A Karoo Adventure - Day 2

And the day breaks over the wintry Karoo.

Even though we travelled here on gravel and are going to leave on gravel, all the cars and bikes have been washed and cleaned. How is that for being spoilt!

 

 

All this while we eat...

  

Ready for the rest of the Adventure!

First we tackle Bosluiskloof Pass and Seweweekspoort again, in the opposite direction, to re-enter the Klein Karoo. 

 

 

 

One of the bikes picked up a nail, but luckily this is only a 2-minute problem since the V-Strom comes standard with tubeless tyres and rims. In fact, the centre stand is also standard, as is the lower crash bars and luggage rack. There’s even a USB charging point.

 

The new V-Strom makes a really good case for itself as a practical adventure bike for the 80% of riders that are going to do gravel touring. Sure, for the weekend warriors who want to jump logs and tackle terrain as technical as possible, the big-wheeled KTM or Africa Twin might be the option, but the V-Strom offers more than enough for Adventure Touring at a good price that includes lots of standard equipment.

In fact, up to this point we have not refuelled yet. The 20L tank is good for up to 400km. Some more of the magnificent Seweweeks Poort:

Back in the Klein Karoo we head East, toward the tarred Huisrivier Pass, and here the Suzukis get a chance to properly stretch their legs and get rid of those chicken strips on the tyres. The pass is newly resurfaced, has lots of twisties and is just a joy to ride. We even get to do a photo-shoot in the pass. Like celebrities. Who does this? Well, we got to and it was huge fun!

This pass showcased that today’s Adventure Bikes really can be enjoyed on both gravel and tar!

After a fuel stop in Calitsdorp, the Port capital of South Africa, we head out on the gravel Matjiesrivier road hugging the Swartberg Mount Range all the way to Swartberg pass. This pass, also built by Bain, will take us back over the mountain into the Great Karoo.

But first, lunch at Kobus se Gat.

The 27km Swartberg Pass is considered one of the most spectacular mountain passes in the world: an untarred road winds to the summit 1 583 metres above sea level in steep zig-zags and sudden switchbacks, with breath-taking views at every turn.

It’s being resurfaced and can be quite slippery when wet, but we were lucky today.

It drops quite steeply on the Northern side. Are are about to ride through the river at the bottom of that ravine. But first, condensed milk coffee.

 

Playtime in the river!

Heading to our destination for the night – Klaarstroom.

 

 

Klaarstroom is a small village just North of Meiringspoort in the Karoo and not much has changed here since the 70’s. Our lodgings for the night: Klaarstroom Hotel. 

 

But first, we are being whisked away to a different location for dinner and entertinment.

 

 

  

 

 

The “Igni”, as we now fondly referred to the two Ignis cars in the group, shuttled us to Forgotten Metals where a beautiful dinner was prepared. This is the workshop of Koos Roets, famous South African filmmaker where he lovingly restores his old cars, the red Jaguar being his favourite. He told us about Klaarstroom, his life here and the 5 feature films that was made here. We gawked at his cars and feasted on the traditional “Boerekos” that was presented us.

 

And then the heavens opened.......

The severe weather we had been warned about finally caught up with us.

This building, mainly sink, amplified the sound of the rain and hail coming down and we literally could not hear each other speaking.

The mother of storms had been unleashed, I suddenly realized that the little stream we crossed to get here would flood, trapping us this side, our hotel being the other side, and exactly that happened. The river came down in all its fury. And we were trapped.

 

 

Lucky for us we had food, we had drinks and we could entertain ourselves. And the river grew higher... Soon we received word that Meiringspoort, our route for tomorrow had also been closed due to flooding. We were in for the long haul.

But there’s never a dull moment on trips like these! We entertain ourselves.

 

 

Hours later the water started to subside and we managed to get back to the Hotel. It’s an adventure after all!

 

As it turns out we missed the worst of the storm. While we were having a whale of a time on day 2, this is what happened elsewhere in the region:

 

 

Needless to say, had that storm hit us we would not have been able to ride. That’s some serious stuff!

Bring on Day 3 - If we can get through Meirings Poort...