Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Trip report: ‘n kermis, ‘n aartappel fees en Kapteinsberg On Friday 7th September, We made a trip to the sandveld. Andy Connell 1150GSA + all panniers Annie Connell F650GS + all panniers Maria Lafite Skasuz bakkie –back up with her daughter Lerouna. Annie n I left Gordon’s Bay with our overnight and camping gear for a weekend in the Sandveld. We R44’d all the way to Wellington then R43’d to Malmesbury. N7 then R45 to Veldrif via Langebaanweg. where we crossed the railway line just ahead of a loooooong goods train. I can only imagine this story would not have been written if we arrived 2 minutes later – Pitch black night, no lights on the goods train, we could easily have ran right into it at 100kph and never ever known about it. That sobered me up a bit and we nevetheless had a great time watching the opening RWC game from Veldrif. up on Kapteinsberg Saturday am -sadly Maria’s husband had to go to sea as he is a fisheries monitor. She was not bok for the Kapteinsberg pass alone so Anne graciously left her 650GS in Veldrif to ride shotgun in the bakkie. We stopped off at the Veldrif kermis – all boere tannies en hulle gesinne. Wors @ R25.00kilo and skaaptjops @ R30.00/kilo!!! Slap tjips @ R 6.00 ‘n pakkie! I deflated tyres & followed a pre-planned GPS sandveld road route to the Artappel fees in Redlinghuys- via Aurora. I’ve learnt before on off-road trips - MUST stop after ten mins to re-adjust gear and check the bike. I had not de-activacted ABS! Had some adjustments to make after which I slithered and slid through the fine drifts of sand to Redlinghuys. Great fun, loose sand, washaways, miggies. The ribbon of road through the sandveld Speeds of about 100 slowing down to 45 in the heavier sand. Some photo stops otherwise a lonely ride up on the pegs. Spulpunt gooi water innnie sandveld Arriving in Redlinghuys caused a stir as an 1150GSA is not a regular visitor and many people stopped by the bike asking all sorts of questions. Some went to fetch their wives to show them what they “Had been talking about in a bike…” I reckon I could have sold 4 GS’s if I’d had them. In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king! And so it was in Redlinghuys, the fully loaded 1150 Adventure was a show stopper and doing a demo of 3,5 meter circles with your body outside- one foot on the outer peg only clearly showed the balance of a GS. We had- you guessed it - potatoes for lunch. And then on the sandy roads to Kapteinsberg with Aurora nestled in its lap. The pass up Kapteinsberg- Veldrif dooer in the distance The pass was in good condition. It is a 15km twisty windy climb from 85 metres to 900 metres high, sudden turns, rivulets, rocks n mud. sedan cars do it easily at a very slow speed and the views from 900m up overlooking the Berg river plains is awesome. The Air Traffic Control radar dome is on Kapteinskop (1000metres). We are on the West face all the time which is the shady side of the mountain- cold in winter, HOT in summer. DID YOU KNOW? boegoe only grows on the shady side of amountain. Only in a few areas of the sandvel, Nowhere else. Check out the mountains check all those sand roads... A black eagle soaring on thermals only enhanced the atmosphere. From up there you see the myriad of sand roads spread out below, like veins on the back of a hand, enticing you to come down and explore. Stunning views with tantalising roads all over We flattened a wynsak and a bottle of whiskey around the braai fire as the night chill crept in. Awesome stella display from up there- no city lights, just this huge roof of stars. Warm fire, fresh snoek, lekker wyn, daar gat jy. Got have time to lie and watch the orbiting satellites and shooting stars. We chewed the fat late into the night solving all the worlds problems from Bob Mugabe to Maddelyn McCann. Near Aurora we dug up a geocache Lerouna plunders the cache contents.. Sunday I mounted up ahead of the bakkie and tooke a different sand road way back to Veldrif. Anne collected her bike and off we went by sand road along the Berg river to Hopefield, then sand round Koringberg to Moreesberg and the N7. As it was getting dark we came home on tar. If you have to cut a lock or two, you know you on the right road ESSENTIAL equipment- a Bolt cutter; and cable ties to re-link the chain once you are thru. We had some heavy going in very fine and loose sand and Anne found a nice place to fall at the berg river crossing. I was waiting for her on the other side and had a classic view of the event through the camera lense. Little Ms Padlanks does not want to cross the Berg river. This plane made three low passes, when I waved we were ok, he waggled his wings and went off. This plane saw Annie fall and he made 3 passes to see if we were Ok. The roads for about a kilometre were flooded as the swollen Berg river found easier routes to the sea. Annie recons the water traps -this is the Berg overflowing into the farm roads Negotiating the floeeded roads was good fun. The water was muddy and the clay surface very slippery Muddy water everywhere- lots of fun At the tar leg at Hopefield I stopped, offering Annie the option of inflating tyres and doing tar home. She gamely declared she would tackle the gravel n sand to Koringberg! and she did just fine picking up speed as confidence returned. A must do again trip. Using Sun Mountain as a base camp we can explore the spiders web of sand roads close by.