BMW MCC TRIP REPORT - BIEDOUW VALLEY ADVENTURE WEEKEND - 19th -21st APRIL 2013
PLEASE NOTE: ALL PHOTO'S WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE CLUB FACEBOOK PAGE.
Oh my BMW! If you weren't on this amazing adventure trip you definitely missed out on some dirty bonding time with your Ultimate Machine.
On Friday the 19th April many riders spent their afternoon riding up to the beautiful Biedouw Valley nestled in the Cederberg. And after spotting the last headlights winding down the valley at 19:15 we could finally all relax and enjoy typical "boerekos" consisting of Braai meat, a pasta salad and pap with sweet tomato sauce, all provided by our wonderful hosts for the weekend at Mertenhof Farm, Barry and Mariette Lubbe. Yes, it was certainly a delicious way to start what was to be an unforgettable weekend.
On Saturday we woke up and after coffee, tea, rusks and muffins, we set off to endure what was a much anticipated Moedverloor Pad. Rustic, rural, dry and rocky are all words that come to mind when I think back to this piece of our weekend journey. Throughout this day trip there was so much to entice the senses - including a breathtaking Niewoudtville Waterfall, lunch in the rare Kokerboomwoud (Quiver Tree Forest) and an exile rating trip down the Botterberg Pass. It was really like a mini-adventure in a different land in the middle of nowhere with fantastic people (with faces smeared with dust).
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We also came across a rather large puff ader which was accidentally run over. While we were looking at this big and dangerous puffy, the rider came back to put it out of its misery - an act I think took a lot of courage as killing any animal isn't easy, but never the less, the snake was not left there to suffer.
It was on this last stretch of the trip when Morne Grobbelaar's back shock decided to eject all its oil and Johan Gerber's front spot light fell off completely. Eish!
Activities for the rest of the day included a warm shower, a little rest, dinner ( which included mouth-watering, sugary, home-made pumpkin fritters) and wine. Lots and lots of wine.
As well as trying to get rid of the larger than life "smileys" that had graced the rims on Eric McLaren and Craig Cauvin's motorbikes. Nothing makes a man shed a bigger tear than a earth-shattering, ground - breaking rim dent.
Sunday was by far one of the best routes on an offroad trip to date. Technical = yes. Casualties = yes. Swearing = yes. Loss of personality = yes. Amazing = An absolute YES!
We started the day with a guided ride of the Heuningvlei by Barry Lubbe. I must say, this should be on your bucket list if you are an adventure rider and have not done it yet. The riders tackled some spectacular offroad including a muddy-watery crossing which was the first technical "test" of the day.
Afterwards we headed towards the Eselbank and Wuppertal section of our trip. Eselbank was very challenging considering the pass was looking a little worse for wear with deeps ruts and jutting rocks all over the "road" up. There wasn't even a place to stop and take photos. It claimed a few "victims" but luckily no-body was hurt and no bike sustained any major injury. After this mighty pass we came face to face with a 200 meter strip of loose sand. This was definitely an "oh-eh-eh" moment. The first few riders got through with ease but after Richard Wantling got hold of the sand it was not so plain sailing for the riders behind him. Paddling, slipping, sliding, twirling and gliding were all new movements explored unintentionally by some riders on their beloved bikes. They put Cir De Soleil to shame.
The little villages and communities we passed in "the middle of nowhere" we're as friendly as ever and Kaptein Blip 1 (Trevor Versfeld) and Kaptein Blip 2 (Richard Wantling) had to resist temptation to blip through one community, Witwater, as they were having Sunday "Kerk". Luckily they behaved and we weren't banned from that community. They made sure to make up for it later though.
The rest of the ride was just as enjoyable as the first portion of the day and we passed many Rooibos plantations, donkeys and lambs. As a "reward" to our bodies we were treated to a lunch at the famous Cederberg Oasis. Cold drinks, big burgers and a quick lie in the sun helped give the riders the energy they needed to complete the trip.
Warren Ellwood - you outdid yourself on this trip and it will be a hard one to beat. Thank you for the hours you put into organizing the trip and it will be a sad day when you stop organizing trips. I don't think you receive enough thank you's.
Barry and Mariette Lubbe, thank you for being the friendly, down-to-earth and willing hosts that you always are.
Mum (Sian Versfeld) thank you for riding the back-up vehicle this weekend - it is a labour of love, I know.
To everyone on the trip - thank you for adding your little bit of individual "spice" to the pot. It's always a pleasure to share your company! 
- 5880 reads
Comments
Another great report, thanx Miss Versveld. Thanx to all this was an awesome weekend and an awesome groupe of people !!!! Can't wait for the next adventure and hopefully finishing it without bike trouble.
Thanks Warren and team, that was a brilliant trip. It's going to be hard to top that one!
Great report too Megan. All I Have to add is a couple of photos. There are more at https://plus.google.com/photos/110713266587359500733/albums/5869363225029424897
Barry Lubbe. Thanks for the hospitality!
Megan - escaping from Heuningvlei
Look out Warren, here comes Mark
Nice pics too Kevin. The Kokerboom looks stunning.
I see you also got a Boegoeberg album on Google. Must admit you were hardly noticeable with camera in hand and managed to take quite a lot.
Wow Megs!
Another awesome ride report of a truly magnificent ride weekend with loads of action, adventure and the most enormous amount of fun!
To Warren, Natalie and the whole crew who made this such a not to be forgotten trip - thank you so much - this is going to be a tough one to beat.....
Great report. Thanks Megan
Well thank you very much Megan, an awesome report about an awesome weekend, even if I say so myself.
Barry and Mariette are very dear friends of mine and so I try to support them wherever I can, and it’s not difficult because there is just so much to do in their area, if you’re on a motorcycle.
In fact while we were waiting along the way on our little Heuningvlei outride, he was already pointing out another little road that disappeared over the mountain on the other side of the main road wanting to know if the BMW’s would make it, so a recce is on the cards as he told me that roads goes all the way to eventually hook up with the Post Route……………..
So once again, a really nice group, good food, loads of laughs and humor, we found the sweet spot in the weather and I thought both days of riding were simply superb.
The Moedverloor Pad was actually in better condition than when we did the recce as the recent rain had hardened the sandy spots somewhat, but what a lovely isolated piece of road to ride on a bike. We were also very fortunate to find Thinus at work at Protea Motors in Niewoudtsville and so were able to have a quick look at his fantastic collection of old motorcycles.
The rains also meant the waterfalls outside of Niewoudtsville were in fact waterfalls and not just cliffs, and also gave us lots of little puddles and water crossings to negotiate. The Kokerboom forest always amazes me and there was some nice riding after that on the way home, including the Botterkloof Pass and the stunning views of the Agter Pakhuis area just beyond it. One of my favorite places to be.
I had asked Barry about Sunday mornings little ride after riding there recently on our plastic bikes. I cut out the really technical and sandy parts but it still left us with an amazing ride through some very lesser known little tracks where a lot of fun was had. Again, what a brilliant place to be on a bike.
As everyone has already mentioned, the climb above Wupperthal was possibly the worst I have ever seen it, very rutted with a lot of the topsoil washed away. After that though it was pretty much the usual conditions although we still had some fun in the sandy strip. I took the opportunity to roost and cover Marc in sand because he wholeheartedly deserved it, not only did he spend the whole weekend hiding stuff and just generally causing k.a.k, but when I got home and unpacked, I found I had a medium sized rock in my one pannier, however I have decided that this rock will now be photographed at all the locations we visit from now on.
Lunch at the Oasis was tops as always and from there the roads were in very good nick and the journey home was quite pleasant, although I was very nervous about most of the convoy running out of fuel before we got to Ceres, but we did have a secret 40l on the trailer just in case.
So thank you to everyone that came with, I trust you all enjoyed the weekend, and to the guys that pulled out near the end, you certainly missed out unfortunately. Also a big thank you to Sian and Tammy for looking after us with the back up vehicle, I know it’s not the best job in the world and we really appreciate you following us all over the place.
So how do I top this one? Well, I’ll just have to try even harder to find the next fantastic mystery location.
Until the next one, look after yourselves.
Nice report - thanks for sharing.
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