This trip was originally organised to help Frances get some more kms under her belt. In the end she opted to do the Intro Course with Leon, which was also a good thing.
'''Riders'''
Charles Oertel 1150GS (Mr Badger)
Peter O'Hanlon 650Dakar
Andy Connell 1150GSA
Anne Connell F650GS
The plan was to travel dirt all the way to Charles' Fijnbosch Farme (we had not yet accomplished this since we tried 1½ years ago).
We met at the Swartland Engen on the N7 7am (ish), had breakfast and then headed off in search of dirt - a mere 14kms away. Turning left, we followed the train track, snaking its way through the Swartland. From that moment, we never sat down again, as the road was full of potholes, corrugations, ruts...and MANY water crossings. I tell you, I finally learnt to stand crossing water, except in 1 or 2 which were deep and slithery and tried to suck you down or wash you away with some currents.
A "Flat" puddle: which looked very innocent until you entered it and found yourself knee-deep in water
This one tried to suck Peter in and he found himself wanting to go one way while the bike went the other...
The side of the road also tried to suck him in
Attempts to push him out or ride out only bogged him down even more, so Peter eventually lay the bike on its side and we pulled it out. By now we were hot and furiously sucking on our water.
Mr Badger and Charles
The scenery was magnificent as the bikes took us through our paces.
Just before Darling we encountered a tree across the "road" and found ourselves making our way in 1st gear through the foliage at the side of the road. Shortly after that Andy was happily going along at some speed, when he found himself facing a nasty trench about 20m away. Well, he hit the brakes and broad-slid to a slower speed, bouncing his way over it.
Andy is becoming famous for skid marks
Finally we passed through Darling and immediately turned off onto the service tracks again just beyond Evita se Peron. Many water crossings later we crossed a main dirt road and continued along the railway line. Only this time we were on a road that had been used a few decades ago, and we found ourselves riding the dry grasses very carefully. The grass hid potholes, ruts and probably snakes. Finally we decided to turn around and take the gap through a fence and get back onto the main road, which still followed the railway line.
I can't remember the turnoffs, but perhaps Peter's GPS can enlighten us, but the road condidtion got steadily more rutted, gutted, and sandy with fewer water crossings. The scenery around was still awesome. We reached the R... just 10kms from Hopefield and headed there in search of fuel, an ATM and...coffee.
Well, coffee seemed to be the hardest thing to find there, but we managed to find some at Hopefield's Hotel in the Off-Sales section.
We hit the road again towards Velddrif, turning off onto dirt at the Kersiesfontein sign. We had anticipated crossing a flooded Berg River and had planned to rest and eat 2 oranges after a heavy paddle. Not so, there was no flood and thus no orange stop. The Berg River calmly flowed under the bridge where it was meant to be.
We crossed the tar and headed towards Aurora (I'm still unsure at what point we passed through Kersiesfontein). The road became quite ssssandy - my no.1 enemy besides mud and I slowed down quite a bit. Many sandy kms later we found ourselves in Aurora with some time to spare. Charles was in time for his meeting with a potential buyer for his farm.
We headed up the gravel pass towards Sun Mountain while the breathtaking scenery dropped away. Geonache and Colette were very happy to see us and we chatted a while, while Charles went on to show his potential buyer the farm.
We made our way to the Cave - our accommodation for the night. The driveway was somewhat loose and a little on the steeper side. We unpacked and Peter and Andy decided to nip back to Aurora to buy some beers. I decided to siesta, hoping baboons would leave me alone.
The view from the cave is stunning - you can see the sea, almost see Saldanha and Redelinghuis.
View from Cave
Finally Andy and Peter returned and we downed a few ciders, beer and a can of bullybeef, along with some horrible sweety pellets which Andy had purchased in Hopefield (we ended up burning these - they refused to burn and became caremelised Hopeless pellets).
A baboon came and barked at us from the top of the cave. Andy barked back, and soon he and the baboon were having some kind of political discussion. The baboon was so impressed, he went and fetched his whole family of over 30 children!
Top of cave
The Cave: Slowly Peter starts to offload his cave humour...
Andy's pannier became a cooler box
As the shadows lengthened we heard the rumble of Mr Badger followed by the Geo and Colette in the bakkie bearing fire wood.
We sat and chatted, looking at the view.
A raptor bird was very busy close by
Meanwhile, Peter had lit the fire.
Sundowners with LOTS of cave humour
Sunset
The cold wind and darkness drove us into the cave and the warmth of the fire, which was now ready to braai our meat and other items.
The cave humour got funnier and funnier
Peter is seriously funny
We had a fantastic meal, followed by coffee with OBs. The only thing missing was marshmallows. Well, magie vol, ogies toe....
The full moon shone into the cave while we snored our way to morning.
We lazily packed and were "woken" by the loose driveway exiting our cave. We had a superb breakfast of fried eggs, tomato, bacon, cheese and a whole loaf of freshly baked bread at Sun Mountain. By now Peter was feeling "thick" behind the eyes.
We headed for Charles' Fijnbosch Farme.
Stopping to admire the view along the way
Parking our bikes under the trees
Peter lazes around while we change from biking to hiking clothes
View from the gate
Swimming Pool with a view
The Hunchback Frog in the pool
Andy decides to be the brave one
Finally we "meandered" down through the veld towards the bushman cave.
Cave entrance
Discussing the bushman paintings also somehow turned into hilarious cave humour
Finally we returned to the bikes, hot and thick behind the eyes
We changed from hiking to biking clothes and trundled 15kms down the pass into Aurora, where a plane swooped down and landed on a farm road or runway close by.
Plane landing
We followed the same route back to Hopefield, crossing the Berg River again.
Andy's Ysterperd: This is the bridge where I fell in my inexperienced days
In Hopefield we "bumped" into Mauritio Pausa, who just recently joined the club. We ended up having lunch together in a wonderful little restaurant, which was more like a museum. 5 toasted sandwiches and beer came to R150!!!
We stop for lunch
Decor
Mauritio takes the photo
Well, the cave humour became restaurant humour and I'm not sure what Mauritio thought of us. Anyway, he must have thought something, as he decided to join us on the railroad back to Darling and the N7. We bounced our way through all the water crossings, ruts, potholes and sand, enjoying every moment. After over 50 water crossings, I was finally getting the hang of it - and I now have a bow wave to my name - one that splashed right into my helmet!
Back at the Swartland Engen, we refuelled and pumped tyres, saying our goodbyes. We made our tired way home and sank exhausted into bed that night.
Another blissful 2 days in Africa!
The End
PS Sun Mountain Info: Tel 022 952 1870 or 076 683 3808 speak to Colette or Geonache. There are self-catering chalets as well