3 trips in the Eastern Cape in December 2009

One short, one longer and one loonggg one!

1. Jeffreys Bay to Baviaanskloof - just up Combrinck's pass to Bergplaas and back with my son - his first ride in Baviaans!

Near the top of Combrincks pass



At the top at Bergplaas. Nice proteas and a cooling breeze and cellphone reception.


Going back - the driffies at Poortjies - very dry. They have paved them all :-(


2. We took three bikes and three kids to Hogsback for three days. Very hot and the first time ever I saw 43C on the car's outside sensor was near Fort Beaufort.

We rode to Keiskammehoek past the Tyume falls. Lovely narrow road in the natural forest, but be wary of Forestry trucks doing 60km/h around blind corners!


It was too hot for the Katbergpass so we did a round trip to Cathcart via the Happy Valley road which meanders along a small river - beautiful.


3. The loonnggg trip. 1300km in 3 days, 4 guys, 4 bikes (BMW1200GS, Aprilia Pegaso, KTM950, F800GS).

Day 1: Jeffreysbay to George via Langkloof, Prince Alfred pass, Knysa backroads, then Montagu pass + more gravel roads to Oudtshoorn.

Prince Alfred's Pass: trout farms and mountain bikes and 4X4s.




Day2: At 6:00 from Oudsthoorn to Gamkaskloof (for a Helse breakfast) via the Swartberg and Prince Albert passes, tea time in Prince Albert, back over the Prince Albert pass to Calitzdorp via Matjieskloof, then Huishoek pass to Ladysmith and then back to Oudtshoorn vir the Rooiberg pass.


Helse breakfast..


Rearranging their stoep so we could sit outside. We took about 80 minutes of riding time to get down and all had tales to tell of one Toyota Fortuner who would not budge... A Prado behind us was actually pushed into the cliff and damaged a running board.



Back on top, going left to Prince Albert.




Day3: 6am start via De Rust and Meiringspoort for breakfast at the Royal Hotel in Willowmore. Lovely gravel road - I got to 150km/h on one stretch. Then Baviaanskloof - very busy and very dry, only 4 of the driffies had water! A cooldrink at Babe's se winkel was great! The road was in OK condition, it was just the Doodsklip pass that was really boneshakingly bad with stone ledges at cross angles.

And 3 hours and 40 minutes later at Bergplaas:

Nice Pics Mario - Must visit that area some time

Cool Mario, on my to-do list for one day!

Lekker Mario. Ja, daai wereld is awesome! Maar ek het nog nie Bav's kloof gedoen nie. Gaan beslis hierdie jaar. Lekker om dit saam met jou seun te kan doen.