. There was a Chinese shop with an authentic Chinese shop owner - free condoms and all.
We fuelled up, got the wood and other supplies strapped to the bikes and then headed off to the butchery.
In a world in the city where it is easy to go to a local Spar or Pick&Pay where you choose a piece of steak off the shelf you sometimes forget that you get butcheries like this on the 'platteland'.
Not only was it a nice and clean place, but the owner/operator was just too happy to cut pieces to our exact specification and vacuum pack it in our marinade/sauce of choice.
From before we left already we decided that we would look at Lutzville as the 'official' starting point of this trip - this was to keep the urge to turn onto the road less travelled a little under control, as from Lutzville on things really got scenic and we didn't know how quickly we would be able to make progress.
From there it was with wide grins that we settled in, relaxed and fell into the rhythm of the roads and surrounds.
We were now officially off the beaten track and on our way.
Last year a couple of us was rather new to sandy bits, but I must say that this time 'round this specific stretch of road was nothing but an absolute pleasure.
It seemed that we were all getting in tune with each other's riding pace and the group quickly sorted the riding order out and things were running smoothly. The sun was out, it wasn't too hot, we had full tanks, the ribbon of west coast roads ahead of us, the engines was purring and the week was ahead of us.
Life was good.
This is on the way to 'Brand se baai':
Drifter and CJ
Posing for a group photo at Brand se Baai:
If you have to pose for a photo then it makes sense to have a GS with you :
At one point we veered off the 'main' road and onto one of the really bad tracks that go down toward the sea.
We had a handful once or twice, but what an awesome area and awesome roads!
We got to this at one point and for a relatively newbie like I am to sandy road touring it really did look more intimidating than what it ended up to be.
I was in fact enjoying it so much that at one point I was weaving across the centre (to the dismay of Drifter as his 800 sometimes wanted to follow the tracks that my back wheel carved)
We had a couple of gates to open and close on the way.
Look at the surface of the road - it isn't anything serious, but it does look like normal gravel, so if you aren't paying attention these little sandy patches can try and catch you out.
At some point the GPS got confused (go figure) so we made a little detour.
Ok - maybe it was a confused GPS compounded by operator error.
There was stretches of sandy bits where I was up on the pegs and on the gas trying to keep the pace (and the front wheel) up, so I wasn't paying too much attention to the GPS. When I noticed again the little screen just showed a blank area with a little triangle on it.
The road did look like it went in the right direction, so we decided to push on.
We found three things about the locals over there:
a) They are very eager to help and very friendly.
b) They don't necessarily know all the back roads that well
c) Although they understand their own vehicles and the road types in the area, most of them don't really understand how a motorcycle is different in those terrains than their plaasbakkies.
;D ;D ;D
About point b) I must just say the following in their defence - to them some of the 'normal' roads up there are bad enough, so they probably won't go looking for more uhmm interesting ways to get to the coast.
;D
About point c) - There was one guy who looked at me quizzically as I walked up to them and after a hearty 'goeie middag oom' and asking for directions I could see he was hesitant. He couldn't understand why we would willingly want to go in the roads that we were looking for. After a while when he understood that that was the whole point he looked at me again and then asked 'Het julle van daardie 4 trek motorfietse ?' (do you have those 4x4 motorbikes ?) and after my enthusiastic confirmation he finally sighed and said: 'Julle mag dalk bietjie sukkel so hier en daar' (you might struggle here and there).
That was the most candid and accurate route advice we got the whole trip.
At the time I wasn't impressed that we got lost a little, but after a while I really enjoyed the roads that we ended up on.
We came back onto the west coast road at BrakRiver and immediately got treated to some of the better tweespoor roads that the Westcoast have to offer.
;D ;D ;D
Was in front a little (although sweating like a pig) so on this part where things quieted down a little and I could stop without causing issues for the rest on pulling away again or being ploughed into ;D .
Operator making progress
Darth Terra
CJ still smiling
CJ's smile dropped a little (albeit only in altitude) ;D ;D
Got to a little bit of hard packed stuff and gunned it to get wind on the engine and then using the excuse as having set up a photo for the little more extensive rest.
It was getting late by now, so we decided that the 1st suitable place from now on that we see will be our camping spot for the night.
This was CJ standing across at the turn-off point for the camp site they found.
And this was the photo he was taking at the same time:
Me a little closer. Look at the body posture - Jan Staan would be proud...
Biesie at the turn off
I love silhouette photos - this was just before we started unpacking:
Custom coke bottle petrol holder cap sealer.
Supplied by the Chinese shop in Lutzville.
Those Chinese shops really do sell everything ;D
This was our camp site for the night.
Right there next to the sea. At some point I was worried that we might have been too close to the water. Amazing how close the sea sounded in the middle of the night.
We had good steaks, good company and an evening filled with the usual 'chattery' that would take us through topics of 'bikeness', sillyness, 'deepness' and the occasional slight nervous sideways thought of what would lay ahead the next day on the road past Groenriver and onto Hondeklip bay.
But for now it was just a couple of friends, the fire and the sea.
For the past year or three it has become a bit of a tradition that our group of friends have a breakaway at the end of August/beginning of September.
The 1st year was into the Karoo
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=21127.0
The 2nd had us camping on the bank of the Orange.
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=37259.0
After a little bit of backwards and forwards and due to the recession we decided that we didn't want to go out that far (the initial plan was Sani and Wild coast).
We were talking about doing something new, as well as doing something that we missed out last year due to difficulties on the road.
Naturally the project suffered (as most projects do) from a significant amount of scope creep ;D
So the final plan was:
Day one:
Quickest way to Lutzville, then onto the coastal roads, camp as close as possible to Groenrivier.
Day two:
From Groenrivier straight up to Hondeklipbaai and then past Springbok onto the Namaqua Eco trail
Day three:
Through the Namaqua eco trail and onto a friend of Ektoknbike's farm where he have a 700 hectare pan where we would be able to camp
Day four:
From the pan through Loeriesfontein and Calvinia, then the R355, cut across to the Doringrivier and over the SAS willehond, over Eselbank and to Cederberg Oasis.
Day five:
From Oasis past Sanddrif, Uitkyk and onto Citrusdal and then home.
Day 1:
I didn't know at the time how close the line between brave and stupid was.
We knew it was going to be rough sand and we knew that it would be tiring, but with my physique and (lack of) fitness level added to a loaded 1200GS I could think of cleverer ways to put k's on the bike ;D ;D
I suppose in hindsight I wouldn't have signed up for the same thing again knowingly (the day 2 part), but then again - ignorance makes for getting into situations/adventures where you 'rationally' and knowingly would not have ended up in and then, by definition, would be considered 'bliss'.
We had to adjust the plan on the road as well, but I will elaborate as we get there.
In the regular circle of friends there were busy job/farm schedules, new born babies taking up extra resources in the the form of time and money and other general timing/scheduling issues that made the group smaller than usual.
In retrospect I suppose this was a good thing - a smaller group is more manageable when the going gets tough and the tough goes farming...
More on that later.
So the group was:
Biesie on his recently acquired and pimped out Dakar
CJ on the other Dakar
Operator with his tricked out DRZ400
Drifter with his 800GS and me with the 1200
It was with great anticipation and an overdue need of a breakaway that I pointed the 12 in the direction of our 1st meeting spot at the N1 one stop. From there the 4 of us went off to Paarl to meet up with Biesie.
One thing you need to understand about Biesie is that if he gets excited about something he is committed.
And I don't mean general mild enthusiasm like usual guys have.
I mean the 'almost bursting at the seams-can't contain it-starting to vibrate-contagious' type.
So much so that by the time the trip comes round his twins are also seriously excited about it. Not quite as much as their dad, but then I don't think their little bodies would be able to contain that level of exuberance.
;D ;D
Naturally 'pappa' can't go on his trip without having them join in as well in their own way, so they were taken for a slow around the block 'farewell cruise' ;D ;D ;D
(Most of the photos comes from CJ - they are marked as such)
Ginger sandwich
It was shortly after that and the good-bye's that we were on our way.
I can tell you without a doubt - as far as riding somewhere on a Monday morning goes, heading for the West coast with a loaded bike is probably in the top two destinations ;D
We had to go through Wellington, so we stopped at Stoetbul's place quickly say 'hi', but unfortunately he wasn't in yet. Probably not an early Monday morning person ;D ;D
We were headed for breakfast at Eendekuil hotel and the needle on the 'excitometer' was in the red.
This is drifter on the 1st piece of gravel we encountered:
We arrived at Eendekuil for a very lekker breakfast.
Unfortunately Eendstop wasn't there, but we'll catch up with him next time.
Very nice hotel there.
From there we quickly made our way to the railway service lines that would take us through Elandsbaai, Lambertsbay, Doringbaai and beyond.
This was paying at the 1st service entry gate:
Darth Biesie
We had our last petrol/pit stop in Lutzville. There was a Chinese shop with an authentic Chinese shop owner - free condoms and all.
We fuelled up, got the wood and other supplies strapped to the bikes and then headed off to the butchery.
In a world in the city where it is easy to go to a local Spar or Pick&Pay where you choose a piece of steak off the shelf you sometimes forget that you get butcheries like this on the 'platteland'.
Not only was it a nice and clean place, but the owner/operator was just too happy to cut pieces to our exact specification and vacuum pack it in our marinade/sauce of choice.
From before we left already we decided that we would look at Lutzville as the 'official' starting point of this trip - this was to keep the urge to turn onto the road less travelled a little under control, as from Lutzville on things really got scenic and we didn't know how quickly we would be able to make progress.
From there it was with wide grins that we settled in, relaxed and fell into the rhythm of the roads and surrounds.
We were now officially off the beaten track and on our way.
Last year a couple of us was rather new to sandy bits, but I must say that this time 'round this specific stretch of road was nothing but an absolute pleasure.
It seemed that we were all getting in tune with each other's riding pace and the group quickly sorted the riding order out and things were running smoothly. The sun was out, it wasn't too hot, we had full tanks, the ribbon of west coast roads ahead of us, the engines was purring and the week was ahead of us.
Life was good.
This is on the way to 'Brand se baai':
Drifter and CJ
Posing for a group photo at Brand se Baai:
If you have to pose for a photo then it makes sense to have a GS with you :
At one point we veered off the 'main' road and onto one of the really bad tracks that go down toward the sea.
We had a handful once or twice, but what an awesome area and awesome roads!
We got to this at one point and for a relatively newbie like I am to sandy road touring it really did look more intimidating than what it ended up to be.
I was in fact enjoying it so much that at one point I was weaving across the centre (to the dismay of Drifter as his 800 sometimes wanted to follow the tracks that my back wheel carved)
We had a couple of gates to open and close on the way.
Look at the surface of the road - it isn't anything serious, but it does look like normal gravel, so if you aren't paying attention these little sandy patches can try and catch you out.
At some point the GPS got confused (go figure) so we made a little detour.
Ok - maybe it was a confused GPS compounded by operator error.
There was stretches of sandy bits where I was up on the pegs and on the gas trying to keep the pace (and the front wheel) up, so I wasn't paying too much attention to the GPS. When I noticed again the little screen just showed a blank area with a little triangle on it.
The road did look like it went in the right direction, so we decided to push on.
We found three things about the locals over there:
a) They are very eager to help and very friendly.
b) They don't necessarily know all the back roads that well
c) Although they understand their own vehicles and the road types in the area, most of them don't really understand how a motorcycle is different in those terrains than their plaasbakkies.
;D ;D ;D
About point b) I must just say the following in their defence - to them some of the 'normal' roads up there are bad enough, so they probably won't go looking for more uhmm interesting ways to get to the coast.
;D
About point c) - There was one guy who looked at me quizzically as I walked up to them and after a hearty 'goeie middag oom' and asking for directions I could see he was hesitant. He couldn't understand why we would willingly want to go in the roads that we were looking for. After a while when he understood that that was the whole point he looked at me again and then asked 'Het julle van daardie 4 trek motorfietse ?' (do you have those 4x4 motorbikes ?) and after my enthusiastic confirmation he finally sighed and said: 'Julle mag dalk bietjie sukkel so hier en daar' (you might struggle here and there).
That was the most candid and accurate route advice we got the whole trip.
At the time I wasn't impressed that we got lost a little, but after a while I really enjoyed the roads that we ended up on.
We came back onto the west coast road at BrakRiver and immediately got treated to some of the better tweespoor roads that the Westcoast have to offer.
;D ;D ;D
Was in front a little (although sweating like a pig) so on this part where things quieted down a little and I could stop without causing issues for the rest on pulling away again or being ploughed into ;D .
Operator making progress
Darth Terra
CJ still smiling
CJ's smile dropped a little (albeit only in altitude) ;D ;D
Got to a little bit of hard packed stuff and gunned it to get wind on the engine and then using the excuse as having set up a photo for the little more extensive rest.
It was getting late by now, so we decided that the 1st suitable place from now on that we see will be our camping spot for the night.
This was CJ standing across at the turn-off point for the camp site they found.
And this was the photo he was taking at the same time:
Me a little closer. Look at the body posture - Jan Staan would be proud...
Biesie at the turn off
I love silhouette photos - this was just before we started unpacking:
Custom coke bottle petrol holder cap sealer.
Supplied by the Chinese shop in Lutzville.
Those Chinese shops really do sell everything ;D
This was our camp site for the night.
Right there next to the sea. At some point I was worried that we might have been too close to the water. Amazing how close the sea sounded in the middle of the night.
We had good steaks, good company and an evening filled with the usual 'chattery' that would take us through topics of 'bikeness', sillyness, 'deepness' and the occasional slight nervous sideways thought of what would lay ahead the next day on the road past Groenriver and onto Hondeklip bay.
But for now it was just a couple of friends, the fire and the sea.
