The Fields of Heaven

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In March I took my family into the Outeniqua mountains to do some exploring. This time some friends got to go with...

Permits for these kinds of trips are limited, so we were a small group. We woke to a very windy Sunday in George. This of course did not stop us from riding. You don't let a chance like this go by...

We rode to the farm in Geelhoutboom where we got little Andre's bike and we were on our way!



Soon we were surrounded by the Southern Cape’s forests.







We stopped at the Wit Els river to have a bite and a cooldrink



Andre’s proud wheels takes him to the most amazing places. This was a way better investment than a Playstation!



Little Stefan enjoyed it too! Wholesome father and son time…



Soon after this we had our first incident. The bike fell over and broke the clutch lever. At least it could still be operated – in a way…



This is Trailriding country! Yours truly coming up the hill.



Enough with the camera! Let’s ride already!



We headed North towards the mountains. Already the roads gave an indication that the real trailriding was about to start…



We climbed higher and higher – out of the forests and into the Fynbos



At this stage we were literally surrounded by mountains.



We were alternating between hills and valleys and the roads deteriorated as we went along…



… until we were basically riding along on tracks. The scenery was stunning. You get blasé about these things when you live in George, so when the scenes start taking your breath away you know you’ve happened on something special…



How do you describe this???



After a while we reached a fork in the road and of course took the road less traveled. The thing is, the road less traveled was down a STEEP decent with little traction. We weren’t fazed. Even a nervous 9 year old Andre handled it admirably.



From here on in it was clear that not many vehicles have traveled here for quite some time.



We started encountering obstacles on the trail.

“Daddy, are you sure about this?”



“Don’t worry son – HOLD ON!!!”



OK OK. We have to carry the bikes over… (I’m glad we had no GSA’s in the group. This would have been the end of the road for a heavy bike…)



Carry my bike? No way… I ride over everything… Honda gives you Wings!



Suddenly the obstacles became a regular occurrence…



Even the Voortrekkers had nothing on us!



It is hard work though… Time for a rest.


(The views from the mountain were spectacular!!!)



When going over tree stumps gets boring you simply go under them.



How many people get to ride here?



Trailriding at it’s best! (Spot the "road")



And it’s not just about the riding. Being here is both a spiritual experience and an adventure. We were friends joined in the quest to finish the route, but also to share in the magnificence of God's creation. Could you spend a Sunday in a better church than this?



“Daddy, Tarzan just came by!”



Did you want to see a wee fern perhaps?



I was taking photos when the group pulled away. When I came around the next corner Elmar (on the DT125) was helping young Andre. A small tree was lying across the trail and it threw him of balance. Luckily he was OK - 2nd incident taken care of. When Elmar went over the same tree I understood what happened – the tree was lying across the road at and angle and it was covered with moss. Slippery as snot! The DT went over but Clinton’s NXR was not so lucky…



While he was on the forest floor we did what we had to do – we pointed, laughed loudly and took pictures!

It was clear that sometimes you need more than a trail bike…



Clinton had a sore leg and young Andre had a sore ankle, but we carried on.



Suddenly the roads got better...



But of course we still had to deal with the occasional obstacle.



The Wild dog pups still going strong…



“Daddy – this is fun!!!”



Just us, our bikes and the giants of the forrest.



Another special place worth a stop and a photo. Years ago the whole Southern Cape looked like this.



And suddenly we were back on the road to the farm…



These trips are over all too soon.



What a special place... What a privilege! We will go back to experience this magical place again!

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