Half way round with Dave, Dorothy and Wahl

Part 1

Day 1: Saturday 14th March saw us and Wahl being sent off on an early departure by our new GS visitor who came to show his new bike – thanks Jamie.


Stopped in Vryburg for a rest.


and then on to Kuruman for lunch at the Spur.

Wahl wanted to stop in Kathu for a look at the mine vehicles. Very interesting stop – these vehicles are huge…






Stopped over in Upington – the Orange River was very full, but that didn’t stop these swans from enjoying the river


Went to a good dinner at Bi-lo restaurant



Day 2 – Sunday:
Sunrise over the Orange River




Wahl on the move


Entering Augrabies…




Dangerous??



Pofadder – this is where we decided to stop for lunch


Was a bit hot in the restaurant and anyway the oxwagon was in the way


So we moved the table outside for a cooler setting


Stopped over in Garies for the night – hotel had apparently not received my e-mail for accommodation and could not give us anything suiteable.


After finding out that we could have dinner later in their restaurant we went looking for a guesthouse.

Found a good place that was reasonable and had suitable bike parking – owned by a sheep farmer.


Went to the hotel restaurant for the promised dinner – only to find the restaurant and hotel front door locked!! After knocking they eventually opened only to tell us that they are no longer serving dinner. Said they were only serving dinner to hotel guests and because we were not staying there we could not eat there – this after they had earlier said we could eat there.

They would also not tell us where we could find a restaurant and told us ‘ask the guesthouse’.

So off we went and found this place were we had dinner and breakfast


Will defitively not recommend Garies Hotel to anyone – according to other people we spoke to this is what they often do.

Day 3 Monday:
Pressed on to Piketberg and Vredenburg where Wahl and us parted ways. Him on to Paternoster and us to St Helena Bay. By this time we had convinced Wahl to go to his first Buffalo Rally and arranged to meet him in Mossel Bay on Thursday.

Our accommodation woes continued – had arrange accommodation at Sunfish Restaurant for Monday and Tuesday in Stompneus bay – but found out they were closed on Mondays and the owner had gone to town for suppliers. After an hour of waiting we booked in to the St Helena Hotel.

View from our room


Day 4 Tuesday was spent in the St Helena Bay area – it was very windy!
Sunrise over the sea





Cape St Martin – private nature reserve



Then decided to ride to Velddrif and Port Owen to have a look at the area.
Entrance to the harbour and marina at Port Owen





We had passed this restaurant many times on previous trips and decided to stop for lunch


…mainly because of the adequate bike parking area




Later on while in Shelly Point were were referred to a restaurant in St Helena Bay for dinner that evening and went to see where it was so as to find it easier in the dark



Had a great dinner there and had some light entertainment not to be mentioned here. Just before leaving got into a conversation with another couple and found out that he owns the bike shop in Vredenburg and was going to the Buff – in fact also saw him there.

Found out that the restaurant owner was also a biker.

Needless to say the whole day the wind had been pumping – was not pleasant on the bikes.


Day 5 Wednesday – destination Pringle Bay via Riebeek Kasteel.
At a stop for roadworks we found that someone had left the toilet seat up…



Stopped for some refreshment and at various shops where Dorothy bought lots of olives and olive paste.


Passed through Wolsely where we saw these blockhouses – one on either side of the river


view inside




…and then on to more familiar territory on the way to Pringle Bay to stay the night with Dorothy’s dad.


Day 6 Thursday: destination Mossel Bay


Stopped in Napier for brekkie


Did not initially get an enthusiastic welcome


..but then they softened towards us and made us feel welcome



Eventually got to Santos campsite and set up camp – expecting at least 15 people from the BMW Pretoria Club and some of their friends.
Wahl


busy with his trip report on the move….


Firewood ready for the evening


even had some visitors who almost ‘dropped’ in


Day 7 Friday: …and the rest arrive in their droves..








Day 8 Saturday: Some of the guys were taking a GS trip to Die Hel – they even had their own Ninja Turtle in the form of Chunky to protect them…


Did not participate in the mass ride and went to Delfinos to watch them come past.


…then went to ride Outeniqua pass (once or twice)







Then went for lunch in Knysna



Day 9 Sunday: All too soon the Rally was over and it was time to pack up.


…and hit the road. We had planned on a 3 day trip home and our stop for tonight was Port Alfred – we would look for accommodation when we got there. The day was going to be at our own pace with stops to admire whatever we wanted to



Went through Natures Valley




and then on to Tsitsikamma forest reserve.

The river had done some damage here…


Went through Bloukrans Pass – which is closed for traffic – wonder why??



Storms River bridge


Then got to the end of the road…


…but with the GS, if you can’t go over you go around…




On the way to Tsitsikamma forest restaurant we had seen lots of smoke from a forest fire


…and then the fire services helicopter came in to refuel



After lunch we were on our way again via the bottom of Van Stadens bridge


Got to Port Alfred just after 6pm and looked for some seaside accommodation.



Found a nice pub for Sunday night dinner


– and for an out of the way pub it was pretty busy

NICE !

We are spoiled with some very good trip reports and lots of pics lately

Thanks for sharing Dave

Looked like a good trip.

Thanks for sharing

M

Looks like a nice LOOOONG Trip,

And it looks sooooooooooo nice.....

Brings back good memories

Nice one Dave and Dot.

The pics around Riebeek Kasteel brings back lotsa memories - I grew up in Riebeek West I've noticed many farmers now also turned to olive farming

Thanks for the beers when we stopped at the campsite in Mosselbay. That was most welcome.

Part 2 and final part....

Day 10 Monday: Plan was for breakfast in Bathurst – Pig n Whistle – oldest pub in SA.

Making friends



Fish river


Some countryside





Went through some nice passes and roads on the way to our planned stop at Hobhouse.
When we reached Hobhouse we decided to press on to Ladybrand to shorten our last day.


Day 11 Tuesday – decided to shorten the day and go home via Senekal, Lindley, Petrus Steyn, Heilbron, Krugersdorp – this way we miss the afternoon highway traffic into Pretoria.

On of our political parties was campaigning in the Ladybrand area




Lots of sunflowers on the way.


Our coffee stop in Lindley


…and the cosmos were out.



…which made for a colourful ride home and the end of another Buffalo Rally trip.

as always a great report.

You seem to have the ability to find all these nice little hidden (from main stream) pubs and restaurants

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and looking at your (extended) Buff trip

thank you for taking the time to post lots of pictures

Great report and pics! Fanks for sharing!