Now before I proceed, like I mentioned earlier, Willem were on the road a day earlier, and also stayed on in Luderitz. I asked him for a mini-ride report for those days, soooooo.... Ladies and gentlemen - please welcome to the stage.... The one, the only.... (drumroll) Theeeeeee SAND *****!!!!
Willem's pre-and in between ride ride report
D-Day minus one:
With a day to spare seemed like a good idea to meander northwards and wait for the Teutonic horde in Springbok. Also the first and probably only time I would be leading the pack from the front. (beat them hands down -heh) So to the tune of Leonard Cohen's "Slow" ye olde trusty Canola harvester (races?) Onwards..
• Good thing: Lots of stop and go's on the other side of the mountain that takes the angst out of deciding when to stop for a smoke break
• So-so thing: Checking out the rumour of a nice hotel at Eendekuil-hotel has left and short detour probably not worth it. Still-Eendekuil now on the resume
• Excellent thing: Catching the flower festival at Clanwilliam-stuff the flowers but they serve great pancakes and cheap coffee at the church bazaar. (Alternatively for BMW riders they serve bad pancakes and incredibly expensive coffee at the fancy coffee shop in town)
A surfeit of pancakes leads to an earlier than intended sleepover in Vanrijnsdorp. I like the hotel in town-very retro but it was full (duh-flower season). A good alternative is La Rochelle guest house-fairly expensive by biker standards but friendly people who let me park the bike in their garage.
Friday morning sees an attempted summit of the Gifberg pass turned back by the rain following me from Cape Town. I think the view would have been spectacular if you could actually see anything. Also, wet sand is about as much fun as dry sand... Further dismal failure follows when I realise that the waterfall I wanted to check out requires a substantial walk (walk-wtf?!) and leaving my loaded bike unattended –didn’t want to chance that someone may mistake it for something more expensive and make off with it.
Decision time-either towards Calvinia and its meat festival (probably more pancakes) or getting some momentum in the right direction. Decision made by the clearer skies towards Springbok-and the fact that every time (ok-once) I approach Calvinia from the back I somehow end up in Pofadder. (Maps are for people with no sense of adventure)
At Garies I decide to find out where the hell the Studerspass actually goes to - something that has been bothering me for a year since I saw the sign on my last trip that way. Turns out it goes to Kammieskroon via Leliefontein but there’s still a mystery - I must have crossed theN7 at some stage as I ended up on the other side, but there’s absolutely no recollection of hitting tarmac short of Kammieskroon. A very worthwhile side trip. (See picture earlier in this ride report)
Coffee at Kamieskroon with enthusiastic nature lovers leads to a further side trip to Skilpad to look at the flowers - found a nature reserve, a padstal serving - you know it - pancakes and yeah, lots of flowers. OK - Skilpad in flower season is actually pretty spectacular - even for non-flower people. There is an entrance fee, however.
With a sugar induced sense of well-being I decide to check out the Wildeperdehoek pass that I noticed on the tourist map at Skilpad as it seems to be going in the general direction of Springbok.
Saw the last person or vehicle at the aptly named Soebatsfontein and the next 70 + km later when I got back on the highway. Nice pass but lots of erosion leading to miniature (and sometimes not so miniature) dongas across the road. Tried Mickey’s jump trick but quickly reverted to the Suzuki way - sit back, close your eyes and pray that you and the bike arrive on the other side at more or less the same time...) Think I may have missed a turn and ended up traversing the Spektakelpass-every time I thought I was out of the mountains it started from scratch again.
SPRINGBOK and from here on in its Mickeys story-except for:
D-Day plus 2: Wimping out on the Sossosvlei leg gives me time to
1. realign my backbone
2. pig out in the fleshpots of Luderitz
3. explore the salt pans and desert south of town, with the added bonus that you can meet some of your dietary requirements if you do go down.
4. get caught in a sandstorm leaving (If the sky turns dark in the middle of the morning it ain’t a solar eclipse, Dorothy – RUN!)
5. take the river road from the border to Ai-Ais-always a favourite
Side trip to Diaz point and Grossebuch was fun but do remember to park the bike facing the wind at Diaz point-it’s even more embarrassing if it falls over when you’re not actually on it.
Random observations:
• Remembering to pack your Wild Card - will save some bucks at Skilpad and Sendelings drift-also Langebaan if you end up on the coast road. (Some forethought is required - with Kobus out foraging for wood and beer at the drift it was easy enough to pass Abraham off as my son and Chris as my aged father - leaving only the guy with a beard to nominate as my wife - next time shave BEFORE we go, Mick) (Mickey interjects: FFS Willem… Why must I be the girl again? Hoekom kon jy nie Salty jou hou-vrou gemaak het en ek jou aangetroude laslappie-kind nie??)
• Packing a copy of your actual license disk is an excellent idea-thanks for the reminder, Abraham
• Don’t bargain on buying anything useful at the shop in Ai-Ais - its invariably empty. Stopping at Rosh Pinah for meat works if it’s on your route.
• The hotel at Bitterfontein is not a bad place to end up if night catches up with you on the way back - R250 per night gets you a time warp to the late fifties and a pub with all seven inhabitants of the town, one of which brought filled vetkoek for bar snacks (ended up as dinner), a cute toddler and a dog of indeterminate origin.
• If you time it right you can catch the tail end of the flower festival at Clanwilliam - yes, pancakes.
• I really like pancakes
• I really, really hate sand. (Mickey interjects again: Willem – Hehehehe! That much we gathered pretty early on… Man – you gave us some nice rodeo shows!)
On my fellow riders:
• Keep a photo of Abraham on your phone to remind you what he looks like - once that KTM smells gravel chances are you won’t see him again
• Stay a respectful distance from Kobus, especially if he's stationary or nearly so - his bike has an alarming tendency to fall over.
• Keep close to Chris - the one guy that I know for a fact can change a wheel - and has had lots of practice...
• Stay ahead of Mickey - he will stop on the other side of dodgy patches to take embarrassing pictures
Thanks guys for a great trip!
