Wednesday, December 23, 2009

WD gathering at Attakwas Kloof

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December. Holiday time. Living in the Garden Route means that lots of Wild Dog forum members holiday in our area. In 2007 and 2008 we spent an evening at Bonniedale Adventure Farm in Attakwaskloof so I thought it a good idea to continue the tradition. The invite went out and 20+ people responded! We were in for a party

A small (slower) group would depart from George on the morning of the 23rd, while a faster group would ride from Mosselbay with Berm_Rooster. The rest of the group would meet us at Haelkraal or at the venue.

We took a leisurely ride from George with Asterix as pillion again manning the camera. Following this group was a backup vehicle carrying both my son's CRF's as they would ride a portion of the route to Bonniedale Farm.

The first regroup:



At the 2nd stop we heard bikes approaching from the front. It was Berm_Rooster and his group. They were hopelessly off course



So the now bigger group headed out on the correct route towards Attakwas. Sprocketbek, Flatspin & the rest:



The big regroup at Haelkraal:



Another CRF80 getting ready for the ride.



Approaching the Bonniedale turnoff:



Lots of Honda's on this ride. What a beautiful shot



My youngest enjoying the ride on his CRF70



Some in-ride footage:



And finally Bonniedale Adventure Farm:




Photo by Captain Slow

The historic Attakwaskloof Pass starts from here and it has a wicket solid rock uphill that has to be negotiated before you can continue with the rest of the route. We rode up there with small bikes on the Southern Cape Trail Ride and believe me it's no joke. So of course at least one big bike had to try. It was to be Berm_Rooster on the BMW HP2. OK, the HP2 is hardly a "big bike" in that sense. It's actually an extremely capable bike in this application, but the dare was made and excepted.



A whole group came with to witness the potential disaster...



As is usual a photo does not nearly do the true incline justice. It's steep. Luckily traction is not a problem as it's solid rock. Etienne rode up first with the DRZ to show Berm_Rooster the line and he followed immediately after...



He made it look so easy it was a joke! These guys can ride! And of course, what goes up, must come down...

The next 4 photos by Sprocketbek:









And then the festivities could start.




Photo by Captain Slow


The party carried on well into the night Smithy enjoying himself:


Photo by Sprocketbek

Maybe the less photos of later that night the better...



The next morning around camp:



Beautiful aren't they?



Smithy showing some battle scars from the previous night





Eventually everybody packed and headed out. Loggie and I decided to take the long way round to George, crossing the Robinson Pass into the Klein Karoo.





Some Klein Karoo scenery. The nice thing about this area is that you can ride through a variety of contrasting scenery in relatively few km's.









Another scenery stop on Outeniqua Pass, where we met another Wild Dog (Paul I think?)



And the ride down. In ride:



Thanks to all who attended! Was another good one!




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