The Riemvasmaak Run - Reloaded

[newguy]

Day 2 started out really lekker.
By now our party of 5 had shrunk down to 3.
Newguy
Pistonpete
Doerengone

Today we head out to the border to Onseepkans and on to the Orange river.

Probably about 40°C but otherwise a beautiful day.
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Doerengone
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Pimpinpete
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Then strikes puncture no 2, a dramatic front blowout at about 110km/h. The scene of the crime:
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Pete fits a new tube and has a smoke break. no 3 Before we can get going he notices that its flat again. He has pinched the tube. Being lazy after the first one, its in with the slime to see if it works. It doesnt. Off with the wheel and fit a patch and back on.

About 2km later no 4, the slime seems to have wet the patch and it doesnt stick. By now we are pros and we have the wheel off in no time. tube out and new tube in, taking care now to scratch the orange rimtape of course.

We stop in Poffadder for some supplies and head to the Orange.
Orange in sight:
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Hairy Greasy Bikers
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Shame we didnt get to cross the border. There are few thinds as refreshing as a swim in the orange.
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Pete seems to be the favourite amongst all the Afrikaners and soon pitches up with some free ice and Watermelon
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We have a lekker chill evening and braai some super fat chops (sheep in this part of the country are really fat)

 

[newguy]

Day 3 to Riemvasmaak

Doerengone had originally told us that he would leave us at some point to go and get intimate with his bike. Today would be that day. So we Bid farewell to our travel buddy, which left us down to Newguy and Petrolpete.

The man himself
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We shoot through to Kakamas and it is quite clear that the tyre blowout of the previous day had roughled some of Pete's feathers. He was also concerned that the cut left by the stone with the original tyre left a weakspot on the tyre.

From Kakamas we turn north to Riemvas maak, about 50km.
The road has some really kark corrugations, which we found were quite common on large parts of our trip.

We finally make it to our trip destination, Riemvasmaak in all its glory.
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We stop at the old station, which has now been converted to a school and a church. Pete has a pose in front of his old bunkroom
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There were many a story to be told and I enjoyed hearing the old "oorlog stories". I had expected maybe even a tear from Pete, but he was composed or hiding behind the sunglasses.

Our trusty steeds ready to make a turn south towards home
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Buccaneer, I think??
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We head back to Kakamas to find a camp. Again a lekker spot on the Orange river. Farmers here don't seem to have any respect for water and when we went to camp we could see that the vineyards had simply been flooded to water it.

At the campsite we are greeted by the farmer who gives us a box of excellent grapes. He assures us that there is a huge party at the big bar close to our tents tonight. By 10:00 there were about 8 people.
Party on our own with Windhoek and Jack
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Good nights rest is in order, tomorrow we head to Kenhardt via Upington

 

[Doerengone]

Hiya H. I had to grin at some of your captions, and some nice photies. Welcome back, we will have to arrange a debriefing party at Petes place, just to get our heads sorted for the year ahead. Great riding with you guys. Cheers.

 

[newguy]

Hey welcome back yourself, you must add the rest of your trip to the report. Which places did you end up going to?
I think Pete is still on holiday, but I agree a debriefing party is in order.  :biggrin:

 

[Plore]

Nice one ouens. Looks like you had a great time. Hoop Newguy het homself gedra.

 

[newguy]

Day 4
Today we head from Kakamas to Kenhardt via Upington. We need to take the detour as Pete had lost all confidence in his front tyre. Yesterday we made a few calls to BMW/Yamaha and managed to find 1 bridgestone at Yamaha. When we got there it looked like a tyre that should be on a Western Flyer. So the parts guy goes to scratch around in the back and comes out with a Kings "made for hot weather". Down the road to a fitment shop and have it fitted. (Pete, what was your final rating of that tyre?)

For some reason I cant find a single photo of Day 4. There are however some pics of Night 4  >

So later that day we pitch at the famed Kenhardt Hotel. Eeton and Suzette are the hosts at the hotel and you can contact them at o72 222 4983. Suzette booked us into our 2 room airconditioned room. An hour or two snooze and we head to the hotel bar.

Pete looking for wilddogs on the wall
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There are plenty of dogs on the wall, but no name is bigger on that wall than KIA. There are a couple of smudges on the wall too, this is where Eeton removed the names of all non bikers that signed the wall  :mwink:
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Here the details of Eeton's Kymco charity run. That is allot of km for a scooter 
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At some point after many a Bacardi this happens, Eeton our host has a plan (hou vas my bier)
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So we jump into the 4 x 4 and head down to the river bed. Cooler, wood, myself and Pete on the back (apparently dogs arent allowed in front)
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Spot the local, they were there a plenty
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So at this point we get lekker warm and decide that the 4 x 4 makes it to easy. Time to get the 2 x 4. This goes pretty well until we do get stuck. Time to walk back and fetch the 4 x 4. I stay at the bakkie as my ankle is still a buggered. Pete and Eeton return with a tiny piece of ski rope that snaps. We head back and leave the bakkie.
Miraculously the next morning the bakkie is there. Eeton had returned on his own and somehow managed to get both cars back to the hotel  :thumleft:

The Hotel,
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Big thanks to Eeton and Suzette, definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Day 5 breaks and we head to Williston via Verneukpan

 

[bradleys]

Cool report and pics ,keep it comming :ricky:

 

[newguy]

At some point the amount of pics taken took a serious dip.

Day 5,
After only going to bed at about 5 we have a real slow day. Hangovers are evident and we make a slow pace to Brandvlei via Verneukpan.

Comming from that side is a very lekker little road that seems to be made specially for the DR and the KTM is quickly left behind. This does however have its drawbacks, as this means opening the gates. 

Pete heading to the Pan
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We cruise through Verneukpan to Brandvlei and stop at the Windpomp for a coldrink. Brandvlei is also the hometown of Wynand Windpomp who seems to be a legend in this part of the country.

We decide to make a few more k's and push on to Williston. When we arrive at Williston it looks like a ghost town and even the Hotel is closed. We find a neat little Guesthouse en settle for the night. (Cant remember the name of the guesthouse)

Some pics
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We have a few doppe and a nice home cooked meal. The rooms are great, with aircon and all the works and for a change we manage to get to bed early.

 

[Piston Pete]

I R back ;D Keep it coming!

 

[newguy]

Day 6.

Getting close to home now. We hit the roads from Williston to Katbakkies via Sutherland.
On the road again,
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Katoom in pursuit,
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We stop in Sutherland for some supplies. Riding out from Sutherland it's quite windy and Pete keeps complaining that his bike is top heavy. Looks fine to me  :biggrin:
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We reach Katbakkies and setup camp. We arrive there earlier than expected and polished a bottle of Jameson before sundown. Then there was still a little bit of OBS we could drink. At the pace we were going its a good thing we didn't have any more booze. Must be the excitement of being close to home.
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The music machine,
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The ever trusty jaffel iron,
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Pistonpete, your quite a tall oke,
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Ever the marketer,
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Sunset,
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Day7, time to head home.
The view from our camp,
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The last pic before we head home,
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We stop at Ceres for a breaky at the Wimpy. Have a last few laughs and hit the road.

All in all a very lekker trip. Glad all got home safe and thanks to all that made this trip so lekker.
Cheese,
Newguy out

 

[bradleys]

Brillant report andpics ,looks as if it was a trip of note ,well done guys. :ricky: :ricky:

 

[Piston Pete]

Thanks to all the guys that participated, Generaal, Riaanw, Doerengone & Newguy! Thanks guys :thumleft: Not all made it & some went solo but overall it was brilliant.
A special thanks to Newguy....what was the saying...little by little, great journeys are made. Many thanks to you in so many ways mate! :thumleft: ;D
Pistonpete out.

 

[GENERAAL]

Nice report guys.  :thumleft:

Seems to me I missed out big time. 

 

[GO GIRL]

Nice one Guys I had a chat to DoernGone and he cant stop talking about the really supa trip......

Nice reminiscences hey Pete at Riemvasmaak???...you were talking about it the whole of 2008........a goal accomplished...NEXT ONE :ricky:

and great company with all concerned...can just imagine the campfire evenings...... :ricky:

Lekka RR .......

 

[croatia]

hey those dring back mem tess and myself sleeping on varande i have photos of all of us out there hasnt changed much in 30 y only us

 

[krister]

Nice report and cool pics!  I especially like the "woelpoel" at that Guesthouse - must be nice in the heat...
:thumleft:

 

[Piston Pete]

hey those dring back mem tess and myself sleeping on varande i have photos of all of us out there hasnt changed much in 30 y only us

Bring them pics on or pm me pls!

 

[sean]

What an amazing epic ride with great comments and photo's. Huge respect to you ..........

Thanks Guys for the memories of Riemvasmak!!! Some great, quite a few not so great.

8 SAI, Upington, Hek tot Basis Route Marches, three troopies wide in the road and guess who flattened the "middle mannetjie" with his 2 sizes to big Army Boots, that thick hot sand, Riemvasmaak Koppie & that fricking tree, that brak water coffee that gave us gippo guts causing us to "ry" those ferrari toilets, those really tuff goats that tasted like army biscuits, RSM Schutte, Corporal Swartz, the heat, those miggies, the wind that blew sand into the bottom of your rolled up sleeping bag, the icy cold mornings as the sun came out, etc, etc ........ and then there were the bad experiences, but I have forgotten those already !!!!!!

Going to do this trip one day soon, I have made a promise !!!!

 

[Piston Pete]

Hi Sean,
We were actually based there permanently for about seven months....imagine that. Special training for National Servicemen under the direct auspices of the Chief of the Army. First course of its kind. They called it loosely 'junior recces' but came up (without imagination') HQ Peleton if i remember correctly. Maybe Ivan can help?

 

[Miles]

Nice RR, wow that mountain at Riem'kak'maak brings back some bad memories from 1980.