Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

To answer the question: the TraTra drif is definately a place to celebrate: it is beautiful next to the river; sandy, soft camping site on the bank of the river, fantastic setting with a steep rock face occupied by a large troop of baboons, clean drinkable water, a waterhole to swim in and it stays in the shade until about 8am this time of the year.

Good camping: Notice the long shadows....

Natural low water bridge

Nice swimming hole:: should be smiling because it was good

To get here you first have to put in some effort - life seems to have these rules that can't be broken...

We left Somerset West at 10am after having to do a little work, get the dogs to kennels and buy a new mouth piece for the CamelBack that decided to perish that morning.

The route was over du Toitskloof, Slanghoek Valley and Ceres to fill up. Then Op Die Berg, Cederberg Oasis for lunch and fill up with water, left the Oasis at 1.30pm.

Cederberg Oasis; Gerrit reckons the route is good to go

Onto the Eselsbank road (first time for me).  Got caught out by the 100m stretch of sand just before descending into Wuppertal - it is deep and in the heat not easy.  The descent into Wuppertal was easy again due to the good condition of the pass.  Out the other side of Wuppertal to the Biedouw Valley.  Mertenhof Farm, where the club spent a night on a trip with Warren and Natalie lies on the corner of the turn off to the Biedouw Valley.  Turn right into the Biedouw Valley road and immediately turn right again: this is the beginning of the Old Postroad.  It is also a stretch that we did with Warren to the top of the escarpment when we visited Mertenhof Farm: very steep and loose.

Start of the Old Postroad: see the track winding its way up

Once on top of the escarpment, the track changes from  rocks of all sizes and shapes to sand of long and short stretches to test your mettle.  It goes through rooibos tea plantations and many gates: a lot of them thankfully open on this weekend.  The track is obviousely not used much with a lot of bush encroaching which forces one onto the the middelmannetjie.  This is not always good... we hit the deck a further three times.  Once past the farms (we actually drove through a farmers yard, right past his front door) the  track at first slowly descends again towards the TraTra and Doring River.  Here it was hot and tough: long stretches of marbles 2-3 cm in diameter, no more trees to find shade and pillion legs that were getting "moeg"

Its been a long day on your feet

It is lonesome out here: The Tankwa Karroo in the distance

Soon the descent becomes steep and the Karrekies Pass brings you to edge of the Biedouw Valley with the Doring River in the distance.  Loose slabby rocks makes for interesting times: we got through here without incident.

Karrekies Pass: the edge of the Biedouw Valley on the left

Spectacular!!

From here to "our" campsite was another 30 minutes.  I can tell you that it arrived just in time and we were glad not to have given up on top of the plateau: it would have been a miserable night.  Made worse by the fact that we would have passed through the TraTra Drift early the next morning and see how ideal it is for stealth camping.

Stealth Camping at its Best: Happy New Year!!!

We still had to cross the Doring River....  T4A did not mark any sand we had up to now on their maps; they do however mark one just before the river crossing: "nice deep sand for bikers".  So it was with trepidation that we set off the next morning: we may be in for a hard hour or so.

Breakfast on the TraTra: Still in shade this time of the day

 As it turns out: it was a relative doddle.  There is sand but by now manageable and the crossing of the Doring is well marked with stones and is flat.

Crossing the Doring

For those that leave a little earlier and are quicker over the rough, there is another beautiful, shady and larger campsite just on the far bank of the Doring: not as spectacular as the TraTra Drift.

From here 3rd gear and up can once again be engaged and we were on the R355 within half an hour.  We choose to go home via Katbakkies.....

The horrible R355: You come out at Cobussegat

Happy