Monday, July 23, 2007

Attakwaskloof - Wild Dog Ride

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Attakwaskloof: Day 1

 
Attakwaskloof is my favorite destination. I speak about it often on the Wild Dog forum and as a result we decided to have another ride there to show some of the other Wild Dog forum members what the fuss is all about.

On Saturday Morning, 21 July, Tobbox and I arrived at Honda George where Geoff, Kevin and Gavin were already waiting.

Topbox has a great bike and I can seriously see one of these in my future!



More and more bikes arrived. Introductions were done and bikes admired.




Before long we were on our way. A couple of km’s from Fancourt we hit the first dirt.


The roads were wet and muddy and the going was slow.


Quite a few bikes had close calls. Mud is not the favorite road condition! At this stage I was wondering who would be the first to go down…
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At the first stop road conditions were the topic of discussion. A light bike with knobblies has big advantages in these conditions.


Tyre pressures were adjusted and we were on our way again.




As the road conditions improved people started enjoying the South Cape scenery.
Clinton and LGF enjoying the ride:


Hallo Uiltjie!


The second stop was at a river where we enjoyed snacks and drinks.




Next stop was at Diesel & Dust to fill up on petrol.


Some bikes had some interesting “extras”...


Then Uiltjie – being the perfect Gentleman – decided that he would break the ice.
I did promise that I would report that he was power sliding at 220km/h on dirt when he went down…


From freshly renamed Uitjie & Dust we followed the Haelkraal road and later turned North to Bonniedale Adventure Farm.






This is a lovely road with ever changing scenery.






Another stop at a scenic spot:



It’s a nice spot – one of many on this route.


From here it’s a short stint to the farm. I stopped at a gate to close it after everyone was through, but no one came. After a while we realized that something was wrong. Clinton rode back and found that Kevin from PE overshot a corner and had quite a bad fall.
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The bike had some damage but the rider was relatively OK, so we carried on to the farm.


Home for the night:

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We unpacked and relaxed. The liquid refreshments were close at hand.


Geoff in a relaxed mood


When the sun started to set we were well underway to a great evening.
Uiltjie’s pride & joy:


Eisbein decided to look around:


The party continued until the wee hours…




Attakwaskloof: Day 2

When we woke this morning quite a few people weren’t as rowdy as the night before. Breakfast ranged from Weetbix to cold pies and braaivleis.


Eisbein's bike Sauerkraut showing how cold it is.


Before we set out we all lined up for a group photo... (What a pic!)
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...and when we pulled off I rode over a water pipe (which I did not see) at an angle. With all the dew I had no grip and the front wheel washed out. I went down like a sack of potatoes much to the delight of the others…
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After the laughter eventually died down we finally set out for Attakwaskloof. :-)


This is my favorite Kloof route - even better than Gamkaskloof or Baviaans. The pictures cannot do the scenery justice. It’s absolutely amazing.








A quick stop at the ghost town Woeska…


…and then through the rest of the Kloof:






Close to the end of the Kloof route Philip's bike decided that it too needed a nap...
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Don't worry - No Honda's were harmed in the making of this ride report...

The Kloof road T’s into the Herbertsdale / Van Wyks dorp road.


Here we said goodbye to Uiltjie, Philip, Topbox and Surf who headed to Gysmanshoek Pass...


...while we headed over Cloetes Pass towards Herbertsdale.






At this turnoff the group split again and we said our goodbyes to the PE guys and Eisbein who continued to Hertsdale and the N2.


LGF, “Sweeper” Mike, Clinton, Sir G and I took the scenic route back to George.






King of the Hill…






And so another great ride came to an end. Thanks to all who attended – you guys made this ride a success. Special thanks to Sir G who led the group which in turn freed me up to take lots of pics, to “Sweeper” Mike who closed the gates behind all of us.
I hope to see all you guys again in the not to distant future.

Cheers!





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