Was it an Adventure, OR what the bloody hell happened!?? +Part 2 - we made it!!!

[XRRX]

This is a difficult ride report to do!
On the one hand it was our Australian friend James's farewell ride, on the other hand we could have lost another friend, and then on the other-other hand it was the final journey of a trusty old steed ...
Were we crazy or just brave or maybe both ...  : ... or even stupid ...  atch:

 

[XRRX]

As per usual we met-up at Engen across Virgin Active in George on Friday afternoon - suppose to be at 15:00 ...
James and Werner arrived well-late - as James still had to collect a F800GS he borrowed from Nigel. Just after 15:30, everybody appeared to be ready. I led with Werner just behind me and then Dawie and then James (or so I thought) ... Friday afternoon traffic over Outeniqua Pass to Oudtshoorn was crazy as usual - I saw Werner behind me, but not the rest... "Presumed" they were just stuck in traffic, and we "gooi'ed" !!

In Oudtshoorn we realised something was wrong, then only saw the "whatsapp's" ... James's borrowed 800 wouldn't start, but they managed to get it going eventually... Now it was 43 degree Celsius in Oudtshoorn, 16:00 Friday, and myself and Werner waited at the Smutswinkel, each with a cold one...
Eventually the other half of our group arrived, and we could say cheers together for the first time...

We left (together  : ) just after 17:00, in quite a hurry to reach the Hell before dark....

 

[XRRX]

Next few Swartberg pictures with compliments from Dawie and James...

 

[XRRX]

Well, at least we made it to the Hell before dark - in spite of poor visibility with the setting sun in our eyes over a bad road ...
Only issues  : - a burst soda can in James's bag, and a minor front flat tyre on Werner's 1200 - quickly fixed with "Tyre-weld" ...

 

[silvrav]

:ricky:

 

[XRRX]

We only arrived at the caravans at 8 pm, with the temperature still 36 degree Celsius !! 
We had to wait a while before lighting the campfire - it was just too hot, but the "braai" and "kuier" was worth it!!!  :biggrin:

 

[woody1]

:ricky:

 

[XRRX]

Little did we know what was waiting for us the next day in that beautifully sun-lit clouds ....
The eventual meeting around the campfire got a little out of hand from time to time, and I had to call a few "points of order" !!!  :

 

[XRRX]

Next morning - the guest of honour - proofed to be a difficult number to get up and going ...  :
Wasn't feeling all too well myself ...  :-[

But, after some good coffee at the Kiosk, we were off - for a while ...  :-\

 

[woody1]

Ek hoop dis 'n natreen storie op daai geel snot.... Julle wil mos nie vir my 'n job reel daar om saam met julle te kan ry nie..... Ek is goed met val op Die Hel se geel snot.  :imaposer:

 

[XRRX]

On the Plato, just after the steep climb out of the Hell, Dawie had a flat rear TKC on his Twin... (he rides a bit windgat ya know!!!  )
We were all a bit disappointed, as we lost about an hour, and James had to return to George for some final responsibilities, before flying back to Aus on Tuesday ...
Myself, Werner and Dawie was on our way to the Baviaans. Plan was to go via Prins Albert and then Willowmore to Uitspan - where we were booked for Saturday evening ... then through the Baviaans on Sunday and back to George ...  atch:

We convinced James to ride with us to Prins Albert, to have a final brunch together at the Prikly Pear ...

 

[XRRX]

Ek hoop dis 'n natreen storie op daai geel snot.... Julle wil mos nie vir my 'n job reel daar om saam met julle te kan ry nie..... Ek is goed met val op Die Hel se geel snot.  :imaposer:

:lol8: :biggrin:

 

[XRRX]

Well Brunch became Lunch  with a farewell Tequila, and then we were off, James by tar via Klaarstroom... Meiringspoort to George, and the rest of us by gravel to Willowmore ...
We took the gravel road that exits Prins Albert at the Bushpub, and then you cross the tar road from De Rust to Beaufort to go on, then right at the Rietbron fork, to met up with the Klaarstroom - Willowmore gravel road eventually at the T about 10-15 k's from Willowmore.

The road was inviting, the time around 14:00, and the Baviaans was still far far away ... so we "gooi'ed", 130...140 ... You get that "roller coaster" feeling on that road at that speeds ... niice !  :ricky:

But, about 3-5 k's before the Beaufort tar-crossing, my bike had a different kind of "roar", and the road felt very sandy suddenly ...
ANOTHER BLOODY FLAT REAR !!!! Tube - "mo@rtoe", tyre almost burning hot !!  :eek7: :dousing:
Tyre weld did not work - obviously ...  atch:

Ok, we decided to repair the Twins punctured 18inch tube from the morning (Dawie fitted new tube) ... As we were busy with that, our old compatriots - Kurt & Keith arrived over the horizon ...  :thumleft: O0
Kurt had a new 17 inch tube for me, and they were on their way back to George by tar in 5 k's time ...

Thank you, thank you, thank you !!!

OK, after this we were "scr@wed" late, but we did go a bit slower... After the Beaufort crossing, the road also changes quite a bit ...

 

[XRRX]

And this is now literally as well as figuratively the "water shed" in this ride/report ...
It became wetter and wetter, our time were running out as we were chasing a storm ...

 

[XRRX]

In the previous post's last picture, myself and Dawie were waiting for Werner... I kept his headlight in my mirrors the entire time, but as it started raining and with all the mud and streams, I lost concentration of what was going on behind me, as I concentrated on keeping everything together myself...

We waited for about 3-5 min, and decided to turn around and go look for him. a Few km's back we met him coming from the front ... When he got close, we noticed his 1200 was completely skew now ... Himself looked pale and stressed-up, and you could see he was suffering pain!! He gave us a quick background - "hit" and erosion hole in a "deep dip" at speed! The speed carried the front wheel over, but the bash plate hit the bank on the other side so hard, that his back was severely hurt (the front mountings were torn out of the Touratech bash plate and completely bend or torn)!!! This impact threw him and the bike skywards where everything went even more haywire - ending close to a 100m away with him stuck underneath the bike and "lights-out" !!! He managed to get himself up as well as the bike, and started riding again ... to meet us shortly after that ...
Sorry Werner, I should have kept you in my sights!!!! 

The atmosphere was damped, as we struggled our way through the mud, now keeping the injured man and bike between us ... Then we arrived at a raging river - close to the T-junction we so dearly wanted to reach ...
It was impossible to go through!!! We didn't know what the extent of Werner's injuries was, and to go back the way we came, was also sort of impossible!!
Dawie and me put up a little shelter between the bikes, trying to at least get Werner out of the rain and cold stormy wind... We gave him some pain-killers, and he had the last bit of red wine that was left from the previous night, while Dawie and me each had Whiskey - trying to get some heat into our bodies ...
It was 17:30, and on account of the stormy weather almost dark ...

 

[Knucklhead/knuckey]

:thumleft:

 

[XRRX]

Waiting & hoping ....

 

[woody1]

Sjoe daai rivier is KWAAD !

 

[charliepappa]

:sip:

 

[XRRX]

Round about 18:15, we noticed that the water level had dropped by 1m+, and decided to take a chance!!! It was really getting dark and shyte cold, and Werner was clearly suffering!!!
Dawie went in first with the AT, and made it through!!  :thumleft:
Then me, but I went a little left to his line ... Next moment my front wheel was gone into a hole underneath the water, and before I knew it, I was lying on my back in that brown stream, with my left foot stuck underneath the bike's left passenger foot peg ... Fortunately I could hold my head above water, and managed to switch off the bike, and managed to recover my camera bag with cellphone from underneath me ... SO FROM HERE ONWARDS THE PICTURE QUALITY DETERS, AS THE CAMERA GOT WET ... & WETTER!!!
Dawie ran towards me to help, but also stepped into a hole and fell - almost on-top of me and the bike ...  : I was "p*ssing myself with laughter ..." : :
But we got it up, and the GSA started first time - just very quiet at first, as the exhaust was submerged in an up-stream direction ... Miraculously I managed to keep the front end with the air intakes just above water level ...

Then Dawie stayed in the water, and guided Werner through - but 200m further on we were halted again!!!