Grahams Cederberg Trip
Hi There
Just to let you know that I was in the Cederberg this week-end and it reminded me of you guy's!
What an unbelievable place. (4 motorcycling)
Off-Road enthusiast's Paradise......
We (3 x DRZ 400E's) set off from Bilshoek Dam at 09h15 and intended to complete a 300km trip to Elandsvlei, which I had hoped to visit many times in the past but was unable to due to flooding of the Doring River many times, so much so that I had prepared myself by accepting that I would never see it because I do not ride in the summer because of the HEAT! ....... Sjoe, but it gets hot there!
Well this time the weather was perfect, cloudy and overcast, with temperatures hovering around 23 degrees and off we went. We all know about the critical water shortage but this time I intended taking full advantage of this situation!!!!!!! I had not been on a trail bike for some time so my fitness levels worried me, but what the heck. As you leave the farm you go up over a pass and hook a right onto a road which is tricky and sandy and you have to be awake or you land up on your butt.
We travelled through the various mountain passes and you have to see it to believe the views! We turned off at the ENGELSMAN SE GRAAF and descended into the Biedouw Valley and there we picked up the 4x4 pass which forces you to stand on the pegs to control the bike over the rocky terrain and that is where your fitness level counts. My legs are still ACHING ! ............ 2DAYS LATER...........................
You land up riding into the Klein Karoo and if you fall here then it means HELICOPTERS to retrieve you!!!!!!!!!!!! So with this in the forefront of our minds there was no dicing on this trip, for sure! After about 125km you come across the valley in which the Elandsvlei farm is situated and it is now under the ownership of foreign interests so there is not even a frostie in sight. Thankfully we had brought along liquid refreshment because it suddenly it was rather HOT, to say the least. We do not recommend that you try this route unless you are riding with somebody that KNOWS the route, or you WILL get lost for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Petrol wise we were ok because the two bikes had long-range tanks fitted to them and for the other one we had left 5 liters in the bush which we retrieved on the way back and by my calculations we had used 13 liters of juice in 280km's = 22km/ltr ...not bad. We had only averaged about 35km/per hour travelled including smoke breaks which is average for this type of terrain and a 4w would have taken 2 days to do this journey!!!!!! On the way back we managed to shave 20 km off the original total of the estimated 300km so we were happy. The route back started off a bit BORING because of the vast open territory but we soon picked up a nice trail in which we managed to BRAND IT a bit . The trail was basically farm roads (twee spoor) and boy is that my type of road!
We were now thoroughly enjoying ourselves and it was worth the effort of setting up this trip, for sure. Coming back from the Biedouw Valley was a bit tiring but it was a different type of TIRED feeling. LEKKER!!!!!!!!! My Missus and I had travelled up to Clanwilliam on Saturday at 14h00 (I worked Saturday morning) and I did not want to ride the N7 (such a BORING ROUTE) on my DL1000 so we took the Wellington/ Porterville route and what a nice ride. (I am convinced that I will always endeavor to AVOID the "N" Routes in favour of the "R" route's ) in future because they are so much more interesting and scenic and by my calculations it worked out appromately 30km longer than via the N7......SO WHAT IF IT TAKE'S A BIT LONGER!
We reluctantly got up on Monday morning because we did not want to go home. The weather was perfect and it would have been NICE to spend the day there but from past experience we did not fancy having to race home on the N 7 in peak traffic (being a long weekend and there was a KULTUUR FEES on in Clans) so we managed to drag ourselves away at 12 noon and took the same route home except we stopped off at LANNERS LANDING FOR REFRESHMENT'S .
Guess what? All the bike club's were gathering there after their protest at the TOLL-ROAD in which they proving a point to the authorities about the unfair toll charges.
They paid their toll fees with R200-00 notes!! on the way out on their Breakfast Run at 11h00 and on their way home they paid with 5c and 10c pieces! You can imagine the delays and chaos that it caused!!!!
I agree with them in that a motorcycle pays the SAME fee as a car and caravan and the ASSOCIATION OF MOTORCYCLE CLUB'S had over a period of 3 YEAR'S tried to convince the Authorities' to change this ruling to no avail so nationally all Bike Club's are going to be doing this until they are heard! We stayed for one more and moved on home, tired but HAPPY that we did the trip. Why AM i TELLING YOU THIS STORY? Well i am trying to sell DRZ'S!
EK IS MOS NIE SKAAM NIE!
