A quickie with Mrs. Trailrider

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So I started work on Monday and needed a vacation by Monday evening. Luckily I spotted an opening in my diary – no appointments for Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. So the plan was set in motion. Mrs. Trailrider was going on her first sleepover trip.

The bags were packed by the time the working day began on Tuesday. I came from my last appointment at about 1 and we left by 2.

Mrs. Trailrider has been on a few outrides before, but nothing long distance or sleep over, so I decided to ease her into it with an easy route. First we tackled the Montagu Pass.



We had 4 hours to cover about 100km so we took it easy and took in all the scenery.



We traveled over the pass, through Herold and on to Paardepoort.



We traveled through the Klein Karoo, past the Kammanassie Dam and Dysselsdorp, to De Rust. When you travel with a woman you see things you don’t usually see – like the inside of the Groen Bliktrommel Curio shop.



After some refreshment we took the Oude Muragie road to the Kango Mountain Resort.



We arrived, unloaded and I decided to get some braai wood before the shop closed. Suddenly my bike had an “African” feel to it…



We found a very nice spot under a tree and started setting up camp.



It was the day before the Gauteng schools started and you could see the difference! We basically had the place to ourselves.



When there’s a woman on the ride you camp in style. Man, we had everything. Drink, mix, ice and enough of everything. There were even some left over the next morning. We had chips next to the fire, salad with the braai and even Milo and cookies before we turned in. This is the life. Even the beds were made!



We had chairs and even a stainless steel braai. The funniest thing is that we only had one bag more than I usually take, but more than double the stuff. Women know how to pack, and of course were to find the really nifty small stuff like small packets of shampoo, sugar, milo, soap, spices, braai salt, small everything!

The view from our front "door”.


After a wonderful night under the bright Southern Cross in the Klein Karoo skies, we packed and set out again on the Oude Muragie road.



And turned north towards the Rust & Vrede waterfall.



What a place. After doing ‘n bit of “kloofing” (nothing to hectic) we came up to the most wonderful scenes.







And eventually reached the waterfall



It’s approximately 60 – 70 meters high and falls into a pool of crystal clear refreshing water. This is Oudtshoorns’ source of drinking water. In the kloof you’re so close that you can’t fit the whole waterfall into one photo.







A magical place. What a privilege to be able to visit such a place. From here we rode back – Oude Muragie – Rietvallei – Paardepoort – Montgu Pass - George. Truly a great breakaway.

All of this happened between my 12 o’clock appointment on Tuesday and my 3 o’clock appointment on Wednesday. We will do this more often. If you make the time, and use it well, it is possible.

The total distance traveled was 221km.

Cost of fuel:

Honda NXR125 – R29-51 (43,3km/l)
Honda CTX200 – R 42-64 (29,8km/l)

Cost of the campsite – R95






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