Touwsrivier Run

[KiLRoy]

Touwrivier Run
We met up in Durbanville at Charlie?s house early Friday 20 January 2006 - Rocco (Dakar), Charlie (KTM 950) and me (KLR).

From Durbanville we took the back roads via Philadelphia (?Streets of Philadelphia? were playing in my head ? without an Ipod) to Malmesbury where we filled up.

From Malmesbury we experienced some strong crosswinds on the N7. My speed dropped to between 120 and 140km/h while the KTM and Dakar still seemed happy at 140km/h. It was noticeable while riding behind the two bikes that the wind affected the Dakar more than the Katoom. From Piketburg we rode via Eendekuil up the pass towards Citrusdal, but at the top of the pass we took a gravel detour of about 50 kms to Citrusdal. We decided to have a quick breakfast next to the road, courtesy of yours truly. [author?s note: don?t store food items like cheese in the saddlebag next to the exhaust]

The detour was worth our while since it was a scenic route on top of the mountain, which I haven?t travelled before

 

[KiLRoy]

The KTM was happy to ride next to me at 100km/h on the gravel, but when Charlie opened her up the rear wheel danced her way up to 160k/h with ease ? what a bike. Rocco nearly had a close one while trying to overtake a truck on a gravel stretch with a high loose ?middelmannetjie?. I was behind him; when I saw his landing gear (legs) came out I thought it was tickets with him, but he somehow managed to hold on ? close one.

At noon we stopped at the Citrusdal Hotel (same one me and Wino stayed at a year ago on the West Coast Tour) on account of the heat and to quench our thirst. After Energade and a couple of beers we were on our way at about 14h00 towards Ceres via the gravel pass (R303).

At Prince Alfred we filled up and head into the Ceres Karoo ? it was hot but we did some low flying on the gravel roads. The speeds peaked at 130km/h on my clock.

A desolated but strangely scenic place, the Ceres Karoo.

We filled up in Touwsrivier before heading to Anton?s farm Soutkuil. Since we all filled our tanks 127kms back in Prince Alfred I was interested to monitor the fuel consumption. The KTM took on about 12 litres, the Dakar about 9 and the KLR 6,4 litres. It must win at something I guess!

Near the farm my throttle hand?s middle finger seized up! Weird feeling, it just curled up and refused to open up. I had to force it open with my other hand. That?s what you get from gripping the bars to tight!

At the farm (495 kms for the day) we did the classical braai-thing.

Next morning I was up early albeit with a slight headache. The wind was pumping but Rocco and me decided to go and explore the farm while the others were still sleeping. Nice slow trail riding without bags and all the accessories. We saw some game and it even rained for about 10 minutes.

I enjoyed the slow game ride. Nice technical 1st and 2nd gear stuff.

Anton is planning to build and overnight campsite on the farm and promised we shall be welcome for game rides ? stay tuned to this frequency for updates on that front. The farm is also well located to serve as a home base for exploring this scenic dual sport area.

Rest of the afternoon was an eventful as was the ride back via the N1. In total we did just more than 700 kms of which nearly half was gravel roads.

Thanks guys for an most enjoyable trip


Apologies for the bad quality of the pics - i'll repost them at a better resolution.

 

[macduff]

nice looking run there....
damn, those roads are barely on my maps.... :roll:

lekker pic of the ktm coming around the corner

 

[wino]

at last, was waiting for the report! nice to see some exploratory riding! i trust we will start seeing more of this now?

 

[sidetrack]

Great report !

 

[funacide]

GR8 report, brings back old memories of my army days. When the Anti-aircraft unit did part of our basics near Touwsriver. It wasn't a nice place then, but if my memory serves me correct, would be awesome DS country.

Thanks for sharing guys....

 

[KiLRoy]

What year fun-man? My buddy (rudeasy on this forum) was with the Ystervarke in 1987 - I was in ISAI/MLV in '87.

Not to give away our age or anything :lol:

Cheers
H

 

[shark_za]

I was in 1SAI BLM for a total of 14 days, got outta that place in a rush, ended up in a tent for a year instead.
89'

 

[funacide]

What year fun-man? My buddy (rudeasy on this forum) was with the Ystervarke in 1987 - I was in ISAI/MLV in '87.

Not to give away our age or anything :lol:

Cheers
H

88 in Youngsfield until August of that year and then the rest of the time 17 months on the Border with 61 Mech.

 

[KiLRoy]

What year fun-man? My buddy (rudeasy on this forum) was with the Ystervarke in 1987 - I was in ISAI/MLV in '87.

Not to give away our age or anything

Cheers
H


88 in Youngsfield until August of that year and then the rest of the time 17 months on the Border with 61 Mech.

Same with rudeasy - Youngsfield and 61Meg - just 1 year earlier - He did the Hooper tour. Were you involved in the Calueke (spelling) incident?

Cheers
H

 

[LiveInTheOutdoors]

Man Hein, this is the way my boet. I love that orange KTM in picture particularly, I am learning to love it. YES PLEASE!

On that note, I should just buy 3 - one black, one orange, one blue and orange

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

SO WHO WAS THE GUY WHO HAS RIDDEN 3xDAKAR RACES?

Shot boet, George - nice report!!!! Would have LOVED to have gone with.

 

[mango]

Great report KiLeR :cheers:

Stunning....again, that's a place I'd love to do
sometime soon.

 

[KiLRoy]

 

[LiveInTheOutdoors]

KLRSA - asnwer my question pls! Who was the dude who rode 3x Paris Dakar races?

Cheers, Lito

 

[KiLRoy]

Forgot to ask - can phone the guy tomorrow during the ride?

h