:sip: Beautiful photo's! Enjoying the storytelling too :biggrin:
Why is all the good riding so far away from Kathu...
- Thread starter Xpat
- Start date
MaxThePanda
Race Dog
The tubular steel fairing frame on those Omegas are known to break under heavy conditions - several of them did on Amagezas. That wasn't the rattling was it?
Day 7 - part 1
The objective of the day was to explore Namaqua 4x4 eco trail. Deemed by the initiated as one of the best, if not the best desert trail in SA - and yet for some unfathomable reason very rarely ridden by people on this supposedly ‘adventure’ biking forum.
I didn’t have clear idea of how far am I going to make it on day 1. The whole trail is about 250 - 300 km from Pofadder to Vioolsdrif, and from what I’ve seen not more difficult than Damaraland/Kaokoland riverbeds - with exception of little trial section detour called somewhat melodramatically ‘Road to Hell’. The 4x4 people said it takes normally 2 days, but the Amageza warriors do the whole trail and much more in one day. Tentatively, I expected to sleep over at the top/bottom of the Road to Hell about two thirds of the way to Vioolsdrif.
I loaded GPS track of the trail from Kamanya at home, but somehow couldn’t find in my GPS list of tracks in the morning in Pofadder. I found it eventually in the list of Routes, which I’m guessing are navigable tracks. I don’t use any automatic GPS navigational functions and use GPS only as a map that shows me where I am - that way I’m in control and always cognizant of where I am. Not being smart enough to use the GPS route that way, I just reverted to T4A tracks, which seemed to follow more or less the same route.
I set-off early after breakfast. First few km I took N14 until I reached the turnoff indicated on T4A about 20 km later. Annoyingly at the turn-off I found shiny new fence, that - barring cutting the fence - I couldn’t get through. So I continued on tar another 10 km to the turnoff to the dirt D road heading to Klein Pella.
I took the sandy D road all the way to the Klein Pella date farm. The scenery was the trademark namibian landscape - desert with scenic rocky outcrops framing the horizon on all sides.
In Klein Pella I got through the boom to the estate and got directed by a gentleman I bumped into to the 4x4 trail, heading west. I took the trail and cruised west on the sandy double track, which after few km connected again for a bit to a big dirt D road.
The objective of the day was to explore Namaqua 4x4 eco trail. Deemed by the initiated as one of the best, if not the best desert trail in SA - and yet for some unfathomable reason very rarely ridden by people on this supposedly ‘adventure’ biking forum.
I didn’t have clear idea of how far am I going to make it on day 1. The whole trail is about 250 - 300 km from Pofadder to Vioolsdrif, and from what I’ve seen not more difficult than Damaraland/Kaokoland riverbeds - with exception of little trial section detour called somewhat melodramatically ‘Road to Hell’. The 4x4 people said it takes normally 2 days, but the Amageza warriors do the whole trail and much more in one day. Tentatively, I expected to sleep over at the top/bottom of the Road to Hell about two thirds of the way to Vioolsdrif.
I loaded GPS track of the trail from Kamanya at home, but somehow couldn’t find in my GPS list of tracks in the morning in Pofadder. I found it eventually in the list of Routes, which I’m guessing are navigable tracks. I don’t use any automatic GPS navigational functions and use GPS only as a map that shows me where I am - that way I’m in control and always cognizant of where I am. Not being smart enough to use the GPS route that way, I just reverted to T4A tracks, which seemed to follow more or less the same route.
I set-off early after breakfast. First few km I took N14 until I reached the turnoff indicated on T4A about 20 km later. Annoyingly at the turn-off I found shiny new fence, that - barring cutting the fence - I couldn’t get through. So I continued on tar another 10 km to the turnoff to the dirt D road heading to Klein Pella.
I took the sandy D road all the way to the Klein Pella date farm. The scenery was the trademark namibian landscape - desert with scenic rocky outcrops framing the horizon on all sides.
In Klein Pella I got through the boom to the estate and got directed by a gentleman I bumped into to the 4x4 trail, heading west. I took the trail and cruised west on the sandy double track, which after few km connected again for a bit to a big dirt D road.
Day 7 - part 2
There are many tracks in the area and if one is not careful, they may end up riding all the way to Vioolsdrif on big dirt D road. While the scenery is great, my objective was to get to the remote rough stuff. I was aiming to get as soon as possible to the little tracks following the Orange river and stay with the river as far as I could without going completely off the trail bundu bashing (which I assumed wouldn’t be appreciated by the locals).
So I took first turn right to the Orange I could find, made it to the orange river about few km east of Witbank village where I turned west and followed the river for the next 80 - 90 km past the next village - Goodhouse. The riding was fantastic, I’d rather let the pictures tell the story:
Eventually at about a lunch time past Goodhouse the trail turned inland and there was no way to continue along. The trail followed for few km dry river bed with that somewhat tricky grainy river sand, which for some strange reason was also corrugated. I stopped for a break and finally found the cause of the rattle from the front. The right bolt fastening the fairing and right radiator to the frame has sheared off in the frame. I have checked that before and didn’t notice anything, so I assume it either got loosened or cracked on that tree impact and finally broke off on the trail. The radiator was hanging on the broken bolt stuck in the fairing frame (which was hanging loose) and the bottom bolt. I’m no mechanical engineer (sadly actually I am by education just because my father was I didn’t have any idea what else study at the time, but never done an hour of real mechanical engineering work), but I didn’t fancy potential radiator collapse here in the sticks. Especially not on my next objective - the Road to Hell - which is basically a dead end route that only very few suckers for punishment visit, so I would be completely on my own. Here are few images of the road stolen from Internet:
Disappointed, I decided to play it safe and decided to pass on Road to Hell this time (this is second time it eluded me - first time my Husky wouldn’t even start in Pofadder). I contemplated where to next - the options being Steinkopf where there is nothing interesting, but they have petrol and most probably mechanic who will be able to drill the broken bolt out, or to Vioolsdrif, where there isn’t much more than couple of camps and farms - not even petrol on SA side. I decided to stick with Vioolsdrif as I assumed there must be a mechanic fixing farm implements and tourist vehicles.
It was about 40 - 50 km on the Namaqua dirt roads to tar and then another 40 or so km on tar up to Vioolsdrif. The scenery and riding up to tar was stunning and helped to dissolve some of the disappointment.
I arrived in Vioolsdrif in the late afternoon and booked into a chalet in the Oewerbos River camp. Later on I exorcised any remaining disappointment by somewhat pissed with owners and 3 friendly locals I bumped into in the bar.
To sum up Namaqua 4x4 Trail: It definitely is the most scenic desert track I have seen in SA. Maybe it was because of the season, but I found it quite a bit easier that I expected (that is minus Road to Hell of course) - the Damaraland & Kaokoland are a notch or two higher, and Kalahari tracks (either cutlines or those dunes) are in a different league in terms of difficulty and especially risk factor.
Not to take anything from Namaqua 4x4! It is fully on par or better with most of the stuff one will find in southern Namibia (that is up to Swakopmund). I believe that it is perfectly doable even on big adventure bike (sans RTH) if one can handle a bit of sand. So a perfect destination to experience ‘Namibia’ without a need for passport or travelling long distances.
M0lt3n, I think you should be able to do it on 1190 in one day no problem - if you start early with your iron butt credentials, you can even gun it back to Pofadder for overnighter (probably even Kakamas). I would say with 2 days for a ride, this (and the dunes I rode in SA south of Askham) are your safest bet for a good ride out from Kathu.
Route for the day:
There are many tracks in the area and if one is not careful, they may end up riding all the way to Vioolsdrif on big dirt D road. While the scenery is great, my objective was to get to the remote rough stuff. I was aiming to get as soon as possible to the little tracks following the Orange river and stay with the river as far as I could without going completely off the trail bundu bashing (which I assumed wouldn’t be appreciated by the locals).
So I took first turn right to the Orange I could find, made it to the orange river about few km east of Witbank village where I turned west and followed the river for the next 80 - 90 km past the next village - Goodhouse. The riding was fantastic, I’d rather let the pictures tell the story:
Eventually at about a lunch time past Goodhouse the trail turned inland and there was no way to continue along. The trail followed for few km dry river bed with that somewhat tricky grainy river sand, which for some strange reason was also corrugated. I stopped for a break and finally found the cause of the rattle from the front. The right bolt fastening the fairing and right radiator to the frame has sheared off in the frame. I have checked that before and didn’t notice anything, so I assume it either got loosened or cracked on that tree impact and finally broke off on the trail. The radiator was hanging on the broken bolt stuck in the fairing frame (which was hanging loose) and the bottom bolt. I’m no mechanical engineer (sadly actually I am by education just because my father was I didn’t have any idea what else study at the time, but never done an hour of real mechanical engineering work), but I didn’t fancy potential radiator collapse here in the sticks. Especially not on my next objective - the Road to Hell - which is basically a dead end route that only very few suckers for punishment visit, so I would be completely on my own. Here are few images of the road stolen from Internet:
Disappointed, I decided to play it safe and decided to pass on Road to Hell this time (this is second time it eluded me - first time my Husky wouldn’t even start in Pofadder). I contemplated where to next - the options being Steinkopf where there is nothing interesting, but they have petrol and most probably mechanic who will be able to drill the broken bolt out, or to Vioolsdrif, where there isn’t much more than couple of camps and farms - not even petrol on SA side. I decided to stick with Vioolsdrif as I assumed there must be a mechanic fixing farm implements and tourist vehicles.
It was about 40 - 50 km on the Namaqua dirt roads to tar and then another 40 or so km on tar up to Vioolsdrif. The scenery and riding up to tar was stunning and helped to dissolve some of the disappointment.
I arrived in Vioolsdrif in the late afternoon and booked into a chalet in the Oewerbos River camp. Later on I exorcised any remaining disappointment by somewhat pissed with owners and 3 friendly locals I bumped into in the bar.
To sum up Namaqua 4x4 Trail: It definitely is the most scenic desert track I have seen in SA. Maybe it was because of the season, but I found it quite a bit easier that I expected (that is minus Road to Hell of course) - the Damaraland & Kaokoland are a notch or two higher, and Kalahari tracks (either cutlines or those dunes) are in a different league in terms of difficulty and especially risk factor.
Not to take anything from Namaqua 4x4! It is fully on par or better with most of the stuff one will find in southern Namibia (that is up to Swakopmund). I believe that it is perfectly doable even on big adventure bike (sans RTH) if one can handle a bit of sand. So a perfect destination to experience ‘Namibia’ without a need for passport or travelling long distances.
M0lt3n, I think you should be able to do it on 1190 in one day no problem - if you start early with your iron butt credentials, you can even gun it back to Pofadder for overnighter (probably even Kakamas). I would say with 2 days for a ride, this (and the dunes I rode in SA south of Askham) are your safest bet for a good ride out from Kathu.
Route for the day:
Day 7 - Video screenshots
Here are some video screenshots to give you better idea about the type of terrain one crosses on the Namaqua 4x4 trail - stationary pictures in the prior posts do not illustrate it that well:
Witbank:
Here are some video screenshots to give you better idea about the type of terrain one crosses on the Namaqua 4x4 trail - stationary pictures in the prior posts do not illustrate it that well:
Witbank:
Thanks for the comments :thumleft:
I just posted the answer in the Day 7 installment. It wasn't the tubular steel, but the bolt that fastens it to the KTM frame (and holds radiator) on the right that broke. And I found out later in Joburg that also brace that attached fairing to the steering neck was broken.
MaxThePanda said:
I just posted the answer in the Day 7 installment. It wasn't the tubular steel, but the bolt that fastens it to the KTM frame (and holds radiator) on the right that broke. And I found out later in Joburg that also brace that attached fairing to the steering neck was broken.
TVB
Grumpy Mutt
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I need to come back to this RR at a later stage to see the pictures, subscribe :bueller:
Kortbroek
Race Dog
Very nice RR Xpat. The area along both sides of the orange river between Kakamas all the way to Alexanderbaai I know very well as I spend a lot of time there for work. To date I haven't been out there on the bike and reading your RR is making me even more keen to do so. If you know where to look there are some true gems in that area in terms of riding.
As to your lament about the "electric fence" you ran into in the Blouputs area next to the orange river, that is a boundary fence of the Augrabies National Park. I have been privileged to visit just about every corner of that park and you are right, it would make for amazing riding. It is however a good thing that it is closed of as the largest part of the park has been closed of from public access which allows for amazing conservation efforts to succeed with almost zero human influence.
I look forward to the rest of this RR :thumleft:
As to your lament about the "electric fence" you ran into in the Blouputs area next to the orange river, that is a boundary fence of the Augrabies National Park. I have been privileged to visit just about every corner of that park and you are right, it would make for amazing riding. It is however a good thing that it is closed of as the largest part of the park has been closed of from public access which allows for amazing conservation efforts to succeed with almost zero human influence.
I look forward to the rest of this RR :thumleft:
MaxThePanda
Race Dog
Xpat said:
PSP in Cape Town developed a very structural and clever CNC brace and fairing support for the KTM Cape Town version of this conversion (the high end one using the rally tanks, not the cheaper version). Worth a look to replace the tubular thingie if you plan on keeping the bike.
I've ridden through that Pela/Namaqua 4x4 area about five times, including two Amagezas and a few other trips, and there are technical areas that one can sniff out, including a bunch of routes up river beds and canyons, but I agree with your sentiments about it being less technical than the other areas you've mentioned. Down to not many mountains and not many dunes, I guess. There's also much more technical riding across the N7 in the Richtersveld Conservancy, if one ventures off the well worn T4A tracks.
The Road to Hell is a bit of a different matter. I took our crew down there about 2 years ago - I was on a 450 and it wasn't too bad, but some others on 690s and DRs in our group battled getting back up.
Andrew/Kamanya was in that area in Jan and hoped to go down the Road to Hell in his Pajero, but apparently things have deteriorated substantially:
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=209213.msg3835248#msg3835248
Lovely pix -thanks - enjoying the memories!
Osadabwa
Race Dog
Doing it right, Xpat!
For what it's worth, I think you made the right call on skipping that horrible section of the "road" to hell. One little drop on that same bum radiator and you could have been building your own funeral cairn.
I'm itching to ride now... dammit. Maybe I can squeeze in a day ride this week...
:snorting:
For what it's worth, I think you made the right call on skipping that horrible section of the "road" to hell. One little drop on that same bum radiator and you could have been building your own funeral cairn.
I'm itching to ride now... dammit. Maybe I can squeeze in a day ride this week...
:snorting:
Day 8
This was a rest day - or rather a repair day. The priority being mending the broken fairing subframe. The night before I have asked Neville (I hope my useless memory of names serves me right here), owner of the Oewerbos River Camp, whether there is a mechanic who could help with the broken bolt. As one would expect, he directed me to the Post Office. You need any mechanicing done in Vioolsdrif - drilling out a broken bolt or complete rebuilt of the Golf engine - Post Office is the place to go!
Orange river at the Oewerbos River Camp:
After breakfast I headed out to seek out the Post Office based on Neville’s directions and got lost immediately. Which is quite a feast in a place with about 50 buildings spread few km along one dirt road. Eventually I stopped at the Bangladeshi stop (my local drinking compadres swapped few funny stories night before about the Bangladeshi, plot of which eluded me, but I was drunk enough to laugh along anyway) where I bought few things and asked about the Post Office. He said it is right next door, so I walked around the building but no luck.
At least I gathered from the conversation in which direction next door is and rode back km or so until I spotted the place.
It indeed was a Post Office franchise run from a rented house by a family who seemed to fall on a hard times. To get by, apart from running Post Office branch, father and son were doing car and bike repairs - any mechanicing work really that came their way. In the course of the morning I learned that for 11 years before they settled in Vioolsdrif they used to travel the length of South Africa in a van as a music group, playing various gigs at weddings, casinos and such.
They were nice people, but a walking reminder of the risks of motorcycling - or rather road motorcycling. Father - who attended to my bike - basically didn’t have one knee and could walk only by holding his thigh and calf together with his hand, otherwise his leg was prone to collapse in unnatural direction - result of a motorcycle accident. Mother had part of her skull replaced by metal plate and various complicated fractures (healed only up to a point) from when she went under a truck at 180 kmh on Hayabusa or some such contraption. She explained to me little bit of their family history and I think there wasn’t one member of the family - female or male - who didn’t ride motorbikes. Mind you, they considered as motorbike only something upwards of 1300cc and 300 kmh top speed.
We stripped the rally fairings and the tanks off the bike, and they set-off to drill the broken bolt out of the frame. It was quite a mission - their drill wasn’t the most powerful, the access to the bolt wasn’t easy and the thread got damaged in the process and had to be re-threaded. I’ve spent better part of the morning there helping here and there, chatting to the family (little interesting fact apart from the medical history - they do complete overhaul of Golf engine for R2500 - parts included), and watching soldiers from the local base sent their weekly parcels to wherever their families lived.
Eventually they managed to get the bolt out and a put a new one in. It looked to me like the bolt is not completely in, but we couldn’t get it any tighter, so it will have to do.
Feeling guilty about my easy peasy existence compared to their lot, I paid about triple of what they asked (still nowhere close to what I would pay in the sunny Joburg) and was off to the River Camp to indulge the gastro tourist for the rest of the day.
This was a rest day - or rather a repair day. The priority being mending the broken fairing subframe. The night before I have asked Neville (I hope my useless memory of names serves me right here), owner of the Oewerbos River Camp, whether there is a mechanic who could help with the broken bolt. As one would expect, he directed me to the Post Office. You need any mechanicing done in Vioolsdrif - drilling out a broken bolt or complete rebuilt of the Golf engine - Post Office is the place to go!
Orange river at the Oewerbos River Camp:
After breakfast I headed out to seek out the Post Office based on Neville’s directions and got lost immediately. Which is quite a feast in a place with about 50 buildings spread few km along one dirt road. Eventually I stopped at the Bangladeshi stop (my local drinking compadres swapped few funny stories night before about the Bangladeshi, plot of which eluded me, but I was drunk enough to laugh along anyway) where I bought few things and asked about the Post Office. He said it is right next door, so I walked around the building but no luck.
At least I gathered from the conversation in which direction next door is and rode back km or so until I spotted the place.
It indeed was a Post Office franchise run from a rented house by a family who seemed to fall on a hard times. To get by, apart from running Post Office branch, father and son were doing car and bike repairs - any mechanicing work really that came their way. In the course of the morning I learned that for 11 years before they settled in Vioolsdrif they used to travel the length of South Africa in a van as a music group, playing various gigs at weddings, casinos and such.
They were nice people, but a walking reminder of the risks of motorcycling - or rather road motorcycling. Father - who attended to my bike - basically didn’t have one knee and could walk only by holding his thigh and calf together with his hand, otherwise his leg was prone to collapse in unnatural direction - result of a motorcycle accident. Mother had part of her skull replaced by metal plate and various complicated fractures (healed only up to a point) from when she went under a truck at 180 kmh on Hayabusa or some such contraption. She explained to me little bit of their family history and I think there wasn’t one member of the family - female or male - who didn’t ride motorbikes. Mind you, they considered as motorbike only something upwards of 1300cc and 300 kmh top speed.
We stripped the rally fairings and the tanks off the bike, and they set-off to drill the broken bolt out of the frame. It was quite a mission - their drill wasn’t the most powerful, the access to the bolt wasn’t easy and the thread got damaged in the process and had to be re-threaded. I’ve spent better part of the morning there helping here and there, chatting to the family (little interesting fact apart from the medical history - they do complete overhaul of Golf engine for R2500 - parts included), and watching soldiers from the local base sent their weekly parcels to wherever their families lived.
Eventually they managed to get the bolt out and a put a new one in. It looked to me like the bolt is not completely in, but we couldn’t get it any tighter, so it will have to do.
Feeling guilty about my easy peasy existence compared to their lot, I paid about triple of what they asked (still nowhere close to what I would pay in the sunny Joburg) and was off to the River Camp to indulge the gastro tourist for the rest of the day.
Kortbroek said:
I'm all for conservation, but I think opening one nice pass through track similar to Namaqua 4x4 would make too much damage. Namaqua 4x4 is freely accessible to public and I have met nobody there. These areas are for connoisseurs and I doubt it would attract huge crowds that would cause real damage. At the end of the day, one can access it anyway - at least on 4x4, but probably on bike as well - but only from Augrabies and have to come back the same way if I understand it correctly. If they would make anothere entrance from those grape farms in the north, it would make for nice loop with no more damage that is caused by an occassional 4x4 that ventures that way today.
But the fact is that I know nothing about that area, so may be completely wrong on this - and of course I have a vested interest here
MaxThePanda said:
Thank you - I will have a look at that PSP brace once back in SA.
Just to reiterate - I wasn't critcising the Namaqua 4x4 in any way - it is fantastic riding with no match in SA (for desert riding). It was more an answer to a different conversation I had with m0lt3nelsewhere, where he was asking about how difficult the Namaqua 4x4 is - or rather how long it takes. At the time - before I rode it - I assumed it takes two days (even without RTH) to navigate, so I just thought to give an update after I have actually ridden it.
Kortbroek
Race Dog
Xpat said:
The entrance to their road through the park, which is where that sign is you saw, is at the park offices. All of the roads and tracks accessible to the public restricts you to the eastern and southern parts of the park. This leaves the valleys and plains to the north and west untouched. It is quite amazing how nature is reclaiming the park. Some of the areas I visited in there have ruins of old farm houses and roads that once were major gravel roads that have now pretty much disappeared.
The riding to be had in the park is also only about 5-6km of riverbeds for the valleys leading down to the Orange river. The rest would be on gravel roads in the park. One big issue from bikes would be the noise unfortunately. I think we are spoilt for choice both for riding and proper nature reserves in South Africa.
Kortbroek said:
Fair enough, I can always get my fill in Botswana
. I actually feel that this kind of riding is pretty limited in SA due to prevalence of private property. Sure there are plenty of nice and scenic dirt roads for adventure bikes, but for proper dual sporting - apart from few areas usually on the fringes of SA, one usually needs to head across the border.
Kortbroek
Race Dog
Ja true. We do have less public land than many other countries, especially Botswana. But that is a whole other debate.
Still, if you look in the right places there is some amazing riding to be had
Still, if you look in the right places there is some amazing riding to be had
Day 9 - part 1
My original plan from Vioolsdrif was to circumvent Richtersveld to Sendelingsdrif, cross to Namibia and turn back east for a return trip to Joburg. After the Khawa dunes fiasco I was eager for re-match so I decided to turn back already in Vioolsdrif to save day or two for another attempt at the dunes crossing. The new plan was to cross to Nam in Vioolsdrif, turn east and try to follow Orange river as close as possible - basically trying to follow equivalent of Namaqua 4x4 track on the other side of the Orange river. After that I wanted to surf Kalahari sand along the Nam/SA border back to Bokspits.
Before the trip I have started a thread on WD asking if anybody knows tracks along the Orange river on the Nam side, but the feedback I’ve got wasn’t very encouraging. Basically, there were few D roads that ventured to a settlement or two from the north, but they were all dead ends and didn’t allow for an interesting route off the beaten track. However, looking at the satellite images I could see tracks going along the river east from the farm right opposite Goodhouse (the farm - lines of trees across the river - is in one of the pictures I posted in Day 7), which after few dozen km turned into Hom river and followed the riverbed all the way to Warmbad. That looked properly off the beaten track and interesting.
The only problem was that the route crossed something called Sandfontein Lodge & Nature Reserve, and I didn’t know if it is OK to ride there. According to Neville the place was a high end luxury lodge (not a good sign for riding), but he wasn’t sure if I would be let through. So in the morning of departure I got my lazy *** into gear finally, look-up their phone number and called them up. And sure enough, unfriendly lady on the other side told me that I’m not welcome.
Not keen to run into a dead end, I switched back to Sendelingsdrif plan. To save a day the plan was to make it all the way to Ais-Ais (all the way around Richtersveld) for overnighter, and from there to gun it next day on D roads as close as possible to Koes close to SA border, without any detour to the Orange river.
With that settled, the next problem was petrol. Last time I filled up was 300 km ago in Pofadder as in my modified original plan (the second one) I would fill up in the petrol station on the Nam side of the Vioolsdrif border. Luckily Neville had some spare petrol, so I bought it off him and was ready to go.
By the time I sorted all this out it was almost 11:00 am, so I set-off with gusto to catch up some of the lost time. First part of the route is rocky dirt following eastern boundary of Richtersveld Reserve to Eksteensfontein. On the way to Eksteensfontein I passed 4 - 5 4x4s which made this remote road feel almost busy.
From Eksteensfontein I contined west along the Richtersveld boundary. It is a nice route, but I got eventually bored of the main dirt road and started looking for alternatives. I’ve noticed on T4A track heading up into the Richtersveld community conservancy (or some such), which didn’t seem to be off limit (there was no barrier and a sign saying welcome). The track initially just along the heel of the mountains, but after few km it split with one leg connecting bag to the road circumventing the conservancy, and other longer one heading into the mountains and exiting at Kuboes. Intrigued I took the turn to Kuboes.
The route was a double track crawling up the mountains crossing numerous dry riverbeds. Eventually after about 10 km it took a turn north into a steep valley and followed along or through dry rocky riverbed.
The riding wasn’t particularly technical, but combination of the rocks and the heat did sap my energy a bit. I have made it up into the mountains, where the track still climbing up followed wide valleys across the mountains.
About two thirds into the track I came upon a barely readable sign saying Richtersveld National Park - No Entry Without Permit. So I had a dilemma - to turn back or push on and face the music should I get caught. I wasn’t too keen to backtrack through the rocky riverbeds as by this stage it was getting late and yes, the bolt holding the subframe was broken again with radiator half hanging in the air. It was also getting late and Kuboes was only 20 or so km away - probably a quarter of what it would take to get there backtracking. I also could see on T4A that the track follows the boundary and doesn’t veer off deeper into the park. So I decided to push on.
Surprisingly the track continued to climb up and up and wasn’t getting any smoother either - not a good sign for my fairing. Eventually I climbed to the top of a mountain that overlooked the flat plains below. That is where I came to my match. There was very steep and eroded downhill section that stopped me in my tracks. I walked it down and up and contemplated my next move. I wouldn’t ride it as the risk of injury was just too high. But with a bit of effort I figured I should be able to walk the bike down. The problem was I didn’t know what is the track like ahead. Should I run into similar section going uphill, I would be properly stuck as I wouldn’t be able to get the bike up, nor be able to backtrack - so would have to walk out for help and who knows how keen they would be considering I was there without permit.
The tricky bit:
So for the second time on the trip I choose to chicken out and turn tail. I guess I should rather stick with the gastro tourism.
My original plan from Vioolsdrif was to circumvent Richtersveld to Sendelingsdrif, cross to Namibia and turn back east for a return trip to Joburg. After the Khawa dunes fiasco I was eager for re-match so I decided to turn back already in Vioolsdrif to save day or two for another attempt at the dunes crossing. The new plan was to cross to Nam in Vioolsdrif, turn east and try to follow Orange river as close as possible - basically trying to follow equivalent of Namaqua 4x4 track on the other side of the Orange river. After that I wanted to surf Kalahari sand along the Nam/SA border back to Bokspits.
Before the trip I have started a thread on WD asking if anybody knows tracks along the Orange river on the Nam side, but the feedback I’ve got wasn’t very encouraging. Basically, there were few D roads that ventured to a settlement or two from the north, but they were all dead ends and didn’t allow for an interesting route off the beaten track. However, looking at the satellite images I could see tracks going along the river east from the farm right opposite Goodhouse (the farm - lines of trees across the river - is in one of the pictures I posted in Day 7), which after few dozen km turned into Hom river and followed the riverbed all the way to Warmbad. That looked properly off the beaten track and interesting.
The only problem was that the route crossed something called Sandfontein Lodge & Nature Reserve, and I didn’t know if it is OK to ride there. According to Neville the place was a high end luxury lodge (not a good sign for riding), but he wasn’t sure if I would be let through. So in the morning of departure I got my lazy *** into gear finally, look-up their phone number and called them up. And sure enough, unfriendly lady on the other side told me that I’m not welcome.
Not keen to run into a dead end, I switched back to Sendelingsdrif plan. To save a day the plan was to make it all the way to Ais-Ais (all the way around Richtersveld) for overnighter, and from there to gun it next day on D roads as close as possible to Koes close to SA border, without any detour to the Orange river.
With that settled, the next problem was petrol. Last time I filled up was 300 km ago in Pofadder as in my modified original plan (the second one) I would fill up in the petrol station on the Nam side of the Vioolsdrif border. Luckily Neville had some spare petrol, so I bought it off him and was ready to go.
By the time I sorted all this out it was almost 11:00 am, so I set-off with gusto to catch up some of the lost time. First part of the route is rocky dirt following eastern boundary of Richtersveld Reserve to Eksteensfontein. On the way to Eksteensfontein I passed 4 - 5 4x4s which made this remote road feel almost busy.
From Eksteensfontein I contined west along the Richtersveld boundary. It is a nice route, but I got eventually bored of the main dirt road and started looking for alternatives. I’ve noticed on T4A track heading up into the Richtersveld community conservancy (or some such), which didn’t seem to be off limit (there was no barrier and a sign saying welcome). The track initially just along the heel of the mountains, but after few km it split with one leg connecting bag to the road circumventing the conservancy, and other longer one heading into the mountains and exiting at Kuboes. Intrigued I took the turn to Kuboes.
The route was a double track crawling up the mountains crossing numerous dry riverbeds. Eventually after about 10 km it took a turn north into a steep valley and followed along or through dry rocky riverbed.
The riding wasn’t particularly technical, but combination of the rocks and the heat did sap my energy a bit. I have made it up into the mountains, where the track still climbing up followed wide valleys across the mountains.
About two thirds into the track I came upon a barely readable sign saying Richtersveld National Park - No Entry Without Permit. So I had a dilemma - to turn back or push on and face the music should I get caught. I wasn’t too keen to backtrack through the rocky riverbeds as by this stage it was getting late and yes, the bolt holding the subframe was broken again with radiator half hanging in the air. It was also getting late and Kuboes was only 20 or so km away - probably a quarter of what it would take to get there backtracking. I also could see on T4A that the track follows the boundary and doesn’t veer off deeper into the park. So I decided to push on.
Surprisingly the track continued to climb up and up and wasn’t getting any smoother either - not a good sign for my fairing. Eventually I climbed to the top of a mountain that overlooked the flat plains below. That is where I came to my match. There was very steep and eroded downhill section that stopped me in my tracks. I walked it down and up and contemplated my next move. I wouldn’t ride it as the risk of injury was just too high. But with a bit of effort I figured I should be able to walk the bike down. The problem was I didn’t know what is the track like ahead. Should I run into similar section going uphill, I would be properly stuck as I wouldn’t be able to get the bike up, nor be able to backtrack - so would have to walk out for help and who knows how keen they would be considering I was there without permit.
The tricky bit:
So for the second time on the trip I choose to chicken out and turn tail. I guess I should rather stick with the gastro tourism.
billy-joe
Race Dog
****, that last bit does look gnarly! fun on a plastic but not so lekker on your own on a bigger scoot! really enjoying the rr, keep it coming pls.
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Wow! I will never get anywhere near where you get to.
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