Anyway, his brand new Yamaha 660z Ténéré is just over two weeks old and Harry's not planning to let that stop him from taking on quite a challenging route.
His sister from Kareedouw came past Knysna on Sunday and Harry was adamant to pay them a return visit on his bike. That's exactly what we did. Her husband, Kevin, had to go on a corporate hunt on Thursday, so we left Knysna on Tuesday in order to give us ample time to reach them on our long-way-around route, before he leaves for his hunt.
Day 1, Knysna - Grootrivierpoort.
Here you can view a 1min clip of our adventure.
Just by the way, Harry calls me "Artist".
The day started like any other day, except, our bikes were packed and strapped and ready for adventure. Maggie (Hermans dearest wife) made us a killer bacon & egg breakfast to ensure we start the trip on a good note! While we were eating, Harry informed me that he could't find his sleeping bag..so my dad-in-law, which happens to live right next to Harry, came to the rescue by giving Harry his sleeping bag and self-inflating pillow. So, we said our goodbyes and off to the nearest gravel road out of Knysna, which is the Prince Alfred Pass that will take us to Uniondale. The usual escape route for the gravel-guys. So, i don't take any photo's for the first 100km, because i've done it so many times before. Unless i feel like it of course...
We had a quick coffee at Angies G-spot and spoke to Moses, a very kind Zimbabwean guy who actually knows my brother, Chris, very well. He said i look a lot like Chris and that's why he wanted to ask me...when he told me his name, i could finish the broken puzzle in my own mind. Amazing to bump into someone years later. After our coffee we enjoyed the route to Uniondale on such a lovely, quiet Tuesday morning.
This photo was taken on the Hartebeest road, the one that leads to the Baviaans, just outside Uniondale.
The road towards great adventure
This Winterhoek road can be a real slip & slide experience...Unfortunately not this time..always adds to the fun, but what a lovely road, wet or dry.
A couple of km's outside Steytlerville, the end of the Winterhoek road.
After we got some chow and fuel, we had to get a good bottle of red wine and some cold beer, where else than at the Karoo Drankwinkel.
From here we only had to do about 50km before we reached our first destination.
Such beauty. Such joy.
The stealth camp area just above the Grootrivierpoort, where beauty and silence scream out in a majestic composition of a wild and untouched declaration of how life was meant to be. I took Harry down a rocky hill in order to finally set up camp here, in the middle of all this...Wow!!
Setting up camp
The kitchen
Harry's crib
Harry spotted a photo-opportunity..my bright-eyed morning face!
Day 2, Grootrivierpoort - Baviaans.
After a good nights rest and breathing lots of fresh, chemtrail-free, rich oxygenated, clean, natural air, we made some coffee, dipped 'n "ouma" and got ready for our first real challenge - getting out of this rocky hill. The jeep track is littered with loose rocks of all shapes and sizes, making it quite a thing to navigate to the top.
But we got there in a lot less time than what Harry anticipated. Now with that out of the way, we can start the beautiful descent to the Grootrivierpoort crossing, one of my favourite roads in this area. The road is filled with minor erosion and rocky climbs, but such a scenic and fun road to ride, i just love it! It takes you all the way to Patensie.
The Grootrivierpoort crossing. The water was quite low this time around.
Harry enjoying every moment.
As we got to Patensie, we stopped at this fine dining spot, Padlangs.
Harry ordered the "Leeuloop" breakfast for us.
Just what we needed! Awesome chow!!
As we were sipping on our Latte's and tucking in to our decadent breakfast, we met the friendly owner of the shop too, Heidi Muller. What a lovely place and vibe!! Then came a couple who had the same idea as us, good breakfast. The guy stared at the new blue bike standing next to the dirty orange one...you could see he was intrigued. So, Harry told him to get on and sit on her, which he immediately did. What a character, Jannie. Turns out he's an old biker and had the Yamaha 750 Ténéré, the older original version of this new one. We chatted a bit and then parted ways. Jannie & Wimpie told us that they're on their way to camp at Doringkloof just on the other side of the Baviaans, which is also the place where we will be getting onto a 4x4 route across the mountains to Kareedouw. I phoned Doringkloof to find out if the 4x4 route is open, just in case, but turns out i still had their old number. So, i went back into the restaurant and asked Jannie whether they have their number by any chance...and they did. As i left them, i jokingly said that we might just bump into each other again...knowing that we probably won't!
As we sat and finished our 2nd cup, an old farmer and his wife came past and asked us where we are heading. As soon as i told them that we want to go into the Baviaans, the lady objected and said that they've just come from there and that the road is in a terrible state. In fact, she went as far as classifying it as a Thriller. I assured her that the bikes are more than capable of doing it, but she didn't quite believe me...she just carried on saying that it's a thriller, a thriller. I told her that the bikes eat those type of roads. She paused and looked at me saying "okay!", then she walked two steps, stopped, again said "okay!" and walked another few steps, stopped again and said "okay!!" once more! Her husband stood at their car calling her to come and leave us alone!! hahaha! Those roads are pretty bad, but not for bikes. Bikes love those roads, but most importantly, we love it!! It will take you about 5hrs to do the Baviaans with a 4x4, it's only 75km, but with a bike it's less than half the time and that's with stops and taking it easy. Anyway, i'm sure she meant well.
Rhino horn
Muddy, watery fun!
Here you can see Harry soaking it up!!
Not too many water crossings this time around (sad face).
The Fracking-photo.
We thoroughly enjoyed the Baviaans. We got to the tiny little shop to get something cold to drink, then we headed over to Doringkloof to pay the R170 in order for us to reach Kareedouw over the majestic mountains on a really beautiful 4x4 route. Apparently it's only about 50km from Doringkloof to Kareedouw, but again the average ETA for a 4x4 is about 4hrs. The road is narrow at some places, your SUV will get scratched. We got our receipt as proof of payment in our pockets so off we went. By now it was just about 4pm and i've only done this route about 5 years ago with a 4x4, so, i don't really know it that well. We go through the gate and follow the road, then suddenly we see a little sign with an arrow, obviously we followed it...but deeper down the rabbit hole, we just don't seem to be getting on the mountain...eventually we turned around. I saw a really steep jeep track going up a mountain and thought that we just missed it somehow. As we approached this hill, i started to get a funny feeling...perhaps this is not the road. After quite a struggle to make it to the top, we followed the road to a lonesome little water trough and a couple of sheep and that's where it ended. We had to face the steep downhill now, with rocks that are as loose as an old farm bakkies number plate...as i approached the downhill, my bike cut out, but i kept it in first gear with my foot on the back brake...the momentum, or shall i say gravity, just kept pulling me and i slid down as if i was riding it...eventually the bike's rear end caught up with me and i gently laid her down. The same happened to Harry. It was really steep. Then we decided to go all the way back to the start, to try again. On our way, i saw a couple of farm workers, i pulled in to ask them for directions. Turns out that we were on a mountain bike route, hence the red arrows...very misleading and no sign of the mysterious 4x4 route. Anyway, so now at least we know how to get to the gate that leads to where we want to go. As i turned off at the gate, Harry somehow drove past me, heading into the glorious unknown Kloof. I ran up to the road, waved and looked at how he disappeared behind the thorn trees. So, i closed the gate (for the goats) and raced after him... I told him that we must go back about 1km...by this time the sun was starting to go down behind the mountains, as we were in a kloof. We turned around and Harry noticed something...his front tyre was completely flat...so, i whipped out the tyre sludge and we quickly squirted it in, but came to the shocking conclusion that we don't have a little pump with us. So, due to the rocky terrain, i decided to rush back to the farmhouse to borrow a pump, while Harry patiently lies on the green grass enjoying the silence.
Got the pump, rushed back to Harry...shocking conclusion number two: the pump was broken. Rushed back again, asked for another pump...the lady told me that they used the pump that morning and it worked fine...but obviously something happened...anyway, she said that one of their workers would be able to help us, i must just go to his house and get him. Got to him and he confirmed that the pump worked the morning, but now he can clearly see that it is broken. Turns out that the rubber attached to the rod snapped off, not something we can fix in the bush.
The sun was no more. The last hours were frustrating and tiresome. We decided to push Harry's bike back to the farm, but obviously that is not a walk in the park...eventually we passed all the rocky parts and drove the bike on the sand all the way to the shed, where after 2min the bike was ready to roll. Chris, the farmer, came out and said that we should just stay over in one of their chalets...i objected in the politest way and opted to carry on with our mission, as that was what we both agreed on while still stuck in the kloof. But he plainly said that we may not attempt this road at night. I think that he just wants to cover his own bum, because if we run into trouble at night, we might just become his problem, so we understand that and then i said we should camp then, instead of the chalet-thing...but Harry was upset, tired and had a long day of being out of his comfort zone and took the chalet.
So, we arrived at the chalet, started unpacking and in the distance a little torch light is coming closer and closer. "I knew it was you, and that you guys made some sort of balls-up!" Here's Jannie standing in front of us, the guy we met at Patensie. "You must be hungry and thirsty! Come, i have some steaks and plenty to drink!" Jannie was the only camper in the far corner of the site. We quickly cleaned up a bit and took a stroll over to their spot. What a lovely evening with Jannie & Wimpie. Such goodhearted people! Jannie gave us some fresh peach mampoer just to get over the initial shock. Harry opted for some brandy and i went for the lovely red wine. Together we sat around the fire, laughing and joking and enjoying good food, great company and before we knew it, it was already midnight. We took a stroll back to our pozzy after they gave us some coffee. What a luck!! We hit the sack quite hard and the comfy beds did the trick...
Got the pump, rushed back to Harry...shocking conclusion number two: the pump was broken. Rushed back again, asked for another pump...the lady told me that they used the pump that morning and it worked fine...but obviously something happened...anyway, she said that one of their workers would be able to help us, i must just go to his house and get him. Got to him and he confirmed that the pump worked the morning, but now he can clearly see that it is broken. Turns out that the rubber attached to the rod snapped off, not something we can fix in the bush.
The sun was no more. The last hours were frustrating and tiresome. We decided to push Harry's bike back to the farm, but obviously that is not a walk in the park...eventually we passed all the rocky parts and drove the bike on the sand all the way to the shed, where after 2min the bike was ready to roll. Chris, the farmer, came out and said that we should just stay over in one of their chalets...i objected in the politest way and opted to carry on with our mission, as that was what we both agreed on while still stuck in the kloof. But he plainly said that we may not attempt this road at night. I think that he just wants to cover his own bum, because if we run into trouble at night, we might just become his problem, so we understand that and then i said we should camp then, instead of the chalet-thing...but Harry was upset, tired and had a long day of being out of his comfort zone and took the chalet.
So, we arrived at the chalet, started unpacking and in the distance a little torch light is coming closer and closer. "I knew it was you, and that you guys made some sort of balls-up!" Here's Jannie standing in front of us, the guy we met at Patensie. "You must be hungry and thirsty! Come, i have some steaks and plenty to drink!" Jannie was the only camper in the far corner of the site. We quickly cleaned up a bit and took a stroll over to their spot. What a lovely evening with Jannie & Wimpie. Such goodhearted people! Jannie gave us some fresh peach mampoer just to get over the initial shock. Harry opted for some brandy and i went for the lovely red wine. Together we sat around the fire, laughing and joking and enjoying good food, great company and before we knew it, it was already midnight. We took a stroll back to our pozzy after they gave us some coffee. What a luck!! We hit the sack quite hard and the comfy beds did the trick...
Doringkloof Camp grounds & chalets.
Day 3, Doringkloof - Kareedouw.
The next morning we felt fresh and excited to hit the 4x4 route. But first we had to go back to Jannie & Wimpie for coffee and rusks. Jannie told us that if only he drove a petrol bakkie, he would've filled our tanks with petrol too. What a genuine guy!
Jannie & Wimpie
The boys
You won't believe me, but as we headed out of the campsite, we (i) took the wrong turn-off again and here we are, lost on the farm...it's silly, it's funny and it's kinda weird. We can't seem to get out of this place!! This is a separate farm to where we got lost yesterday though. Anyway, this kind lady helped us to get to the 'main' road.
We also didn't really bargain on getting lost so many times and our petrol situation wasn't really too good. We know there's no petrol in the Baviaans, but we went back to the little shop, because the guy told us that he would help us with 5L if we need it. Conveniently he wasn't there, just a very old lady, which wasn't too keen to give up her lawnmower petrol...after using all the tricks in the book, i convinced the lady to sell it to us at R13,85/L. I told her that she's an Angel!! She just said now she must try and get more from Willowmore...shame, we felt bad, but we really didn't want to get stuck on this side of the mountain again.
The 4x4 route started off with a steep climb and sharp turns...but we got into the vibe really quickly. Surrounded with magnificent views and wild beauty!! We were both just so happy and really enjoyed the riding. After all, that's what it's about, time on the saddle.
Into the Wild
My Joy Ride
Harry on a downhill
Simply put, this is amazing.
Harry feeling the good vibes!
"Jy moet gooi Harry!!"
Just another breathtaking view.
Harry gunning it
Karbouw is getting close now.
The only other beings on the road..
Coming down this pass we could spot the Kouga river.
Man & Machine
The campsite on Kevin & Rita's farm...Peaceful, beautiful, soulful.
Ready to chill.
Rita spoiled us with some lekke Karoo meat, needles to say, it went down very well!!
Day 4 & 5 - Camping.
Day 4 & 5 - Camping.
Where i came from.
The beautiful landscape, pity about the chemtrail ⬅️ (google it).
The rocky road led me to a bunch of Nguni's.
This road is a bit steeper and much longer than anticipated, and very, very rocky.
The road that flung me away.
As i worked my way up, i hit quite a big rock that threw me off coarse. As the saying goes, when in doubt - throttle out, which is exactly what i did, but my bike had other plans, and she spat me out. It was soft landing, but i fell and rolled twice before i came to the upright position. I heard a funny sound on my hip, turns out that i fell on my beautiful Glock's magazine and unclipped the bottom on a rock. The sound i heard was a few rounds shaking in the bottomless mag on their way out. I love the Austrians, they make good bikes and good guns.
I found my spring...
Got Glock again. All good.
In the distance, to the right of the dam, is our camp site.
It was quite a struggle to make it to the tippy top, but what's the point in turning around when you can see the man-made devices, which is a visual of how close you really are. So, i ventured forth and finally made it to the top. It was well worth it. Somehow, deep inside, it felt like i accomplished something, no matter how big or small.
The KTM king of the hill.
MTN, everywhere you go...
Kareedouw in the distance
Back towards the campsite
We had Bacon Pancakes here...seriously good!!
Dirty Harry in action!
We left Kareedouw to visit Harry's other sister, Daleen, which is about 37km outside, also on a beautiful farm.
If you feel like dancing around a fire and planting veggies, you can go and do so, amongst other things, at TerraPi. Being a Pink Floyd fan, i couldn't help but play around with this idea... "hey creature, leave them figs alone!!"
But we don't need no therapy, we have bikes!!
After visiting Prieur and Daleen, we went back to Kevin & Rita's farm where we were camping. The sunset was so beautiful, but obviously an iPhone can't really capture things in low light the way i would want it to, but i managed to (over)correct it a bit in Photoshop, just to ad some drama. It was really spectacular light. Not as seen here!!
As captured on the iphone..
Photoshop-edit
Here i went for a mild HDR effect, enhancing the underexposed foreground to fit in with the orange sunset, seeing that my bike blends in!! (smiley face).
Prieur got us some Protestant roosterkoek hotdogs, which i heated on the coals for a
holy-some breakfast.
We finished the last bit of Jannie & Wimpie's delicious "Barefoot" wine.
Thanks again Jannie & Wimpie!!
The next morning Harry joined me to the beautiful landscape just below the top of the mountain. His dad once asked the very important question: Have you ever stared at the skies from the flat of your back, lying under a tree? It's something worth doing, it's a very liberating feeling and that's exactly what we did here!!
Tree with a view
Harry, taking his Ténéré places!!
Looking at the mountain we conquered the day before! It doesn't look like much from here...looks can be deceiving.
Just another farm road.
We went back and packed up camp. Maggie and the kids came through, so we moved to Prieur & Daleen for the night. After chilling a bit there, Prieur wanted to feel Harry's bike and asked me to join him on a quick ride just around his farm. We both had shorts and running shoes on, T-shirt and no helmet. Yes, you already know where this is going...ATGATT lesson learned, the hard way. ATGATT = All The Gear All The Time. We've just done over 700km of pretty rough terrain without getting hurt once...here, on Prieur's lawn, 5m away from his house, i fell with my bike, going around a corner...the bike fell on my right foot, bruising it quite badly. I know, stupid.
Anyway, limping for the next two weeks will surely remind me of how clever i was!!
The next day we head home, doing quite a long stretch of tar from Kareedouw to Avontuur, 90km of boring effortless riding. It sucks.
The usual route back home, Prince Alfreds Pass.
We just finished our pancakes and coffee, when 2 couples pulled in. They turned out to be two guys from the bikers forum, Wilddogs. Mad Matt and his wife & Throttle Jockey and his wife. Had such a nice chat with them and was good to put the faces with the forum names. Above you can see Throttle Jockey with his KTM tattoo. Passionate about bikes, riding and of course, KTM!! (Told you Austrians make good stuff) They were on their way to Doringkloof for the Wilddog Bash and they're doing the route we just did, just the other way around.
We left Kareedouw to visit Harry's other sister, Daleen, which is about 37km outside, also on a beautiful farm.
But we don't need no therapy, we have bikes!!
holy-some breakfast.
Thanks again Jannie & Wimpie!!
We went back and packed up camp. Maggie and the kids came through, so we moved to Prieur & Daleen for the night. After chilling a bit there, Prieur wanted to feel Harry's bike and asked me to join him on a quick ride just around his farm. We both had shorts and running shoes on, T-shirt and no helmet. Yes, you already know where this is going...ATGATT lesson learned, the hard way. ATGATT = All The Gear All The Time. We've just done over 700km of pretty rough terrain without getting hurt once...here, on Prieur's lawn, 5m away from his house, i fell with my bike, going around a corner...the bike fell on my right foot, bruising it quite badly. I know, stupid.
Anyway, limping for the next two weeks will surely remind me of how clever i was!!
Day 6, Kareedouw - Knysna.
Knysna obviously got some rain, this last stretch of road was really wet and slippery!
What an epic trip. I'm very proud of Harry!! He did really well and i believe his 'rookie' status is a thing of the past. We experienced a lot of bikers-heaven obstacles, which may seem intimidating at first, but he did it and came out strong!! Legend memories!!
Thanks again my brother!
Here's the full version of our trip...sadly, ran out of space on my memory card, so i couldn't capture the whole trip!
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