Buffalo tour 2012 The ride

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Day 1

Well we left early on Thursday morning from the navigator’s house heading down to Langebaanweg were we met up with Andy, (who was late because he could not find his bike keys).

Andy arrived at about 8:35 for us only to find that he had a flat back tyre.

This was repaired by Thys and Harold and we headed out for Ceres our lunch stop at about 10:00

We had an uneventful trip out to Ceres and had a typical wimpy meal at the wimpy in Ceres.

We left Ceres and headed out to wards Touwes River for our fist fuel stop. Ice-cream for all at Touws river, and then the rain came down and the drama began, we got lost, yes that is correct we got lost in Touws river even thought the town has only 3 roads.

After finding our way we headed into the back country in the rain through some of the most beautiful country side that the country has to offer. it was along one of these scenic roads that Gareth nearly had a close encounter with a thorn bush as he was trying to avoid riding in to the back of Jaco, we arrived at Laingsburg at about 16:00 and booked into the Laingsburg lodge, (good rooms, good pool but no bar and no dinner), the boys requested beers, so I walked down to the bottle store and came back with a case of beer, 

We headed to the Laingsburg country lodge for Dinner, not a bad place to eat except for the owners  Great Dane dog that was slobbering in the dining room,(Our navigator took exception to this I must add), This was not as bad as Thys who informed Us “fock juller almal, ek gaan kaal foot eet”, a early night in bed before midnight.

Day 2

An early breakfast at Laingsburg ,  where Ant bumped into some equitant of his ( this man knows a lot of people) and a quick viewing of yesterdays video taken by Jaco we headed for the bikes , the bikes got a quick chain service and a lick and promise clean from the lodge gardener he was rewarded with the left over beers from the night before, ( we are sure by 11 he was asleep under a tree) I informed the group that I would see them at the shell garage because I need fuel, they all whet to the Caltex garage ( I really felt wanted at that time).

We headed out of Laingsburg towards the Severweeksport pass with some photo opportunities on the way. Riding in the Severweeksport pass is an experience everyone should experience in a lifetime even if you don’t ride a bike, this beautiful road cut out through the mountains with soaring rock formations next you and stream crossing must be experienced.

We headed out of the Severweeksport pass to Calitz-Dorp and ran into the rain that came bucketing down just before we got to Calitz-Dorp, Andy refuelled the DRZ here and we headed out, sorry we rode around the town for a bit while the navigators, (plural) as Jaco had Joined Ant in Navigating got us horribly lost in another small town.

We headed out eventually finding the 

 road even thought it was clearly sign border from the main road in Calitz-Dorp, the navigators took us
through the nearby farming are for about 20 Km where some interesting riding was done by Gareth and myself , Gareth heading into a paddock and I nearly ending up in a thorn tree.

Nothing much happened further along this trip but we eventfully ended up at the top of the Montague Pass just outside George,

We headed down the pass what a great bit of road to ride a motorbike on, Ant, Harry and myself took off first heading down the pass this was a slip and slide affair, after all the rain the road was a bit slippery and I had some hart stopping moments, While waiting at the bottom of the pass Jako arrived , informing us that he had just gone over the handlebars , with the evidence of the wipe-out still attached to his bike and his helmet, Gareth had a chain break and Thys stopped to help him, Andy arrived with no Incidents to report, We headed into George and ended up at Murray’s pup and restraints , that is owned by one of Ants friends from his early days in Escort( the town in KZN and not his profession),

Here Thys had a problem with his (Wife??), I mean his KTM, the bike decided to get rid of all the gears except first and second, KTM Pardon Island were not very helpful and it Took BMW George to come to the rescue with taking the KTM in and Loaning him a BMW GS 1200 (well done BMW George, poor show KTM Pardon island)

We all headed our different directions, Harry, Jaco and Andy headed to Harry`s brother in the Wilderness, Thys and Gareth headed to a B&B in the Wilderness and Ant and I headed for my folks place in Klein Brak River. Where I got us lost much to the dismay of the Navigators, My folks have lived here for two years and I have only been to there house once before.

We all got together at Jonny and B`s house for a Braai and a great spread was laid on by Mr Woolfs Junior and his lovely wife (thanks you two).

Day 3

We all met up at Murray’s Pub early in the morning for a back road ride to the buffalo rally, where we saw some very interesting sites and some very strange people that try to destroy their very working bikes.

After a bit of brunch in Mosselbay we headed inland towards our night stop that was Barry dale.

Along the way we rode through some game farms and played in the mud, Andy and Harry had a much closer look at the mud than the rest of us. Harry`s bike got so jammed up with the mud that the front wheel would not eve turn and it took effort from the whole bunch and some stolen water from a farm to get it on the move again,

After this we travels threw a game farm with signage warning us to be careful of the lions and the elephants, Thank goodness Andy filled up before we left Mosselbay as it would have been interesting trying to refuel the bike and watch out for lions.

After a very scenic drive through some farm lands and across a dry river bed and Jaco scarring some horses, we found ourselves at a dead end in some far yard, Ant Approached the young farmer who informed us that there was no road, Ant informed him there was a road, and showed him his GPS to prove it, After some negotiation we headed back in the direction we had come and found the missing road. We headed up a mountain pass that the navigators informed us was a road, but I am convinced it was a fire break, I must confess by this time I was a bit grumpy form lack of food and missed out on some great scenery.Harry had to intervene when I had a moment and Kaked the navigator out

Eventually we arrived at Barry-Dale tired, sore and very hungry, we booked into the Tradouw Guesthouse, (A nice clean place with very small showers in the rooms), after a quick change and some beers in the pub we headed for dinner at the Bistro Blue steak house in the town, and here we had great food and some great laughs.

Day 4.

After a good night’s rest and a good breakfast ant the Tradouw Guesthouse ( thank you Leon) we headed out of town past Ronny’s Sex Shop and headed into the hills on our way back to Touws river,

Halfway up the road we found our way blocked by some gates and a guard on duty , who informed us that this was now a game farm and they did not allow pedestrians bicyclists and Motorcyclist in because of wild and dangerous animals, after some negotiations we eventually got permission and a escort( as in Ants other profession ) to take us through the park , the only dangerous thing we came across was a puddle of water that was a little bit deeper than the rest and caught us all unaware, we all got a second shower for the day with Thys`s loan BMW proving that it’s not a good bike to take through a puddle as the water is funnelled up past the fairing into your helmet.

After the game farm we headed up the road for some kilometres at a very fast pace, I think the navigator had a train to catch.

Eventually we arrived in Touws river for a refuel and then headed down to Ceres for lunch and then on Home to Langebaan.

Great fun, conversation, scenery and friendship, lots of dust, mud and rain but all in all a great trip.

Watch this space for our next trip cheers, 

More Pic`s to follow at www.dirtbikeafrica.com