Vleesbaai 4x4 Dune Route revisited!

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It's the holidays. Time for family.

We decided to make a change and instead of taking the bikes out, we'd to revisit the Vleesbaai 4x4 Dune route for some Land Cruiser fun (well, we didn't leave all the bikes ). While the family took the car I took the scenic route on the TransAlp.



I've always wanted to show Mrs.TR this beautiful route and what sand driving is all about. We also decided to take it easy, take our time and camp at the farm (where the route is situated) this time round.

The camping facilities are great. The ablutions are clean and we experienced very little wind in the campsite itself. We camped with my dad and we had much more luxuries in the camp than we usually have on a biking trip.



There were lots of other 4x4 campers around and it was interesting to see how the 4x4 fraternity do things compared to the biking fraternity. Firstly, of the 9 4x4's in camp there were 1 Isuzu and 8 Toyota's. Certainly a popular brand! Secondly, these guys really are organized. They have all kinds of gadgets and stuff to make camp life easier but I sure am glad I don't have to pack, unpack and cart all that stuff around. Us bikers really travel light. Seems to me that the more space you have, the more you take along.

Luckily I wasn't the only biker around



Cool T-shirt



Luckily we'd only have to conquer sand this weekend Soon enough we headed out. The route owner's 4x4:



We also spotted Liewe Heksie's house



After paying the route fee we headed out.



This must be one of the routes with the best views.



It's easy at first, but then the fun starts:



Our first steepish uphill:
(Camera work by Mrs.TR and my eldest "Asterix")





...and back down to fetch the camera crew





Back up - in ride video:



Next uphill:
(I'll let the pictures tell the story)

















Great views:



Next we had that incredibly steep downhill (where we helped the Izusu the previous time we were here). Camera's never show the true gradient, but believe me - this is steep!





(Asterix handling the video camera)





No coming back to fetch them this time round



Looking back up:



Some leaning to the side:
(once again - the true angles and gradients are rarely shown on photo or video )





Some more of the route:
(Check the wheels in this pic)





Man or mouse?





A Range Rover being recovered. Apparently it broke a "centre piece" Whatever that may be. Sounds expensive









The route ends close to the beach with a massive massive uphill.



We arrived just as this Hilux was about to attempt it.





1st attempt:



Deflate those tyres a bit more (we were running at 0.8 bar)



Try and try again...



4th time lucky:



The Cruiser lining up:







...and back down.



We played here a bit. Even Mrs.TR drove up the dune (1st time). She deposited me at the top of the dune to take some more photos.



The background in the photo above gives some idea of how high this dune really is, but to illustrate the point:

This is a picture of the rest of the family waiting at the bottom (using 18x optical zoom)



Zooming out about half. The black arrow shows where the people are:



Totally zoomed out:



Even though you cant see the incline on a photo this is one serious dune!



What a great way to spend time with the family. One and all thoroughly enjoyed it. It's like a massive sand pit for grown-ups We will be back - again!






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