Today was my day off and after completing whatever chores were waiting for me I decided to ignore my budget's protests and go for a ride. It was such a glorious day and I really needed a little getaway. As the saying goes :"New riders pick a route and ride, old Riders pick a direction." And seeing as I am not quite a new rider anymore (I hope) I picked a direction and went for it.
I needed to warm my chain before I gave it some chain-lube and so the idea was to ride to Gordon's bay and then lube the chain.
Of course it is a sad day when one can not find something nice for the eyes at Bikini beach.
I set off on the R44 but just had to stop for the view over Kogelbay. As I said before the weather was glorious with not a breeze blowing.
I stopped at Rooi Els at this spot where a fellow Biker killed himself about a month ago. Such a senseless death, but I guess if you want to mix bottle with throttle then the chance is there of things like this to happen.
Just before the Pringle Bay turnoff someone has gone and painted a rock next to the road to look like this :
In Kleinmond I stopped at the beach for a bit of lunch.
On the menu was Chicken Schnitzel and chips.
Of course , it does not take long these days before the beggars arrive to demand some food
.I even had some pudding and a tin of black poison to wash my lunch down with. And just a little piece of droe wors to fill that last little gap.
From Kleinmond I headed towards Botriver and saw the train in the station as I passed.
This was of course a very good photo opportunity and Jemima posed nicely next to the big train for a photo.As I left a heard the train blow it's whistle announcing it's own departure.
I stopped at the level crossing for a nother photo. Only once the train was rattling past did I realise exactly how close to the tracks I actually stopped. Bit of a blond moment there. About 30 cm closer and the train would have broken off my mirror.
It was time to hit the dirt and I turned onto the Van Der Stell pass road towards Villiersdorp. I stopped for a photo on a shady spot.
At the intersection with the Caledon road , I turned right towards Caledon. And saw some very nice scenery.
Maybe just as well that I stopped when I did , or else I would have barreled into this lot a fair turn of speed.
At the T section I turned left towards Villiersdorp. Came across this guy and his wife with a flat wheel. And he had already used his spare wheel a few minutes earlier. I had my compressor with me , but since I have tubes , I did not have plugs and in the end he was forced to phone the AA to come and help him.
A short while later I turned left , back onto the dirt. I stopped to photograph the valley that was on my Left.
Turned left and stopped in a shady spot while I decided where I wanted to go.
Fooled around with the camera and balanced it on a fence dropper for this selfportrait.
While I was there wondering what road I would follow, quite a few trucks came racing past on the road I just left. And when I say racing, I mean racing. These guys were going full tilt. That decided it for me and I continued back down the road towards Van der Stell pass and Botriver
From Botriver I folllowed the old Houwhoek Pass (that folllows the railway). This was a little more technical than the gravel highways I have done for the morning and I ended up doing the 'standup , lookup, openup' routine for most of the road.
I stopped at Houwhoek for a very nice Iced Coffee Milkshake.
And Jemima waited patiently for me to finish my indulgence and get back to continue the ride.
By now the wind had picked up quite a bit and I decided to get home via the N2 and give poor Jemima a well deserved wash.
Before :
and After :
Here is a Google earth screenshot of the route I took.
I needed to warm my chain before I gave it some chain-lube and so the idea was to ride to Gordon's bay and then lube the chain.
Of course it is a sad day when one can not find something nice for the eyes at Bikini beach.
I set off on the R44 but just had to stop for the view over Kogelbay. As I said before the weather was glorious with not a breeze blowing.
I stopped at Rooi Els at this spot where a fellow Biker killed himself about a month ago. Such a senseless death, but I guess if you want to mix bottle with throttle then the chance is there of things like this to happen.
Just before the Pringle Bay turnoff someone has gone and painted a rock next to the road to look like this :
In Kleinmond I stopped at the beach for a bit of lunch.
On the menu was Chicken Schnitzel and chips.
Of course , it does not take long these days before the beggars arrive to demand some food
.I even had some pudding and a tin of black poison to wash my lunch down with. And just a little piece of droe wors to fill that last little gap.
From Kleinmond I headed towards Botriver and saw the train in the station as I passed.
This was of course a very good photo opportunity and Jemima posed nicely next to the big train for a photo.As I left a heard the train blow it's whistle announcing it's own departure.
I stopped at the level crossing for a nother photo. Only once the train was rattling past did I realise exactly how close to the tracks I actually stopped. Bit of a blond moment there. About 30 cm closer and the train would have broken off my mirror.
It was time to hit the dirt and I turned onto the Van Der Stell pass road towards Villiersdorp. I stopped for a photo on a shady spot.
At the intersection with the Caledon road , I turned right towards Caledon. And saw some very nice scenery.
Maybe just as well that I stopped when I did , or else I would have barreled into this lot a fair turn of speed.
At the T section I turned left towards Villiersdorp. Came across this guy and his wife with a flat wheel. And he had already used his spare wheel a few minutes earlier. I had my compressor with me , but since I have tubes , I did not have plugs and in the end he was forced to phone the AA to come and help him.
A short while later I turned left , back onto the dirt. I stopped to photograph the valley that was on my Left.
Turned left and stopped in a shady spot while I decided where I wanted to go.
Fooled around with the camera and balanced it on a fence dropper for this selfportrait.
While I was there wondering what road I would follow, quite a few trucks came racing past on the road I just left. And when I say racing, I mean racing. These guys were going full tilt. That decided it for me and I continued back down the road towards Van der Stell pass and Botriver
From Botriver I folllowed the old Houwhoek Pass (that folllows the railway). This was a little more technical than the gravel highways I have done for the morning and I ended up doing the 'standup , lookup, openup' routine for most of the road.
I stopped at Houwhoek for a very nice Iced Coffee Milkshake.
And Jemima waited patiently for me to finish my indulgence and get back to continue the ride.
By now the wind had picked up quite a bit and I decided to get home via the N2 and give poor Jemima a well deserved wash.
Before :
and After :
Here is a Google earth screenshot of the route I took.
