Grizz & Dozer's Memorial South African ride.

I will copy and paste the report from this point into here as well for the lazy guys.

There is a 20 page "Pre-Ride report" click the link below.

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=106063.0

[size=15pt]RIGHT....... Here are some basic rooollzzz.

I will be repeating myself in places.

Some of the photos will make no sense.

Please add all your comments and observations.... THAT INCLUDES LURKERS LIKE "MAAK HOM DRONK"

I will try to keep to the truth, but nothing is what it seems.[/size]



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You all read the pre-report and the small updates, so should be up to date.


I flew out of London Heathrow after Jon "Lebowski" seen below, dropped me off at the airport.



We had stayed awake through the night and left my place at 02.15 to get to Heathrow for the 04.30 check in

Business Class Lounge was rather nice at 05.00.

Then onto the KLM flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam Schipol Airport for a quick change onto the rather large intercontinental plane that would be taking me to Cape Town and the start of this ride.

The staff on the first leg were Exeptionally good, Thank You KLM.

Then the mid morning boarding of the Amsterdam-Cape Town flight.

BLOODY HELL...... Chairs the size of Rugby fields.

Then our staff came into view and a typical Grizz prayer was answered.....

My side of the plane was crewed by a 6 foot, blue eyed, pretty, always smiling and INTELLIGENT Dutch girl.

I was happy.

Nothing like a crew you can speak to , old, young, male or female (Our first leg was crewed by two Very nice guys and as much a pleasure)

I was sat next to an early retired construction company owner whose son was now managing the company.

.................................... He proceeded to get quite and quietly pissed next to me and after dinner promptly went to sleep for the rest of the flight. I did not sleep at all, rather watched movies.

Dinner/Lunch was great..... no..... extremely good.


STARTER




I was so enjoying my Lunch and also my Brandy and Coke that I forgot to take a photo of the main course......

However, the one lady who tended the other side of the plane came around with a mindblowing array of deserts and asked what I would like??


"SURPRISE ME" I replied, as she was as Intelligent and nice as our goddess.

So she surprised me with a selection.




While we were somewhere over the Sahara, I asked our goddess if she could ask the captain for a photo through the door and front windscreens of the plane..... "Of course, that is a good idea for your Ride report"she replied. (I had told her about the ride and about the Wilddogs community so the was on side.




Everything else went exceedingly well on the flight and when we landed in Cape Town the goddess came over and thanked me for introducing her to Rodrigues , "Searching for Sugarman" was an in flight movie...... I also watched "Django - Unchained" on the flight and enjoyed Tarrantino's latest offering.

I was picked up by Eugene and my brother at the airport and went through to Paarl, getting to bed on my mattress in the lounge by just after midnight.



Thanks to Goose, the mattress in the lounge became my standard sleeping place in every place we stayed over, as Deon, my brother kept reminding people I was a threat to their sleep.


More later.

Back to the story.

After a late night, preceded by very little sleep, I woke up "early" by 07.00 and had a shower, coffee and then some fresh naartjies from Eugene's tree in his garden.
After which I went downstairs to the workshop to look at the changes that had happened since the last time I had been here more than 10 years ago.

Mabille Engineering is a General Engineering shop in Jan Van Riebeek Avenue in Paarl, and will pretty much make you whatever you ask. Eugene is a bit of an entrepreneur and will find and sell you anything you need. He also makes BMW Airhead header nut spanners etc.

A new access road and loads more machines and tools.

I also found Deon checking to see he had all he needed on his bike.



A man who knows how to travel, his one pannier was filled with story books, tools and a tow rope...... he is a prolific reader and also a contingency man, always ready to "make a plan"



Shortly after breakfast, some chit chat etc, we were off to collect The Whale in Rondebosch from Maverick's mate Piet who had given it a once over between doing his day job, running a family and completing a submission for his thesis.

Two fat/big blokes on a bike...... no idea why they say GS's are big ??



I was not looking forward to being Deon's or for that matter, anyone else's pillion, but it turned out to be a perfect opportunity to take photos and look around, to see just how the Western cape, and specifically the Peninsula region had developed since I moved away about 16 years ago.



My My Deon..... look how shiny your helmet is..... >




Made it to Rondebosh to Piet's offices without any mishap to collect The Whale.

First impressions.....




After saying our Hallo's and Good Bye's to Piet, we were off to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront in Cape Town to meet GOOSE......

We would have a coffee and then get over to LEAF SUSHI for a lunch organized by Goose with a bunch of Cape Town Wild Dogs and then go to his place to set up the radios on the bikes so that Dozer and I could chat and enhance the trip further. 5000km on the road can get pretty boring an lonely when you have nobody to talk to.

The two of us together..... Table Mountain behind us.



SIAMESE TWINS ??

The T-Shirt was a birthday present from my Daughter, one that Goose immediately laid claim to.




I have to say than you to Goose for organising, and to all the Cape Dogs for attending, a great afternoons eating ensued, with all op us eating Sushi until we could no more....Bargain at under R120.00 per person, which is about £8.70 or $13.50

I think it was the first highlight of many for Deon on this trip.

I have to admit that I do not remember most of the names, but hopefully you guys, girls will comment and make yourselves known, or Goose who is always meticulous with this sort of thing can add to the list the attendees.

I was given various gifts along the way by people and was really humbled by it all.





YUMMMMM...









Last Man Standing ?? (Or paying the bill)



After lunch and all the good byes and looking at various bikes we decamped to Peter's place up on the base of Table Mountain.....

I will not expose it, as Peter (Goose) can do that himself.

However, the last time I was there, it was a building site and he and Jenny his eternally tolerant wife were living quite rough.
Nothing could have prepared me for the house he had single handedly built.....

I will however leave you with a view, the house is worthy and possibly exceeds the view..... yes it is awesomely nice, with two large rental flats below, and with every unit having its own privacy, a shared swimming pool with viws and a large BBQ/Braai area, Goose has really laid a Golden egg here on the land his grandfather had bought a very long time ago.

The view is from the roof where the plumbing links, ducting and access are all ready for another rather large house/floor to be added when time, money, politics allow.




Downstairs in his garages Goose was also quick to offer one of his custom laser cut multi-point power outlets with a large 12v socket to fit to Dozers bike so that we could use the SatNav that I had brought with from the UK. Peter had uploaded all the South African maps last year and over the ride I think Deon first hated the thing, until he learned to to override any commands that sounded like bullshit..... I will leave it to him to comment on his experience of the SatNav unit.
What I can say is tha by the time we got back to Dunnottar, he had decided to, and did fit a double 12volt outlet to custome made plate for his 1150GS.





After fitting the radio comms etc and a quick test, Deon and I fell into the 5pm Cape Traffic, managing to "get lost" and drive through the centre of Cape Town


When I was given the bike to ride by Piet, and also previously being informed by Maverick that the bike had a tendency to idle a bit high at 2000-2500 rpm when hot, I was surprised when on the way back to the Paarl after the day out, the idling would run up to 3000rpm when stood in traffic at lights etc.... easy solution was to switch off the engine, but it was not good enough.

So we rode home to Paarl and decided that rather than spend the Friday, as Day 3 riding to Cape Point and some other points of interest, we would give the bike a quick going over...... this proved to be very interesting.

So far the Ride was proving to be a good one....... it had not yet turned into an adventure, which is what Maverick had warned me happen when things start to go wrong :biggrin:

More on Day 3 when I get in to write it up.

Now off to the garage to paint an do some other bits n bobs.

Not sure if I should carry on posting here, or just leave the thread on the original Wilddog forum


So on to Day 3 of this little adventure.

The plan had been to go for a ride and see some stuff, including my old house in Glencairn which was my first house. I had designed it and then had the shell built and did all the finishing inside by myself.

But with the idling up at 3000rpm, something needed to be done, so Eugene contacted Stefan who had worked for him before in the shop.
Stefan is only 21 but seems to have a natural affinity for these airhead motors.

In typical South African style, he came around in Shorts and barefooted, something that Eugene and his son Marcel has always done too.

Dozer was in there like a shot.

Basic diagnostics started with things like the throttle cables etc.....




In the mean time I asked Eugene if I could buy or use some material to make a simple carrier to stop the soft pannier bags I got from Millard in the New Forest last year, from burning on the exhaust or getting into the wheels.

Flat bar and 5mm rod, cut, bent, welded together along with 4 allen head screws and grippers, assured it all stayed together.








Stefan the mechanic with one of his Rovers. He changes engines in an afternoon when others like me struggle all day to change the plugs.



So the bike stripping back continued as the problems could not be identified



Early on the much in the carburetors jets was obvious as this pic illustrated.....



Various options were tried, carbs balanced etc.

At lunchtime, Marcel popped out to the shops, dressed like this.

:spitcoffee:

Test rides etc all made he day go by rather quickly.

Nothing seemed to arrest the bikes mad idling.

The engine was dismantled further and further, showing itself up as quite a Frankenstein.

Fiat Uno Distributor, VW CDI units..... Followed late afternoon by the addition of a Suzuki coil to run the top spark plugs.



Next up was a full dismantle of the whole electrical system, showing many connectors being very corroded, so that allowed Deon and Stefan to use loads of Q20/WD40 as they proceeded to clean and inspect every connector.



Deon and Stefan at it, Deon with his eternal fag hanging from his mouth.



The cleaning and testing went on and on, eventually it was 4.30pm and Stefan would not take money from me for the day spent with the bike, until I threatened to "Moer" him, when he said R300.00 would be good. That is about £21.00 or $32.60, which still seemed like very little to pay for a job done.

The Next day was Saturday and we would be off early to meet Goose for a joined ride up to Hermanus........ Of curse that was still more shit to develop.


Hope there are still some people interested in the photos and story.

Off to bed now, Bootfair in the morning.

07.30 here in the UK..... lovely day out.
Lets try this again, last night I was just so buggered, I could not type a straight sentence after the last few days in the garage.
Day 4 started early, with us up by 04.45 in order to be on the road by 05.30 as we wanted to be at Sir Lowry's Pass Village by just after 06.00.
Of course Goose who we were meeting, was there already by 04.00 :


Poor guy was even taking photos of the price of fuel while freezing his nuts off eepwall:

The time we were ready to go.

Dozer and I had tested our comms, checked the lights, indicators etc on both bikes already so were ready to Lock n Load and hit the road, quite excited at this point, and I suspect Deon was probably as well, but being the guy he is, it takes a lot more to make him smile.

This was the point I had started my bike in the garage to start it warming up, followed by pushing it out and swinging about on full lock.
Did I mention we had two way radios and PTT buttons on the handlebars??
Well, aparantly not anymore.
Those of you who know Goose, will know his name really should be Mr Cable Tie.
In an effort to make sure the cables were secure, he had tied it all down just a bit too efficiently, and when it came tofull lock right...... No more comms. BUGGER !!


Of course this meant that Dozer who had the SatNag on his bike would not have the benefit of my verbal guidance on the way out.
The SatNag kept on reprogramming itself and updating the route, which meant that Taurus Dozer, (WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW ON THE 8th MAY ) must have been ready to throw it over the Armco barriers.
The SatNag took us down side roads etc, and one new residential development saw us at a traffic light (robot) for about 3 minutes waiting to get out, and Dozer who is a law abiding type, refused to just get on and jump the red light...... maybe a good thing because I had enough time for a photo.

Once I had told him to over ride the commands and use common sense to do the riding it went much better, and though behind our own schedule, we made good time.
Eventually getting to an irrate Goose's spot.


In his typical style, which I can relate to , Goose had made a friend and got another guy to agree to look up Wilddog Forums.

After the meet and greet we were off to Hermanus, via the coastal route.
Top of Gordons Bay was the first photo opportunity.
I also managed to drop the Whale for the first time, due to brand new Army boots not offering much feedback and some dodgy paving stones on reversing out of the spot I had parked the bike.



Then off again



After this we had some distance (not a lot) to cover to get to Kleinmond for Breakfast......

Something I learned on this trip to be vital to Dozer, along with his cigarettes.
Back in a bit.

Got to Kleinmond after hoofing it as Goose mentioned, we had a few drops of rain, and I did expect him to cry about it (Goose does not like rain : )
Dozer was now HAPPY..... Food does that to him.

I went down to the boat launch ramp first, just to enjoy the smell of the ocean.




And a photo specially for Nicola my wife and of course Goose.
Both Deon and I were checking up on various aspects of the trip, but of course people only see two guys with phones in hand......

Then it was brekkie time.


During breakfast Goose suddenly became VERY DISTRACTED...... the reason, with the help of his 24xZillion zoom camera became apparant..... he does not miss a woman at any distance. I thought I had a problem, but GOOSE IS DA BOSS Lucky for him his lovely wife Jenni is very understanding :xxbah:


With breakfast out the way, the next stop would be Hermanus, a lovely village known for its Whale watching..... the Whale should be quite comfortable there then ?
So we set off after getting a Kleinmond Sticker for the panniers.
It is amazing how few towns, Cities etc keep stickers these days.
On the ride I did not get stickers for most of the places like Port Elizabeth, Durban and various inbetween.

Hermanus is a tourist trap, with prices, comodities all aimed squarely at your wallet and holiday mentality.
I was quite UNIMPRESSED with the fact that they have a "Tourist Information Centre" that had a scribbled note on the door stating "Back in 5 minutes" and half an hour later, they were still not there.
Some arses should be kicked, as it is certainly and official office, not someones private business.
Still, they have a HUGE Motorcycle parking space right on the seafront.
Goose's XT looking decidedly lonely in there.





Some photos Goose took. Interestingly, one rarely takes photos of yourself.

Always a good guy to have on your side. My brother has been mellowing over the years, from being a real Bliksem when younger to a guy whose company and sense of humour I thoroughly enjoy today.

And a final pic of the three of us together.
Goose's bike had developped an electrical/charging problem, so he turned around at Hermanus, and Deon and I started the trip on our own.
Next stop would be Cape Aughulas, or L'Aughulas as it is known as well.
That was some way ahead.


Back in a bit.

Before we left, Goose in one of his characteristic good deeds removed the PTT Lead from his bike, to give me a lead that workd, so that Deon and could chat the rest of the 5000km ahead.
THANKS GOOSE !!!
Deon and I filled the bikes up, I added Wynns Valve Ease as well, to see if w could reduce the amount of oil the bike was demanding...... it averaged out at about 500ml every 400-500km depending on pace set.
We then his the road and was reminded this Whale Country.

It did not take us long to hit the end of the tarmac...... :
We stopped, had a chat and agreed that this made us feel like when we were kids, riding the farm roads around Melmoth, Eshowe and Empangeni on small capacity DS bikes, remember the Suzuki TS125ER and Honda XL185S ????
Now we were older, less bold, and on rather large, comfy bikes, and in his case, even had ABS, not that you want that on marble like surfaces and gravel.
We proceeded without any fear or caution, elation in our hearts because this was starting to feel like the trip of a lifetime.

As long as the road surfaces stayed hard and clean (which they did not) we could stand on the footpegs and happily do 120km/h and more.
On the Whale I needed to be a bit more cautious as it was older technology, and the braking etc is not quite the same :lol8: :lol8: :lol8:
Kap n Meerkat.....

As always, you only take pics when things go well, some parts of this road were scary, even at 20km/h and we saw only two bakkies in al this time.

All too soon the dirt roads ran out, and we were back on track for the outhernmost tip of Africa.

Some signs in South Africa are serious, but still do amuse.


We made it to Cape ughulas, to be confronted by this sign...... so we would not be riding to the outhernmost tip if Africa after all...... poles, bollards and a clear attempt to keep motorized vehicles away was being made.
Still, interestingly, there is an educational angle as well.

This was what we had come to see.....

Could not get Dozer to do the whole role play thing with me.... maybe he was ready to Moer me......

Sticker time.



Of course, being there, meant I felt the need to get the bike to the Southernmost point..... DOZER DECLINED, Not wanting to drop his bike between the rocks or some embarrasing place, and having to explain to Nature Conservation why his bike was beyond the demarcated areas.....
So I took one for the team and took the Whale to the monument for a photos of proof.

After a drink, we headed back into town for fuel and a coffee, and another opportunity for me to drop the bike in front of a sympathetic fuel pump attendant.

Once filed up, pee'd out and drunk up, we regrouped and spoke to a local who told us the ferry was currently of intermittent functionality.... so being a bit gutted, we decided to hit the road for George, where we were booked in at Kosie's B&B for the night.
Several smoke breaks and many miles later we got to Kosie's place.
He was out watching rugby, but got home 5 minutes after I called hime to let him know we had landed.
The last hour plus we rode from Albertinia to George was in the dark..... not nice with all the roadworks etc, but we were "home"

One of the phone calls or texts Gooses had photographed me making had been to ask Kosie to buy some Steaks and chops as well as Boerewors (International readers...... Google Time : ) as we wanted to have a Braai.....


It did not take long for the fire to be started......
At which point the dogs had taken control, and the Brandy was flowing freely.

I loved this simple lighting arrangement in Kosies house passage.... his wife (or he himself) has a keen eye for nice things and getting the best out of decorative items.

This was the status before the meat even hit the fire..... PERFECT !!
We eventually Braai'd the meat, and man that T-Bone was awesome.... my first in more than 6 years.
Thanks a million Kosie.
We went to bed quite late, but there was still the matter of the 7 Passes to be ridden before Breakfast in Knysna the next day.
One of the things I also did was to add Deon and my sticker to Kosie's collection that will be growing on his bar mirror.


More later.
Got to get to the garage now, it is 09.30 here now.
Day 5 to follow.

Hi Grizz, was nice to meet you and Dozer for Sushi at Leaf.
Enjoying your trip report.

Being back from my South Africa bike tour, and the promise of a 9 month job contract meant I had one week in which to do some jobs that may not happen for a while.

I have wanted to remove one of the garage doors for some time, and then to replace it with a panel and a single door.

Recently I got a Free door and frame, including a key from a Glazing company, so the plan was in a holding pattern while I went off to do my ride.





This had to be quick one day job, at least replacing the door etc.

I only got started after 11.00 as I had some computer stuff to do indoors.

Mickey had the day off, so offered his van to help me get a 4x8 foot sheet of heavy duty plywood and some fence posts in. I also had some extra keys cut for the door.

We came home, had a cuppa tea and then proceeded to remove said door.



Cut about 25mm out of the floor to recess the door frame, to prevent tripping when getting in and out of the side door.
Fitted the frame.



Door tried out and Mickey posing :



Later on, note the angle of the shadows..... panels were screwed onto the frames that had been laid onto a very thick bead of silicone, which should act as a damp course.



I had also decided to start painting the whole inside of the garage with some Freebie paint I had gotten from the neighbour two houses down.
In the end I used 35 litres of cream and then white paint in two layers to cover the walls. Next up will be fitting the 6 six foot strip lights I was given by Euan.



I have to say, when I put the garage together it was menat to never be moved again..... ooooopppps.

Moving every bit of furniture and fittings away from the walls once again reminded me that there has to be something wrong with me.



I also put 5 coats of paint on the outside panels and 3 coats on the inside.



These tins were mostly full, and a few were halves..... Free, and people complain about finances.



I had to laugh at my own pile of paints, mostly tins and colours used in redecorating our current house, and from our previous homes.



Back to the garage, first coat down, white next.



One of the jobs that I was trying to put off was clearing all the toolsof this section of the wall, as the Esse Dragon stove I was given by Deli Dave a couple of years ago, will be finding its way in here.




So the next job was to create a pile of tools.




In the mean time I had moved all the tool boards to the opposite side of the garage, and also made a screwdriver shelf......



The same neighbour who gave me all the paint also had a lazy chair and foot stool he was tossing out..... in my direction.

Perfect for putting in the garage in front of the fire.



And having a nice Brandy and Pepsi Max at the end of a tough day



Fire place painted and ready.

Next up a single course of bricks and a thick paving slab 24 x 36 inches on top of it.






Opposite end with boards in place.



And that was tonight.



Next up will be the stove base, and tidy up the floor of the garage (again) and a couple of other small jobs.

And that is my garage up to date again.

Hi Bud, was wondering if it was even worth posting this ride report on here, thanks for the reply.

Good to meet all the Cape Town guys too, food was awesome too.

Day 5 started out early as well, well for us all it seemed early.
Kosie was going to take us through the 7 mountain passes between George and Knysna, before meeting up with some more Wilddogs in Knysna at the Wimpy for Breakfast.
Wimpy Breakfasts seem to be the staple of many of these guys.

We left Kosies place after a quick coffee, then filled the bikes, which took about 30 minutes as the card readers at the pumps were playing up.
Eventually getting away, we hit the road past Saasveld into the forestry roads..... HEAVENLY !!
Shaded dirt roads, some of which Deon and I remembered from our time as kids when my dad used to take us for drives through there, some of these roads were still the "National Roads" when we were growing up 45 years ago.

Loads of bendy bits.
Some tricky bits and many rivers and old bridges gave us the opportunity to really open our eyes, ears and noses..... the senses come alive when you do these back roads, so much more interesting than motorway blasts (which have a place when you need to connect the dots)

Came down a winding bit of road and came around a corner to find Kosie relaxing on the bridge, breakfast in hand ....

After this stop we continued on dirt and bendy roads, making the smile on our faces go wider and wider, till we hit another tar connecting road, leading to the next pass.

We were meant to be meeting Jupiter later in the morning, as he would be joining us through Baviaans Kloof on his "new" or latest bike.
Seems he could not wait, so he joined us much earlier......

Then of course we carried on..... toward breakfast.

Unfortunately, due to the lawless nature of the new generation, signs like these are the norm in many areas, and in some areas the signs are not even put up.... people just know they need to stay alert.

After many miles of smiles we got to Knysna where some more WD's were waiting, had brekkie, then some of us carried on to do some more forestry roads and passes.

More in a bit......on the next section after the Wimpy Brekkie.

Some pics stolen from earlier posts.

With Jupiter now in the lead, we went deep into various passes, the names, like those of the guys we met at brekkie etc, I have not remembered.
®©errie, Dozer and I followed him. He had also swopped bikes for a while with ®©errie as he felt his bike was not performing as it should.

Some real beauty spots, or Zen Spots as Jupiter calls them presented for the next few hours.
I love water, so any dam, river, ocean etc does it for me.

I can see Dozer smiling..... amazing what a bit of dirt will do to the most serious of guys.
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.




Then came a really nice climb, bendy steep roads with sheer drops down one side and nowhere to go up the cliffs on the other side.
Time to keep alert as car and truck drivers seem to own all the width of these roads.

Just perfect.

We rode for some time, enjoying the quiet, nature and the blue skies.
Getting to a sudden sharp turn down a hill, turning back on yourself up to Spitskop viewing point, one of the highest points in these mountains, where, on a good day you can see forever.

Jupiter turning around......to go up the hill, the "road" tracks had been filled with rough cast concrete in places, to prevent the errosion that is caused by rain and weather from turning these tracks into trenches.

With typical enthusiasm, Dozer had gone flying past, so he needed to make a U-Turn on the slope of the road, the pics are slightly deceptive as many of you will know, one cannot capture slopes or just gow rutted a track is on a camera.

Then up he went as well....




The last kilometer is a sligthly slower, watch out what you do type of ride as it is steep, and narrow in places, with the road twisting and turning up on itself.
But the view when you get to the perfectly maintained viewpoint, is worth the 7 passes to get to.

Of course a self portrait featuring ®©errie, Jupiter, Grizz and Dozer.

The view is spectacular from up there.

Of course there has to be a clown....

At some point it had to end, so we got started and decended from our throne in the clouds.
I love the Fynbos of this area, and again, the camera does not do the beauty of thse shrubs and bushes any justice.
I wish Nicola could have been there, she is a keen gardener, and love to go to the Chelsea Flower Show every year, this would have been just perfect for her.

We then rode for quite some time, many more bends, hills, surprises and eventually stopped at a bridge again, where Jupiter showed us the plaque to the memory of one of the greatest engineers ever.
Thomas Bain - He built the passes in the region, without which much of this area would never have been developed.

More in a bit.... coffee time now.

Right... charged up again.
Amazing what a cuppa coffee can do.
After the biltong and smoke break at the river and bridge (Jupiter and Dozer's stops are driven by their nicotine levels) we carried on, upward and onward.

Till we got to this point..... Lovely.
Deon got some really nice pictures here, and at some of the other places we were on this trip, unfortunately I forgot to get them onto a memory stick before leaving SA, so they will be added later when they get here in the post (he bought a memory stick and posted them out last week, Thanks Boet)


The road dropped away and ended up here.....
Jupiter was already camped out under the tree with his first ciggie lit and coffee ordered.

Inside the shop we found one of Jupiters relatives..... she is standing on a box, to give you an idea of just how small she is.
The shop is the sort of place people try to replicate in Garden and Home magazine, or what reminds us of times in farm shops growing up.

And then we were off again.....
Cliffs rising above us the one moment, the next, the ground falling away by hundreds of feet..... not that I even want to try a two foot drop.... crashing is always kark !!
Jupiter and Dozer giving it horns..... really getting into it, only thing is one soon realizes there are still idiots on the road, like a certain youung lady who came charging around a bend, taking up the whole road, and almost taking them both out, as well as a dickhead in a white VW Kombi who seemed to purposefully go for Dozer and I on one of the decents.

At one point I just had to stop again to just take in the majesty of everything around me.
I switched off the bike, took off my helmet, hearing Jupiter and Deon disappear into the distance of the cliffs.... then, suddenly the silence, punctuated by bird calls and the pinging of The Whale's brakes and engine cooling down.
I just took one random pic of some Proteas for my wife, as I will always associate them with her, as she had surprised me with Proteas as her Bridal Bouquet when we got married.
This woman is always filled with surprises and can be so considderate in the stuff she does for me and others.
At that point, I really wished to have her there, just to share my South Africa with her.

I think hers were a lot better on the day....

Also note her surprise "Wedding Car" again, a nod at my "Redneck" nature.
Who would not love a woman like that ?
The same girl who had decided to send me on this trip with my brother.

Ultimately I woke from my reverie and got started up again, pushing the old bike a bit, thoroughly enjoying the feel of the dirt under its wheels.
Catching up with Jupiter and Dozer where they had stopped for another fag break.

Then followed a bit of boring tar connecting road to get onto the next section of dirt, heading toward Baviaans Kloof where I had booked us in at Uitspan Guest farm.

After riding some distance on tar, and having filled our tanks at the last village Uniondale ? we made it back onto dirt roads again.... BLISSS

I did stop after a while to take the following three photos.
PLEASE NOTE: THEY WEE TAKEN SITTING ON MY BIKE< FRONT, SIDE AND REARWARD......
Straight roads? You got that right, quite weird after a day of passes and mountains.
FORWARD

SIDEWARD

REARWARD

This did not mean you could fall asleep, Potholes, wildlife and no oncoming or overtaking traffic were the order of the day... so stay alert.
Miles and miles of farms, game farms and little else meant that sightings like this were a real pleasure.
I had to use the maximum 16x Zoom of my camera to pull this guy in when I stopped and he ran off.

Eventually a T-Junction.
The signage was starting to look like what we wanted to see.
The Baviaans trip was a great part of this ride plan.

Then eventually a sign, we had to turn around for on Jupiters insistence.
But it did show where we had made it to.
The start of the Baviaans Kloof propper.

Next smoke break was ina dried up river drift that crossed the road, evidence of the previous weeks heavy rains were everywhere to be seen.
But this was a pleasure to see.... maybe one of my favourite pics so far.

Lovely skies.

Then after the first section cris crossing the rverbed, we had some open roads and the pac was pushed up again.

Evidence of what was to come.

And then of course our destination for Day 5

Bikes parked up at the Reception area where breakfast is served.
They also have a large meeting/conference room space here.
Note the idylic backdrops everywhere.

Nico and Christine who run Uitspan as a working farm, and guest farm will supply you with everything you need.
Nico is both a very capable engineer and a DS bike rider himself, so understands what is needed by bikers.
This is an amazingly well set up camping place, they cater for allsorts, tents, 4x4's challets, and the unit Deon and I had could sleep 6 upstairs and downstairs. Dozer took lovely photos that I will post when his pics get here.
I had pre-ordered Braai/BBQ Packs from the UK, as well as wood etc.
The challets are fully equipped with all you need from dishwashing liquid to plates, glasses, towels, soap etc.
They also have an "Honesty Bar" where you use what you need from the bar and just write it up and settle the bill in the morning.
There were three dogs on the farm too, which put me straight into my "happy place"
The Australian Kelpie made sure he followed either me or the older Collie, and even insisted on waiting for me to get done in the shower.
Once we had chatted to Nico and Christine, had a couple of beers we went to our lodgings to unpack, Jupiter had a dream cottage on the other side of the river and dam.....
Then we started the fire up and got down to the serious business of Braaing.

I drew the short straw and did the cooking (one way to ensure a decent Medium Rare steak)

For some reason animals have always gravitated toward me, wherever I go.
I love them to do so, and have been banned from my local vets because the staff did not like me giving customers' pets attention.

Deaf, but always working.... he just never settles, always bringing a stick, or looking for something to herd together.

Best seat in the house ?

Jupiter at his best.... relaxed and in a good place, being mugged by one of the dogs. They know so well when they are in charge (dogs that is)

I had a visit from a rather large stick insect, attracted by the outside light.
He landed on my arm, then went down to my leg and again onto my hands.
Nice to see nature come in from the dark.

Kelpie guarding me......


Then made sure I was comfortable in my bed.....

Right..... 11.21 here.
Time to get onto some other stuff.
More later on day 6.

Hi GB, thank you for posting a reply.
I was starting to wonder if it was worth my while even posting up the report on here.

We had a great ride.

Right, Day 6 was planned as a late start with breakfast booked for 09.00 by Jupiter, thankfully (we would find out later) Christine needed to get off early to get her daughter to school, so we agreed to have brekkie earlier.

All of us were up by 06.00 and ready to eat by 07.00.

Before breakfast we all had a walkabout and took some random and not so random pics.

I walked up the valley and past the dam, finding Jupiter in great spirits, packing up his bike.

This was his challet, specially supplied as he had complained about my snoring, before actually experiencing it.





When the dogs and I came back from the valley, I just caught Jupiter leaving his lodgings.

Pic looks like a photoshop.



This was what the Whale's oil leak from the shock looked like before breakfast...... it had progressively gotten worse since leaving Cape Town.

Not to worry.... there was sure to be more oil in there.




I also took the opportunity to go look around in Nico's Workshop/Barn.....

Nice bike(s)



Did I mention Home engineering ??

Lawn mower with grass collector.
Hence the lovely lawns out there.





If you look at the truck behind it, you will get an idea of the size of this lathe..... best of all, look where it is standing, gives you an idea about the weather Nico has to work in.



Homestead and mountain again.

Now you can get an idea about the lawnmower and why it was built.





Breakfast is set out in a buffet style with Christine cooking the hot orders fresh in the kitchen.

Deon must have been grinning madly at this point.









After breakfast we said our Goodbyes and Thank You's and then set off into the Baviaans Kloof

Leaving the farm, I noted that Nico had a collection of old car shells, farm implements etc parked along the fence and roadside.
That made me smile..... kindred spirit ?



We crossed many little streams like this, some a bit deeper a couple dried out already after the recent rains.



These roads carry reasonably little traffic, and most of it is of the 4x4 or pickup truck and bus type.

However, again I was reminded that we were not in the city....



After quite a distance, including a stop for Jupiter to show us where he had fallen himself stupid on a blind rise, combined with a bend where the road just disappeared (Not something you want to happen when you are in top gear, giving it some stick) we came to the entry gate to the Baviaans Nature reserve.

Entry was R60 for the three of us, translating to under £5 for all three together.

They have a system of clocking you in and out of the camp, so as to know when to go look for people who do not make it, or have breakdowns and accidents,








The game ranger told us the rivers were still quite high, and to be careful as some Non-Locals had the habit of spinning up the river crossings, thus dislodging rocks in the crossings, making motorbike crossings more tricky.

So we carried on riding, and eventually got to our first river crossing for the day.

Jupiter in the lead, went through.... no problems.

The Dozer went through..... SITTING FLAT ON HIS ARSE :

Water over the pots of his 1150GS.... No problems

Then it was the turn of The Whale.

Onto the foot pegs and straight through..... I could feel the rocks play at the front wheel, and just prayed that I did not fall over, or more importantly, that the bike did not die on me.... No Problems , pheww!!

We then set off on the road again and a short while later Jupiter pulled over.... quick for a smoke break I thought.

OOOOPPS..... nope, Bike was dead. It had just died.

Fortunately we had our break down right at the most randomly placed caravan shop ever......

While stationary, there were a couple of these roadworks tractors... and I have to say, their road manners were exemplary, slowing right down when passing us, so as not to cover us in road dust. Thanks Guys.



Between the three of us we tried to get Gerard's bike to fire up again, multiple false starts followed over the next few hours.

Remember my comment about having breakfast early vs a lazy start ??

Dozer Magic on the CDI



Not much protection under there then ehhhh ?

What went through the mind of the modifier when he decided to remove all the weather protection from under the seat??



In and out went the components.

And here is the other weird coincidence......

Eventually we all needed the toilet, too much eating the night before and a big breakfast 6hrs before would help.

So what are the chances of finding an open air toilet, with running water flushing system ??

Pretty slim I would say, till you break down in the middle of nowhere.




So after a few hours, Dozer opened his one side pannier... remember the one with the story books and tools ?
And he pulled a moerse long piece of nylon rope from the pannier.

Jupiter looped it around his left hand footpeg, and they were of........ until they hit the same river as before.

Just as we got there, a couple in a 4x4 from KZN got thre, they actualy told us we should not go through the river..... hmmmm ?

Been there, did it, now towing bike.

Anyway, before you could say AbraCadabra, I had the Whale into the river, and of course the coule in the bakkie took some photos.



Dozer was next into the shallow end.




Followed by a dejected Jupiter, pushing his bike through.

I dropped my jacket and electrical goodies and walked in to help him push it through.

I then walked back again to pass our email details to the couple in the bakkie to send me the pics.



By the time I was back on my bike Deon and Jupiter were long gone, stopping at Sandvlakte where the farmer agreed to store his bike till he could recover it, or till he, the farmer went to the coast again, in which case he would take the stricken bike along for Gerard to collect.

Interestingly, with my number plate collecting, I was surprised to see this lot on the farm.



Once Gerard had transferred his stuff to Deon's 1150GS, Deon suggested that he ride pillion and Jupiter ride his bike, as he was used to riding with his wife on these roads.

Loaded and ready to go......



From here it was all the way back the way we had come the previous day, riding to Willowmore on this dirt road...... Jupiter did nit spare the horses and I had to maintain 120km/h just to keep up with them.

Port Elizabeth and Jupiters home was our destination, a looong way to go.



Willowmore offered many quaint looks into rural living in the Karoo.

Note the signs.



Next after filling fuel and oil, we went to a local coffee shop to use the toilets and drink a quick coffee.



After coffee it was onto the weirdest road ever.

A single concrete strip, where both parties yielded when meeting, and dropping one side onto the dirt and keeping on side on the concrete.






The road was incredibly straight and boring.

About 70km from Port Elizabeth, my back gave in for the first time in my life of riding, forcing me to stop and take a cocktail of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen..... Deon told me he would be buying me a kidney belt the next day.

Eventually, and hour after dark, we made it to Jupiters place.

Coffee, chat, and then off to bed......

Guess where I ended up sleeping ????


Day 7 to follow tomorrow or the next day.

Nice. My wife is from CT and we did a 5 day trip last year, mostly Garden Route but would love to get back and do more. Wife's family is Afrikaans and we had stops along the way recommended.