Tour through the Fairest of Capes

[SandyN]

Well it's that time again; the night before the start of a trip that's been in the planning for three months... and the thought that is going through my mind is: what have I forgotten to pack?

This trip started off with just my good friend, andrebo, and I going to join his brother in the Cape for a tour around the fairest of all Capes. For those who have followed previous ride reports, andrebo has upgraded from his trusty Honda Shadow to a BMW F650GS single and then on to a 1200GS.

However, two other friends and a brother-in-law have "volunteered" to join in the trip. The five of us leave at Sparrows tomorrow; two GS1200's, a GSA1200, KTM 1290 and of course the Fazer. The route is as follows: -

Links to maps of routes below: -

Day 1: Bedworth to Aliwal - https://goo.gl/maps/2x8tQmFWEaN2

Day 2: Aliwal to De Rust - https://goo.gl/maps/UDi5ismDxQp

Day 3-7: surprise routes organised by andrebo's brother (GS1200) which will include numerous passes. Sleepovers will be - Cape St Francis, Mossel Bay, Hermanus and Langebaan.

Day 8: Citrusdal to Hopetown - https://goo.gl/maps/x26EBbfd7GJ2

Day 9: Hopetown to Bedworth - https://goo.gl/maps/4UNhUerr8Ry

I will try to keep up to date day by day if possible; watch this space...

[colyvon]

Hope you have an awesome trip, keep it safe oit there.

[Medres]

Have a fantastic trip and keep it safe. 👍🏻


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[Scorpius]

Be safe. Keep the rubber side down, most important of all, enjoy!

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[Ntjamme]

Gonna watch this like a hawk as I wanna do JHB-CT-JHB on a scoot before getting too old.

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[colyvon]

Gonna watch this like a hawk as I wanna do JHB-CT-JHB on a scoot before getting too old.

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You don't stop riding because you get too old, you get old because you stop riding. I did the JHB - CT Trip twice last year, once for the Roleur and once on the solar challenge. Also did the trip back from CT in one day on the NC two years ago. Prefer to two or three day it to be able to enjoy the view.

[Scorpius]

You don't stop riding because you get too old, you get old because you stop riding. I did the JHB - CT Trip twice last year, once for the Roleur and once on the solar challenge. Also did the trip back from CT in one day on the NC two years ago. Prefer to two or three day it to be able to enjoy the view.

What Colyvon said. ...

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[SandyN]

My apologies for not keeping this thread updated day by day; there was never time (or, on one occasion, cell reception), and on returning sorting through photos first...

So, with routes planned and fuel stops calculated to approximately two thirds of the smallest tank's capacity, all accommodation for the 8 nights booked and paid for, (we have some very organised people in our riding group), the big day arrived!

The group gathered from various starting points South of Joburg and Deneysville shortly around 7 am at Shell Bedworth Park, refuelled, and after a short riders briefing of sticking more or less to the speed limits to reduce fatigue, keeping a loose formation, and look out for potholes yourself, we were ready to leave on our adventure!


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Sat 1a.jpg

Just before we left, I was asked "when do we eat?" and seemed to be the norm for the rest of the trip...

So on to the R82 Koppies road and then the R57 to Heilbron where the planned breakfast stop at Kentucky took place. One member was horrified that we had stopped at a Kentucky for breakfast as this would not be a "proper" breakfast, and who has chicken for breakfast anyway...

Sat 2 Heilbron.jpg

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With the empty space filled we set out on the excellent stretch of tar toward Petrus Steyn, and we tiptoed through there, wary of radar that has been known to lurk in the 100 zone before the town as well as in the 80 zone through town before we turned off to Lindley. This road needs a bit of care but holds nothing nasty for the unwary.

We deviated off the main road and road through the town and had a leg stretch there.

Sat 4 Lindley.jpg
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On the road again to our first fuel stop in Senekal and on to Marquard. There are road works along this road and we were not able to take the road through Marquard so went around it. The road between Marquard and Clocolan is in much better condition than when last I travelled it and soon we arrived at our next leg stretch at the Shell outside Clocolan.

From there it was just a short ride to the Wimpy in Ladybrand for lunch after which we took some photos outside the Town hall.

Sat 5 Ladybrand.jpg
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Leaving there we followed the excellent R26 to Wepener which was scheduled as the next fuel stop. The petrol station looked a bit seedy and did not have 95 octane which was preferred by some BMW riders, so we decided to go on to the beautiful town Zastron where we refuelled.

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Sat 7b Zastron.jpg

So far everything had been going according to plan but with our overnight destination almost in sight, only 20 km to go, disaster seemed to strike when the KTM 1290 spluttered, coughed and died without warning... the thought went through all the BM riders; "oh yeah, KTM..." However, ten minutes later, after a call to the dealer at 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon, it was established that after the last service one of the fuel tank's cross-feed taps had not been re-opened and the bike had been running on one half of the tank all day. Much relieved, we were soon on our way again.

Green lucerne fields heralded our approach to the Orange River as the beautiful steel bridge came into sight.

Sat 9.jpg

We were soon at our overnight digs at the Umtali Getaway where supper was recommended at either the Farmers show or a restaurant called Oppiehoek. We chose the restaurant as the whole of Aliwal North seemed to be at the show. This was a good choice as we were the only customers there and the steaks were first class.

We'd had a great ride for the day and tumbled into bed rather early, looking forward to the next part of the journey.

Sat 8a.jpg

[david h]

Well written and sprinkled with enticing pictures.
Thanks Sandy.

[Vespa 1]

Thanks Bud, keep it coming!

[SandyN]

Day 2: Sunday

As the day dawned everyone was up knowing we had a bit further to ride today than yesterday to reach our destination: an old refurbished farmhouse built in 1907 outside De Rust. Including stops, we had averaged 60 km/h yesterday and expected to be on the road for about 10 hours today.

Nobody threw anything at us as, shortly after 6am, the bark of firstly a KTM powered Arrow exhaust and then various BMW noises reverberated amongst the buildings as we pulled out of the Guest House and stopped briefly for a photo at the Orange River Bridge before we hit the road.

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The plan for the trip was to leave early, ride for about an hour, and stop for breakfast rather than leaving later after having breakfast, thereby hopefully saving some time. The road to Burgersdorp was once again in excellent condition as we cruised along in the cool of the morning. By 7:30 we had reached Burgersdorp and stopped for a photo of the Blockhouse which dominated the skyline.

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The town was dead quiet as we zig-zagged our way through it, looking for a place to have breakfast as the hunger pains were starting to gnaw at our stomachs. Alas, no-one was open so we decided to push through to Steynsburg and find a place there. The road was straight with absolutely no traffic.

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Steynsburg was a scheduled fuel stop, and, upon arrival we were a little concerned to see that the only petrol station in the town was closed for renovation... fortunately our planning of not running the tanks dry before refueling paid off and allowed us enough fuel to make it to the next town, Middelburg. The guys were now ravenous and we could not find a recognised establishment at which to eat in the small town. A friendly police officer suggested we go back to the Safari Taxi Cafe where we would find some victuals.

This turned out to be one of the most memorable, value for money and tastiest breakfasts of our adventure. R20 slap chips, plus a half loaf white for R5, R6 if buttered, (the guys decided to splash out a bit), fed 4 ravenous bikers with leftovers for a local who seemed to be in need of a tasty meal.

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Suitably sustained and rejuvenated we hit the open road again heading for Middelburg.

[SandyN]

Could someone please advise how to rotate the pictures. Thanks.

[SandyN]

It would seem that a poor internet connection logged me out while submitting the above report thereby cutting out the photos...

Aliwal Bridge
Sun 1a.jpg

Burgersdorp Blockhouse
Sun 1 Burgersdorp.jpg

On the Road to Steynsburg
Sun 2 Road.jpg

Breakfast in Steynsburg
Sun 3 Steynsburg.jpg


Perhaps an admin can insert them into the article, rotate them and delete this post?

[SandyN]

Sunday, Day 2 continued:

Middelburg was not a planned fuel stop, in fact the plan was not to go into the town at all, but since the Caltex in Steynsburg was closed for renovation we had no choice. The owner of the cafe at the petrol station chased a gaggle of "klonkies" away from us with a sjambok as we were filling while other loiterers looked on; we cleared the town without further ado.

We hit the road to Graaf Reinet and soon crossed the Sneeuberg mountains over the Lootsberg pass.

Sun 5a.jpg

Sun 5b.jpg

Nieu-Bethesda would have been a pleasant stop for lunch but it would have taken us a bit out of the way, so the turn offs flashed by. A visit to the little town will have to stay on my bucket list for now. It was time to eat once again so we sought out the Wimpy in Graaf Reinet for sustenance. With an obligatory photo stop in front of the beautiful church, which I am led to believe is quite plain on the inside, we were on our way again.

Sun 6 GR.jpg

We left impressive mountains behind and hit the Aberdeen flats heading toward mountains that never seemed to get closer. As we bypassed Aberdeen the temperature climbed to 36 degrees and at our next leg-stretch stop we hydrated and dampened neck buffs to keep cool. The scrub land was dry and even prickly pears were turning yellow and wilting...

Sun 6a.jpg

Eventually we caught up with the receding mountain range just before Willowmore after passing the dry Beervlei dam.

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Sun 8.jpg

Willowmore was another scheduled fuel stop. This is a quaint, clean town, and we passed a group of Harley riders mounting their bikes outside the local hotel. They pulled in to the fuel station as we were filling up.

Sun 9.jpg

I noticed two ladies in Harley attire taking a photo of my registration number, and upon asking why was told that they were a Harley group from Slovenia and had not seen a Free State licence plate before. The Harleys thundered out of town followed by their support vehicle as we were finishing our refreshments.

We soon caught up with them and zipped past.

Leaving the N9 we followed the R341 until we came to the turnoff to our rented farmhouse 20km before De Rust. The 5 km road to the farmhouse was the furthest that a couple of the guys had ridden on gravel but was taken in their stride.

Sun 10.jpg

Sun 11 De Rust Farm.jpg

The Cape contingent of the tour had already arrived after leaving Stellenbosch the day before and had stayed overnight in Riversdale. They had arranged Karroo Lamb chops from the farmer for the braai fire.

Sun 12 (2).jpg

Needless to say, we slept well again that night.

[david h]

Top notch, thanks Sandy.
Were you able to traverse the Meiringspoort road while you were in the De Rust area? It is truly magnificent and awesome, with the emphasis on awe.

[SandyN]

Coming up in Day 3... unfortunately photo's don't show the awesome scale of the mountains.

[Vespa 1]

Great write up Bud, keep it coming!

[SandyN]

Day 3, Monday: Part 1

So, a walk along a trail behind the house before the Sun crested the mountains revealed the early morning beauty of the setting among the mountains. The ostriches and seed onion fields could also clearly be seen in the distance.

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The ostrich couple in front of the house were still vigilantly guarding their eggs.

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Soon everyone was loaded and we rode the 25km into De Rust where we had an excellent breakfast at Ray's and had a group photo taken in our matching T shirts before we headed off through Meiringspoort which has been on my bucket list since I read Linus' report of his trip to the Cape with his son on his 180 Pulsar.

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Unfortunately, for those who have never been there, photos or video's do not do the poort justice, The scale of the mountains and overhanging cliffs are just awesome.

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[Ntjamme]

Wow, what an awesome read. Can't wait to see the map - I'm tempted!

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[SandyN]

A teaser for those who have Meiringspoort on their bucket list. Travelling towards De Rust through the poort. Yours truly in the lead.



We were travelling at 40-50 km/h.