Verneukpan, or translated "Pan of Deception", is a very popular bikers destination - one of my personal favourites. Harry has never been there and it has been a priority for us to visit the vast open spaces of the deceiving pan for a while now. We just didn't think it would happen so un-expectantly. It's Sunday morning and i pulled in at Harry's spot, both our wives doing shopping and we're playing with the kids, chatting about bikes and places as usual. So, we saw a gap where we could both leave the family behind for a couple of days to fit in a small trip, jus to get away. We needed a destination which is both close enough, yet exciting enough. Seeing that Harry hasn't been to The Hell on the other side of the Swartberg Pass just outside Oudshoorn, also known as Gamkaskloof, it sounded like a pretty good idea. It's close, it's a nice adventurous road and only requires 2 days of being away - the perfect little get-away. But as the idea tumbled around in our minds, we took it a stretch further and decided, to hell with the Hell, we're going to Verneukpan!! It's just over 700km the way we decided to get there. So, Sunday afternoon at 17:00pm, when Harry's dearest wife decided to come home eventually, we were packed and ready to leave. The first stretch was the really boring black stuff all the way to George, just to save some time, but from George we stuck to the dirt as much as practically possible.
We crossed the Montagu Pass and went to Dysselsdorp and then to Oudshoorn. The sun was setting and we had no idea how far we would push it, but seeing that the wind was pumping and we didn't want to start a wild fire with our little gas stove, we opted for the safer option and had something to chow at the Wimpy. So all we had to do was find a safe place to sleep, somewhere.
Day 1, Knysna to somewhere on top of the Swartberg Pass.
Seeing that it was Jaco's birthday, i promised him that we'd have a drink on him that night. Got the bottle of red wine out, but couldn't find my cups! We had to improvise and cut a quality Oasis water bottle in order to fulfil the promise. Cheers to you Jaco!! (i found the cups the next day)
Day 2, Somewhere on top of the Swartberg pass to Verneukpan.
Harry gunning it down the Swartberg pass towards Prince Albert.
About 10km outside Leeugamka, you turn right onto this awesome road, Oukloof. It takes you all the way to Fraserburg, cutting out all the tar. i love this road.
In the middle of nowhere on this Oukloof road, we saw this sign, so we had to stop & pretend to phone people.
Harry is getting annoyed with me for trying to get my flash to talk to his camera and consequently i took more pics than what was needed.
Happy Harry in front of the Fraserburg shopping mall.
i just love these type of shops - what more can a man ask for?
As we left Fraserburg en route to Williston, we stopped for a quick lunch break.
We braaid some boerewors, added some sweet corn and spaghetti with Tabasco to taste.
As we got to Williston, i realised that i must have lost my wallet somewhere between Fraserburg and our picnic spot... so i phoned the small town's fuel station where we were, just to try my luck. But no luck. So we drove back to the picnic spot, which was a very unnecessary 60 + km detour, just to make sure i didn't lose it there.
Trying to find signal
As we left Williston to approach our last stretch to our destination, Verneukpan, i seemed to have attracted a bit of bad luck again. This time with a flat front tyre. We were only about 8km outside of town. So we turned back to Williston and went to the nearest/only tyre repair place to get it fixed. Turned out to be a bit more than just a flat tyre. There was quite a big gash in the tyre and the tube was wrecked. The guys fortunately had a 21" tube and could fix the tyre with a gaiter.
Finally we could tackle the last stretch after we pulled in at the local butchery for some lamb chops and steak for the great destination meal. We got a beer just to celebrate our departure, wish i could say it was a cold one, but it just had to do.
This stretch between Williston and Verneukpan is also one of my favourite roads. It is littered with unexpected wash-away ditches and has a fair amount of thick sand, which always ads to the fun.
Here we turn right, Verneukpan is getting close now.
Neither of us like maps and gps's...so we stopped at this convenient store for final directions to Verneukpan, just to make sure my memory is still good. This little shop serves the community of about 120 people.
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