Wild Coast Adventure

[jverster]

When you travel through the Kei it's like being on a different planet.  Not only is the place spectacular but the laws of physics seem to be different as well.
Just look at some of these pics and see how natural the bikes appear. Normally you'd think that something is wrong but not here.

Even the cows seem to be in place. Lying on the beach ?

 

[Dorothee]

This looks awesome, I will be doing the Transkei next week, and I promise you that I will not be doing the route you have taken.  There are times when I will play the lady to the best of my abilities, and this will be it! Thanks for sharing as I am getting really excited to get back there and join the cows on the beach! On my two pins, not  wheels!

 

[jverster]

Now for those of you that's keen on experiencing different terrain there's no place like to Kei. Below follows a series of pics that shows just what terra firma you can expect out there.

You have your rocky sandy sections.

Then you get jeep track through grassland.

You're  old fashioned gravel road. Really top quality surface.

Then you have your rolling hills , seaside style.

Some more jeep track but with some attitude.

Single track into a thickening. Not for the faint hearted.

Very loose gravel going onto single track down the hill.

Here's an interesting one. Cobbled stone single track into dense thicket.

This is what it looks like on the other side.

Here is a tyre track. Never seen anything like it.

To be continued ....

 

[letsgofishing]

The series of 4 pics showing the bikes "resting" - care to explain what happened in the 3rd one?

 

[jverster]

You mean this picture.

Well what happened was that  Bart and the Mahut were cruising along on the line there where you see the Dakar in the background.  You can see from the pic that you have to cross the sloot in the road. It is at this point that the forces of nature take over. Now I know Bart and he can handle almost any situation. I recon he decided he wanted to cross over gently and continue on , no problem.
But the Mahut had other plans. First it jumped into the ditch and then also violently jumped out again. This time straight into the bush.  At this point Bart dismounted the beast which was clearly upset with the whole affair. But just before Bart could get away from the angry beast , he bit Bart. Yes, on the lip ek sê.

 

[jverster]

To contniue with the diffent surfaces I will add:


A grassy jeep track.  It's really great riding on this stuff.

Pic to be updated




Then there's some real heavy rocky sections.

 

[jverster]

And finally there's the absolute pleasure of riding hard beach sand. Breakers on the left.



Pic to be updated

 

[Oppad]

Brilliant pics. Love that tyre road, also have not seen anything like it before. The Transkei is special.

 

[zetman]

Lekker lekker die transkei is op my bucket list geniet jou RR skryfstyl jy kan ma aangaan ek wag...

 

[jverster]

You can't  just enjoy the Kei without paying some respect. Here Gielie and Bart is performing a basic ritual.  Hands on your knees and head down. Breath deep and don't stand up before the stars behind your eyelids have subsided.
They are showing their respect to the to the grass god of Koffie Bay. The locals in the background clearly approves.
Mr Sinibaldi has removed their lids as this is disrespectful towards the spirits.

Thinking of it now , most of us performed similar rituals on a regular basis without even being solicited.

 

[jverster]

Here is one of those "must take" pictures in the Transkei. It's the manne in front of the Hole in the Wall about 8km outside Coffee Bay.

Oh and let me sommer take this opportunity to introduce the gang; starting from the left.
Mr Sinibaldi
Niel
JP
Gielie
Bart
Pieter

 

[durtseeker]

Great RR!
Do you perhaps have the gps tracks of this awesome adventure you went on?

 

[jverster]

Indeed.
I'll just have to get them sorted and then I'll post them. The planning of this trip was actually something quite special. Most of the route was made on uncharted roads. I mean really not on any map.  What we did was to study the route on Google Earth and then mapped it by hand in Google earth. Then you save it and convert it to a GPX database which can be loaded via Mapsource to your GPS. That was quite a mission. We also planned a few alternative routes for each day 'cause you can see that you can run into a dead end and then you have to turn around and try and make it to the destination via an alternative route.
All I can say is that some serious mapping techniques were employed.
I'll make a note about posting the final route.

 

[jverster]

The food on the route was top quality. We planned to stay over at small villages or towns and these had ample supplies. We had your basic backup emergency supplies like noodles and sardines but fortunately only had to make us of it once. We wanted to focus all our energy on the riding and didn't want to starve on an emergency style diet. It's not necessary in the Kei. There's small villages everywhere and if you plan a little you can chow like a king , almost all of the time.

Here are some samples:

At Umngazi we start our meal with Samosas and mini sausage rolls. Notice the sweet chilli sauce dip. Notice BArt has also not yet kissed the Mahut. His lip is still beautiful.

 

[jverster]

Chunky chicken fillets with braai brootjies and some salad.
And let me tell you that Bart can make a braai brootjie of outstanding quality. Just thinking about it makes me wanna try and make one, right now !

Tjops and wors.The stuff that men are made of.

Kentucky. The stuff that real men eat after they had a heavy night and the stomach lining is severly damaged.

Potatoes, steak, whole chicken with Jack and Coke. Holy moly this is a lekka party !!

 

[jverster]

Penne pasta with slightly curried seafood stew. Cook right next to Indian ocean. Eat, smile, sleep.

 

[jverster]

The lunch stops were normally after some serious hard work and thus well deserved. Here Pieter and Bart chomps a quick sandwich and some  biscuits.

Here they are at it again. This time next to a river. Spot the mayonnaise and tin of tuna.

 

[jverster]

I mentioned that we also dug into our emergency rations at some point in time.

Well this is what it looks like, Not that the Windhoek has anything to do with an emergency situation,

And then there's local fresh fish. Here Niel has just caught one for the pan.

 

[Outhere]

I seen those tyres before just north of Cobb inn if I remember correctly .
Absolutely briliant trip you guys thanks for sharing . Cant wait for the rest.

 

[Thump]

very good
thanks