ALEXANDER BAY 24 to 27/09/09

The much anticipated hour finally arrived. We are cautiously optimistic and very excited.

As you might have gathered by the lack of promptness for this RR, this trip was a tester in more ways than one and it certainly shifted even our boundaries. We have never done 4 consecutive days of riding close to 1000km per day.......come to think of it, we have never travelled those distances in the said time frame with any ground base vehicle. One member in our party has never done serious distances before

The area we were about to travel is pretty much unknown to us so let’s see what the following 4 days will bring..........

Day 1



Bright and early the 3 members from our family met up with another club member Kurt. Quite a few long weekend goers choose the same rendezvous point.



thought this was a “sweet touch” from this dad....also on their way to somewhere



not even 150km into the trip, I struck a bird and the head lamp glass (plastic) was left cracked. Luckily it had no further influence on the trip.



our breakfast stop was in Vryburg, 400km from home



from here it was straight on west and the real fun started as we left “civilisation” behind.



known to some of you, this old HUGE mining equipment left behind as a tourist attraction in Kathu and it is almost a mandatory photo opportunity



I think even the mighty K1300S was humbled by the presence of this beast



we did exceptionally well for the day and arrived at the overnight stop in Upington at around 15:00



on the banks of the Orange River



a venue that can be recommended by us



the bikes are happy as well



we met up with another “BM” couple from JHB Henk & Elsa and we shared dinner together. Shared riding pleasure at work





804km for the day

Is it my slow connection or do I only see day 1 ...... ?

are you asking or stating?

I see the report is slow to populate so I thought maybe day 1 is all our readers can take after a weekend with quite a few ride reports

nah, just joking.......give me some time - the best is yet to come

OK I'm waiting ......

....me too...

JR wrote:the best is yet to come

Fweeew! And for a moment I thought that was it... It's a pity to see the lens cracked after your bird strike - but rather the headlight than your visor!

that was my initial thought as well...........until I received the quote of R7 429.22

Day 2



We knew beforehand this day was going to be a tough riding day......and it did not disappoint

Our first stop was Kakamas



then on to Augrabies







no matter how remote, living beings group together and this was a poor community with a small house



.....now then, some might find this boring but here you can go as fast as you like (can) for as long as you like



horses for courses.......the K1300 and the 800ST is right at home here.....suffice to say – VERY IMPRESSIVE even with luggage



At a bustling Springbok it was time to turn north towards Namibia



north it was up to Steinkopf then West towards Port Nolloth





North again towards Namibia just to get our photos taken at the God forsaken place Alexander Bay.

whohoo......been there done it......HAVE THE PHOTO TO PROOF........will not go back there willingly











all the way back – 255km of it – again to our overnight destination 30km outside Springbok. Boy was this place special.
From the outset we tried to arrange accommodation in interesting places but this venue took the cake. Their main building is a Cape-Dutch style house converted into a guesthouse



apart from this, they also have 3 thatched mountain huts 2km away in the mountains



with an absolute stunning view



furnished on the inside with all the bells and whistles of modern luxury



enhanced by two stunning German machines



this is not a value for money establishment but if you are ever looking for an exclusive hideaway in that area, Narries Namakwa Retreat is the place for a very special experience. Highly recommended.
Wish we could spent another day there.......for recoupment and all – maybe next time

what can I say, apart from the company and the riding.........



our visit to Narries was definitely the highlight of our trip........great food too

we arrived at 17:00 after 930 long, hard but most enjoyable kilometres

Day 3

This shortest daily distance of our trip......just



What a pretty sight to start a new day



today we are going south for 300km. We refuelled in Garies



Narries were we slept last, packed breakfast packs for us as we left way before their scheduled sitting. 50km before Vanrhynsdorp we stopped for breakfast.



as I said earlier, Narries is a class joint and it reflected in their (our) breakfast packs.



30km on the other side of Vanrhynsdorp is a mountain from where one can see for ever



impressive church in the small town of Calvinia



not to be outdone, Williston advertising their “mall”



in Carnarvon we unsuccessfully looked for a place of sorts to get something cold to drink. The only place open was the local (and only) hotel



we ventured inside the bar but even us “rough” bikers felt it would be a good idea to stay outside also we would like to keep an eye on the bikes which by this time attracted healthy local interest. We bought our refreshments and enjoyed it on the outside



our overnight destination for the day – Victoria West



we arrived at 16:00 after 793km.......yet another pleasant day in the saddle

Wow... those thatch huts look amazing! A couple of anti-histamines and it should be a-ok! If you say they are not value-for-money, how much are they asking? (If it's ridiculous, feel free to rather PM me )

R7.5k for a piece of plastic? You must be kidding me... (Jammer om van jou #$% te hoor!)

Many cops on the road?

It is for a complete head lamp (and labour).....not that it makes it more acceptable

One speed trap during the whole trip in the Kathu district.

Day 4



sadly we are heading home.....not that we dislike home it is just that we enjoy the open road so much

another early start



for the first time on the trip we encountered road works. The Stop and Go’s become somewhat frustrating after the third one



back at the rendezvous where we started 4 days and 3415km earlier.....tired but extremely satisfied



the bikes were very dirty



and the GS barely made it home with this rear



we arrived at 16:30 and did 900km for the day.

Our 3 bikes combined used 650 litre of fuel in a total distance of 10 250km. It was not a trip where fuel consumption was a high priority as we had to push for daylight hours each day but for the record the best single consumption was recorded by the F800ST namely 4.19l/100km and worst 8.43l/100km by the K1300S
Albeit very much rwd (right wrist dependant) for interest sake the best, worst and average consumption for the respective bikes were (all litre/100km):
K1300S: 5.1, 8.4 and 6.5
F800ST: 4.2, 7.0 and 5.7
F800GS: 5.0, 8.3 and 6.7

Reflection –
Myself:
not the sort of daily distances I would normally plan for our trips but this trip required a “special rider” effort. We moved our boundaries and proofed to ourselves it is possible for us to do close to a 1000km per day but more significant we did it for 4 consecutive days.......a strange but nice sort of satisfaction. I really enjoyed the trip and it certainly ranks right up there in the highlights section. As for the company – as always it is special to share the riding with loved ones and friends. Special reference to the Mermaid who took it all in her stride and did so with distinction as well as to our son which had his first serious distance trip. It took some effort to convince him not to take his own CBR1000RR for the trip but in the end, I’m sure taking the GS proofed to be the right decision.
Planning the next trip? You bet I am and I think I know exactly where the next route to Cape Town will take us.........

Mermaid:
“I would treasure the memories of this trip for a long time if not forever. A different kind of beautiful scenery but highly recommendable to anyone who is considering doing the 4 points for the extreme award. To share it with two very important men in my life made it even more special. Riding together made riding in cold or hot temperatures, strong winds, lots of dust, bad traffic at times and long distances very easy to manage and no negative element could damper the overall enjoyment of the trip.
Tired but satisfied.”


......and that folks, concludes our ride report for the Alexander Bay trip.........

Very nice and welcome back. Congrats

Excellent - well done and again interesting places along the way.

Mooi julle! Well done.

For interest sake, did the "worst" fuel consumption parts of the trip correlate with the long, straight & boring stretches of road?

nooit, there was just a strong head wind in certain places

Marnus wrote:Mooi julle! Well done.

For interest sake, did the "worst" fuel consumption parts of the trip correlate with the long, straight & boring stretches of road?

I think that this is a safe presumption!

Aaa man, after the weekend I had, Im really disappointed I could not go...

Lekker trip! Congrats on another marker.

JR wrote:One speed trap during the whole trip in the Kathu district.

.......there might have been more than one but this is something we unfortunately find out only afterwards!

Did an around the country trip last October.......very determined to keep to speed limits (especially in the towns!).

Despite this determination, I received a little notice about “a speed in excess of the general speed limit” in Delarey Street, Vryburg three weeks later (78 kph instead of 60 kph).

They needed R100.00 for their effort to let me know about this little misdemeanor.

Well done you guys! Looks like it was an amazing trip. I would have SOOO loved to have been able to join on a trip like this. BUT, alas, I do not believe this is the kind of trip you can take on with a little 600 CBR :-D

Well done to all!!!



PS. Waar was die res Vrydag oggend vir breakfast???

Great report JR!! Thank you for sharing!! It seems that you guys (and gal) had a very nice time!

Thanks, Jamie, for a wonderful report with great pictures!!!
Looks like the weather was kind as well.

Useless info: the area south of Vanrhynsdorp pass, is locally called 'Knersvlakte'. Due to the abnormally high acidity in the soil, at certain times of the year it actually sounds like a 'grinding' sound emanates from the earth, hence 'Knersvlakte'. also, as a result of that, not much grows there- anytime of the year!!!!!!

Cool, quite a challenge!