Day 2: Hogsback or Bust!
With sunrise two tender riders crawled out of their tents. SCP had to be at the garage at 7am with the new tube to fix his wheel. Within half an hour the bike was fixed and by 8:30 we were ready to ride. It must have been hot already because we were very thirsty.
We took some choice roads recommended by the locals and it really is a beautiful area.
Not long after we got to the first water crossing of the trip â?? a definite photo opportunity. I LOVE water crossings! 8)
Soon after I passed within centimeters of a Leguan which had a very aggressive stance. It was huge! Again I grabbed fistfuls of brakes to turn around and take a picture, but this one too got away. :-\
Again today we saw lots of wildlife: Monkeys and baboons, Kudu, Springbuck, Duiker, some unknown antelope that looked like a bushbuck (but I doubt you find them here) and Leguans.
This poor chap must have been hit by a vehicle.
SCP would quite often see some â??Bushbuckâ?. I only realized on day 5 that all buck he saw were â??Bushbuckâ? including Kudu and Springbuck. ("Dis mos 'n bok. En hy staan in die bos..." ;D)
After a while the hills leveled out and the road straightened. SCP especially suffered in the heat after only having had an hours sleep the night before.
This is the road to Somerset East. It must be just over that hillâ?¦
â?¦or notâ?¦ (check out SCP - shame, he really suffered)
Once in Somerset East we looked for a Spur or Dros or something. Nothing. Somerset East is much smaller than we thought. Maybe Cookhouse has one? So we pushed on. Cookhouse turned out to be a lemon as well. Thereâ??s nothing but a bottle store. So we each bought a court Smirnoff Spin (something soft after a hard night) and headed to some trees for 2 minute noodles.
By now we were on Wattyâ??s GPS route, so there was no need for maps anymore. Weâ??ll just follow the route and ride to Hogsback.
I have to say at this point that I have no experience with GPSâ??s whatsoever.
We rode to the nearest waypoint and turned left as per instruction. The road took us into a neighborhood and a dead end. What? After consulting the map I realized we had to ride to the T and take the tar road. Cool. We turned onto a gravel road at the next waypoint and followed a beautiful road to the next town. There we turned right as per instruction. Now things got funny. We were on a tar road and getting further and further from the next waypoint. This does not make sense? We took the first dirt East and now at least we werenâ??t getting further from the next waypoint, but we wonâ??t getting closer either? Weird. Luckily we found a strong flowing water crossing. ;D Cool route Watty!
Then we saw this little fellow
And then we hit a farm gate and the road stopped. WTF? Letâ??s just dump the GPS and follow the map. We were over 10km of course. We rode back and took the road to Adelaide. Suddenly the GPS waypoints started coming up again. We ignored those and rode to Adelaide where we filled up. From here we took dirt through the Post Retief Conservancy. Very scenic!
After a while on the waypoints started coming up again. At waypoint C1 â??Turn rightâ? was the instruction. SCP was not keen. This road led into a game reserve and the road was not even on our map. I convinced him that we should try it. Beautiful road! We descended into a valley and wildlife abounded. Between C2 and C3 there was a huge locked gate. We tried to find a route around and ended up 35km off course. SCP was battling. It was hot and he was tired. We rode back to C1 and carried on where we turned off. I ignored the â??I told you soâ?.
>
This road too was very scenic. The Eastern Cape sure has a lot to offer. I have to come back one day.
The road deteriorated and deteriorated and soon we found ourselves on Katberg pass. WOW! This must be the most beautiful pass in SA? Itâ??s long and technical and very very scenic. WOW does not begin to describe it.
We had new life, new vigor. The beauty refreshes, inspires, makes you feel alive. We rode through the valleys and hills in awe of what we saw. I am definitely coming back here again!
Before long we saw a town in the distance. Hogsback!
We stopped for a photo and spoke to an old Xhosa out hunting with 7 dogs. There was a definite language barrier, but we did gather that the town ahead was called Wittlesea. What? ??? We took a wrong road once again. Now daylight and petrol started to become an issue. We hit the road again and did not stop as often as I would have wanted too. I have to come back again!
After a while we started descending and we saw a town in the distance. At lastâ?¦
Nope â?? not Hogsback. We were still 3 towns away, but Hogsback was close. Next up was Seymor - where we found this:
How bad could it be? Bad enough if youâ??re tired and trying to push. The sun was setting. When we rode up to this uphill I recognized it immediately from a pic on the forum. Cool! Camera out! ;D
The 125 needed to keep momentum, but the rear wheel â??hookedâ? behind this step and spun. Manpower was needed.
I chuckled. SCP was not happyâ?¦ Then I popped my Bushlander in low range 8) and idled up with a big smile on my faceâ?¦ until my wheel hooked at exactly the same place and spun.
Bummer! I too needed a push. :confused5: Oh well.
We rolled into Hogsback on reserve after the sun had set. I set the GPS to the last waypoint to lead us to the campsite. The waypoint stopped in the middle of the road with no instruction. There was only one turnoff so we took it. We rode and rode. I was worried because I have a small reserve. We stopped, phoned the campsite and yep â?? you guessed it â?? we were way of course.
When we stopped in camp we had spent 10 hours on our small bikes. Our hosts were very friendly and the suggested we just sleep in the Lapa and pitch camp the next day. SCP did not need to be invited twice.
Ansie â?? our host â?? made us a basket for dinner and I braaied us some skaaptjops and wors. She even supplied us with 6 beers and 2 whiskeys. When dinner was ready SCP ate and went right back to sleep. I made a bed on some of the benches.
What a day! It was tough, we were tired, but it was the best ride Iâ??ve ever had. I will not forget Katberg Pass, ever.
I will also not be buying a GPS anytime soon :
;D
Stats Day 2:
Total kms traveled: 406km
Fuel consumption: 22km/L
Total time from start to campsite: 10 hours